Social Networking: Open for Business

It's really happening, Kim insisted. "I know of a company that was struggling with their marketing. They struggled with communicating to the right people. Then they applied conversational tools to their sites, and are now the leading example of great marketing in their segment. They went from zero to being the best, just by taking some small steps," she said.

"Those small steps usually take the form of a set of applications they pick and choose, such as blogging, commenting, rating... it depends on the business problem they're trying to solve." But there are plenty of "free, open source" tools available, I countered. My grandmother could have a blog if she wanted. "The real value proposition comes when these tools, such as blogging and commenting applications, can be tied into your existing content management strategy. This is a critical factor in avoiding risk. You don't want all your employees writing to a WordPress blog and not be able to track and manage that. So even though a blog goes out beyond the firewall, if you have it integrated with your content management system, you can always pull it back, or track the comments, or apply some kind of governance in the form of workflows, monitors/editors and appropriate approval cycles."

Reaching Beyond the Walls

The next phase, according to Kim, is to think more along the lines of a social media marketing campaign strategy. A lot of companies have content going into their websites, but the majority of their customers don't come to their sites; they live in the real world. So a social media marketing strategy might include pushing quality content out of the corporate website and into Twitter, for instance. That requires an integration—and appropriate products—to tie your system into the public stream. Naturally, in between those things are the monitoring and governance overview.

That's the natural evolution taking place, growing from one-way single channel to multi-channel, interactive communication with the greater community at large. And doing it in compliance with regulations and polices, and keeping it safe. Keep the ties to the policies that apply to that information, and never jeopardize the security of the company in allowing its release. There should always be the ability to tether a piece of content, and bring it back if necessary. That's the difference between a first-generation and a second-generation social media strategy.

Do upper management-types understand the value proposition? I asked Kim. "I don't want to overgeneralize," she answered carefully, "but typically they don't. The first thing a CEO wants to know is ‘What's the ROI?' Which is where I push back a little. I say, ‘It's the cost of doing business. What's the ROI of your phone system? What's the ROI of your email system? I don't hear you asking me that. This is how your users and customers want to communicate, and if you can't do that, you'll be shut down very soon. If you don't have these channels in place, you will get left behind.' It's going to take more time, but we're getting there."

I had to press her on this one. "You can understand the reluctance on the part of management to embrace social networking on their dime. They don't want employees on Twitter and FaceBook all day... that's like letting them play videogames," I suggested. "They don't want to know what you had for lunch, or that it's your daughter's birthday today." "That's right," said Kim. "So you need to provide real-world examples. You can't just say we should do it because we should do it. You have to say something like, ‘We have a global workforce, in various time zones, and we need to provide an easy way for them to communicate with each other and the customer base, whether it's from their own mobile devices or home PCs or whatever. And I can show you, Mr. CEO, that if I can connect them in a smooth and easy manner, we will increase sales by X%.' If you can make that case, you can win their support."

What about risk, another urgent executive concern? "You can't embark on a project like this without properly educating people on how to use it safely and appropriately," said Kim. "It almost seems contradictory—social media is a free and open pasture. BUT you have to follow certain policies and rules. You have to explain this to your employees: Never post anything you wouldn't say to your mother."