A Social Business Strategy Can Make A Company More Responsive and Agile

One of the big buzzwords of 2011 will be ‘Social Business’.  It’s an outgrowth of terms we’ve seen the last 3 years like social media, social media marketing, social computing, social networking, social CRM, and digital strategy.   I think this term will take hold because it will resonate better with business leaders, who want to make sure social activities leads to business success.  And yes, I do believe a well-implemented social business strategy can help a business become more successful.

Successful businesses put the customer at the center of everything they do. Successful businesses should, in fact, have as a major objective to help their customers be as successful as possible. To do that they need to understand their customer’s business problems and their strategy for solving those business problems. Successful businesses can sometimes be better at anticipating a customer's business needs than the customer itself.

To be successful, companies need to look for ways to increase the volume and quality of conversations they have with the customer. Increasing the volume and quality of conversations help them get closer to their customers. It helps them understand their customers better and hopefully, anticipate their needs.

The social computing trend allows companies to develop a social business strategy that can allow them to get closer to customers. A well designed and implemented social business strategy can enable an increase in the volume and quality of conversations companies can have with their customers. The great thing about having those conversations digitally is that they can happen 24X7.  So wherever you are and whenever you have the urge, you can have a conversation with your customer. 

These conversations can be initiated by the customer or by a company employee.  Through the use of mobile devices, employees can participate in these conversations wherever they happen to be in the world.  And those conversations can be happening at any hour of the day.  Being active socially means that employees can potentially reach customer contacts no matter what level they reside within the customer's organization.  Relationships can be built on social networks with even the most senior contacts within a customer organization.   Employees can share digital content about products and services with customer contacts, getting information in the hands of customers much faster than waiting for a face to face visit.  And the neat thing is that all these digital conversations can occur in real-time too. 

So look for the Social Business buzz to pick up steam in 2011.   To summarize, by implementing a social business strategy, companies can 1) get closer to their customers, 2) understand their needs better, and 3) be much more responsive to their needs.   And a big benefit is that by being more responsive, companies can be more agile, responding to those needs faster than competition. 

Implementing a social business strategy is not easy.  You can’t do it just by setting up a social platform.  It requires hard work to change culture, implement new roles, business processes, etc.  I’ll save that discussion for another future post.

For More Information

For those of you wanting to do some extra reading, here are some links for you to explore. It’s not a comprehensive list, but it’s enough for now.

• The Social Nature of Agile Teams   http://agile2007.com/downloads/proceedings/009_whitworth-SocialNature_627.pdf
• Social Business Software from IBM:  http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/socialcollaboration/
• IBM LotusLive: A Social Networking and Collaboration Platform:  http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpapers/pdfs/redp4728.pdf
• Voice of Customer 2.0: Social, Agile and Integrated  http://www.rightnow.com/files/whitepapers/Voice-of-Customer-2.0-White-Paper.pdf
• The Programmable Web:  Agile, Social, and Grassroots Computing  http://maximilien.org/publications/papers/2007/Maximilien+Ranabahu07a_presentation.pdf
• Social media and agile leadership    http://www.slideshare.net/TribalCafe/social-media-and-agile-leadership-5998719
• Agile tales of creative customer collaboration   http://www.slideshare.net/cperrone/passionate-teams-cooperative-customers-388318
• Seven Social Media Trends for Engaging the Workforce:  http://www.slideshare.net/FHInternalComms/seven-social-media-trends-for-engaging-the-workforce-2283754
• Some blog Posts to check out

• A Changemaker in the Making:   http://davidparker9.wordpress.com/
• The Agile Executive:  http://theagileexecutive.com/
• A Social Business Agile Manefesto   http://c7group.com/blog/agile-social-business-manifesto/
• Remaining Agile Amidst Seismic Shifts in the Social Media Landscape  http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/023076.html

Comments

[Local SEO Marketing]

So true Bill, social media helps the company built stronger rapport to its customers/clients. With it as a tool in reaching out, the market is also not that hesitant to ask or give out comment or suggestion. They feel more comfortable doing it online at any time. In a way, the company becomes aware of the needs of their market and continue innovate to satisfy them.

[seo company]

Your webblog is very nice also a very intresting and this is very useful to skip visitor. After the reading your editorial stuff is very useful to me and its very nice. I hope you will be share another informative stuff!!!!!

[Pierre Binon]

What about the confusion social business / social media?

> A social business is a non-loss, non-dividend company designed to address a social objective. The profits are used to expand the company’s reach and improve the product/service.

> Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques. Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue.

[fashion guides]

Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques. Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue.

[Business Strategy Wilmslow]

I completely agree, social media is becoming so important with everything, it just seems the most popular form of communication around. Therefore if you can create a social presence for your company, then surely it will benefit it, hopefully with more and more people talking about your company.

[freelance logo design jobs]

usiness owners are using Social Media more and more as a strategic tool to scale up their enterprise. There is no denying that the opportunities are infinite when it comes to Social Media strategies for business growth. Careful planning must go into selecting exciting Social Media Optimization (SMO) strategies to best leverage its immense potential.

[small business consulting]

I totally agree with you. I've seen a lot of companies fail because they didn't know any social business strategy. If you really want to make your company more responsive and agile, you should definitely consider that kind of strategy.

[Account Deleted]

Organizations are broadly categorized as social laggards, internally mature, externally mature or enterprise mature. The approach recommended for CIOs differs based on the maturity level. This is important on how to start a business https://www.doobizz.com/. If you need help, check it out

[Social Media Company]

Social media is no doubt super important for any company out there who wants to be successful in today's competitive online marketing world. Being able to connect with your target audiences on a daily basis is key to create a positive reputation for your company.

[google places training]

And yes, I do believe a well-implemented social business strategy can help a business become more successful.

[blog commenting services]

getting information in the hands of customers much faster than waiting for a face to face visit. And the neat thing is that all these digital conversations can occur in real-time too.