The following strategies for establishing a social business combine most frequently acknowledged changes taking place within forward-moving companies. Here are the top strategies for turning social:
1: Opt for Content Marketing instead of Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing via print magazines and newspapers is slowly disappearing, because consumers are tired of the one-way communication. People want multiple-ways interaction and the chance to develop a relationship with the brand. Therefore, content marketing becomes more appealing as messages posted on blogs are easily shareable and interactive, while the print media is not. Online content is portable, traceable, findable and can be more effective in the long tail of context, while traditional media is not.
2: Hire a Social Networking Pro
The role of a social expert is to produce and share quality content with his multiple followers in order to create the echo effect.
CEOs should create the right mix of social pros and industry experts within their teams by training current staff to be more social, and bringing in outsiders and training them on the industry.
Once a social expert is on board, public relations department become less relevant. Social pros can’t be effective if every time they speak into the virtual world they’re met with PR interference and a diluted message. Business competitiveness now is all about speed and getting business headlines out there loud and clear, but not after PR or legal reviewed content and waited 24 hours to move forward.
3: Publish Your Own Media
New marketing models resemble a rich tapestry of company-generated content on different platforms, designed to engage customers.
Some business leaders are creating and self-publishing the tapestry of content, because now it is viewed as a strategic asset. They put as much thought and design into content as they do with their products and services. Then a social networking manager follows the company strategy, backed by a team of social media professionals and often even a photographer. Meanwhile, public relation efforts are scaled back.
4. Deploy Social Networking Platforms
Networking platforms can help enable organizations to be social, but they will not replace the need for a coherent social strategy and seamless integration of these tools into current processes. As these solutions evolve, business leaders expect networking platforms to connect people better with information in new and contextual ways.
Organizations that aggregate and create experiences for their employees in context, are expected to be more effective in multiple dimensions of their business.
5. Invest in Social Media Training
The days of PR and Legal department controlling external conversations with customers are coming to an end. New business leaders recognize that in order to stay engaged and be responsive with customers, the old rules need to be changed.
Social media policies, supplemented with training programs will soon replace today’s outdated, corporate communication rules.
6. Engage External Communities Formed Around Your Brand’s Value
The most significant opportunities for converting prospective customers into sales opportunities lie in solving the business problems of an industry. Industry-specific communities are forming elsewhere on the web to help other members solve these same problems.
Failing to participate and help to healthy communities will be detrimental to a company’s long-term business success. In the future, the health of a community will be prerequisite for a successful and growing business. Go with the flow!
7. Leverage Employees, Suppliers and Partners as Sources of Innovation
It is the responsibility of business to convert information into new solutions. From idea generation to idea refinement and implementation, business leaders often stress that the key to remaining competitive in a social business world is to nurture the innovation process.
For example, the major innovation of the last 20 years is the Internet. This new platform for doing business enabled the sharing of ideas, greater transparency of the success of these ideas, which gave rise to even better business ideas.
A similar, smaller scale system can be cultivated and made more efficient within a business. To do that, companies need to focus on the right formula for success: software infrastructure, idea transparency, the right incentives, and internal funding to bring ideas to market.
8: Use Social Analytics to drive Key Strategic Decisions
Business leaders and CEOs are no longer measuring success by the number of press articles and earned media. Now, they are measuring the impact and reach of each link, image, video and web page of every piece of content.
Few multinational companies are even setting up social listening and response customer service rooms to monitor conversations about their brand. They answer customer support questions, and listen to who is saying what about how their products and services are being used to detect patterns.
Unlike the traditional means of measuring advertising or PR, social analytics will also make the future of the business easier to predict. CEOs can use that data to make predictions about their customers, competitors and product offerings.
