Social by design: jump-start your social business strategy

Social by design
Ways to jump-start your social business strategy

Timi Stoop-Alcala
Social Business Analyst & Content Strategist
timi.alcala@socialbizstrategy.com

June 2012

Tuesday, June 12, 12

This presentation covers:
- Social business at work (some stories)
- What companies’ experiences tell us about
social business
- Ways to jump-start your social business
strategy


At the end of this presentation, I hope we’ll start to
ask:

- What’s our end-game for social? [Why engage?]
- How are we now using social media? [Are we
using it to solve speciﬁc business problems?]
- How can we begin to be social by design?


Putting things in context


A Cambrian explosion in social technologies

Global adoption of social media

Changing consumers’ behaviour

Disrupting business the way we know it

Redeﬁning relations, inﬂuence, and connectivity

BOTTOM LINE

If you’re not using social media to engage with your customers,
partners, and stakeholders...

somebody else is.


THESE WE KNOW NOW TO BE TRUE

To be social is tough.
The opportunity costs of not getting coordinated and being
unprepared internally is steep.
Social drives adaptation (but is your organisation built to adapt?)

Technology becomes more sophisticated by the year.
Customers’ expectations are heightened, and their demands change
before the organisation can even catch up with the changes.
Competitors evolve faster and possess better tools, technologies,
information and methods of organisation.


If social media is disrupting the way we do business, then we should make
sure to use it strategically to adapt and achieve business outcomes.


How some companies are adopting social business


Better business based on real time customer input

From #FAIL to FTW!

Dell knows that it’s no longer enough to just have a social presence. They
listen, learn and engage in conversations with our customers where they are.
They’ve gone from Dell Hell to one of the most often praised social business
company, and of the few with a Social Media Listening Command Center.


Shared value by default

Dell uses different platforms to stay connected with existing and potential customers.
They’ve gone beyond solving problems to adding value exchange among its customers.


Rethinking an existing business process

The real-time response in advertising by Old Spice was possible because P&G redesigned its
process of producing ads to become more social. Results: sales increased 27% in the last
six months; 55% in the last three months; the month after the campaign -- 107%.

Graphic: Buddy Media

L’Oreal’s customer
relationship program
included a Facebook toolkit
for its salons, educational
resources on social media,
and a $25 advertising credit
Improving partner support for each of its salons.


“A social business isn't just a
company that has a Facebook
page and a Twitter handle. A
social business is one that
embraces and cultivates a spirit
of collaboration and community
throughout its organization—
both internally and externally.”
- IBM

Reorganising corporate
communication
IBM responded to the trends in the worker and
marketplace dynamics by designing new communication
approaches with matching technical capabilities.
Results: As of 2011, 130 million IBM communities of
professionals around the world has actively collaborated
internally


Integrating vision into social campaigns

Participation by the community unlocked Levi’s contribution to Water.org of 200 million liters
of clean drinking water. In its ﬁrst 72 hours, it saw over 50,000 page views, with more than
20,000 challenges completed.

Enabling participation

• Team TopZorg by Menzis asks
everyone (not just customers)
to share their positive and
negative stories on health care.

• This serves as an entry point for
dialogue to generate actionable
insights. How these ideas are
carried out is actively shared
and discussed on the site.

• Results: Improved services,
increased involvement, and
better relations as the target
group understands better the
complexities of healthcare.

Conversations as currency

Buurzaam Wonen (Amsterdam Smart City) launched eco-hood sessions among Geuzenveld
citizens as a way to activate the community behind the project. The goal was to stimulate
collective awareness of their energy consumptions patterns to trigger behaviour change.
This was an ofﬂine event, but part of a bigger process based on social business tenets such
as network effect (building shared value).

Social business scales (for small business, too)

Disclosure: I worked on the online
strategy and social strategy of
Madaga as an Associate for
www.call-for-action.nl

Madaga, a young start-up that delivers fresh food for babies, aimed for a social business
mindset right from the start. It made the business decision to become a social brand which
translates into allocating resources for social from the inception of its brand. Where social media
decisions are usually add-ons for some marketing programs, social strategy was integrated at
the beginning of brand-building, communications and PR development, and analytics.

Brands must not only be ready
Continuous listening and to invest resources in social
monitoring, but also engage and
effective management respond -- in real-time.

Organisational readiness
“Maar om de thema's voor te bereiden,
de dialogen dagelijks te volgen - en
vooral om jullie reacties op te volgen en
goede ideeën door te voeren - is veel
capaciteit nodig bij XS4ALL. Tijd en
aandacht die we op dit moment helaas
niet kunnen bieden. De turbulentie in
onze branche vraagt op dit moment onze
volle aandacht....De verbetervoorstellen
die voortkomen uit de dialoog met jullie
sneeuwen momenteel onder in onze
dagelijkse werkzaamheden.”

Yellow Spaces was a platform for dialogue with clients and consumers to share
experiences, opinions and ideas. Results: Over 1600 participants, 9 themes, 70
discussions, 6 projects delivered, 9 projects started up, 6 further explored. Unfortunately,
it was stopped as XS4ALL didn’t have the internal capacity to sustain this effort.


What do these experiences tell us about
social business?


Some key concepts

• A shift in mindset

• Social is not an add-on, but rather, “a layer that’s interwoven into the
fabric of the organisation.” (David Armano, EVP Edelman Digital) It’s
essential to align external social media efforts with internal roles,
processes and structures.

• It goes beyond campaigns, ad-hoc engagement, and one-time solutions.

• Transaction becomes a by-product of interaction (rich relations).

• Be a Platform Provider (not a Gate-keeper): Don’t only manage
connections, but also facilitate participation. Enable your partners,
customers and stakeholders to connect and engage with each other.


Some key concepts

• Importance of the internal aspect of social business

• Using internal social media fosters workforce / partners / stakeholders
engagement and collaboration, e.g. customer relationship management.

• Listening and engaging is not just about reacting to people’s feedback, but
analysing their sentiment and deriving actionable insights: it’s about
business intelligence.

• Listening (monitoring) is inseparable from engagement. It’s important to be
prepared organisationally to respond to the rapid information and
feedback cycle of the social web.


Some key concepts

• Importance of the internal aspect of social business

• US Cellular, Kraft Foods, and Discover Financial Network underscored
culture change as the number one determinate of social success. IBM
states that overcoming the organizational challenge is 1.8 times harder
than the technological obstacles of social. (Dachis Group)

• Connected employees and leaders create a competitive advantage via a
culture of sharing. - (Charlene Li, author of the New York Times bestseller
“Open Leadership”, Founder of Altimeter Group)


Some key concepts

• People / Communities: the beating heart of any social business

• Successful engagement with your target groups entails serious (and
ongoing) research on your social customers in order to gain insights on the
relevant communities to be activated.

• Enlist the relevant community that is large enough to drive the desired
results. Make sure to plan for too little or too much participation.

• You can have a social business solution that may not focus primarily on
online engagement or digital tools. Ofﬂine processes that activate relevant
communities contribute to the whole social experience.


To truly beneﬁt from the social web, your organisation must
adopt a business-level, people-centric, holistic, and
scalable framework for using social technologies internally
and externally with the end goal of creating shared value.

The challenge: Transforming your organisation into a truly
socially calibrated business is a long journey. Where do
you begin?


Areas for developing
Organisational
readiness social business
B Workforce
Team roles and
engagement
U responsibilities
Governance
S Guidelines and policies
Collaboration tools
Leadership and
I
Expertise
and methods culture
Listening strategy
Training and
N Monitoring,
management, reporting
support Openness and transparency
E Internal champions

S
Social CEOs
Internal
S Network effect: shared and added value among customers, partners and employees

G External
Social networks Content Advocacy
O strategy
A Social presence Editorial calendar Advocacy programs
L Social media marketing
mix (tools + channels)
Creation, Community-building
Repurposing and management
S Coordination between Publication
owned, paid and earned Management
media Distribution,
Engagement activities Archive
Social campaigns
Support for on-/ofﬂine
campaigns

Timi Stoop-Alcala - Social Business Analyst & Content Strategist | timi.alcala@socialbizstrategy.com | +31 6 2843 1916 | @delunna | SocialBizStrategy.com
Graphic adapted from the Dachis Group


Jump-start your social business strategy


Start small, but start now
Create a social business mindset

Pick one goal.
Make social a strategic
component of reaching that goal.

At the very least:
- Learn to listen.
- Research and develop social
customer personas.
- Review the current state of your
social affairs.


Create an environment for strategic thinking about
social business

• Adapt a social business mindset. Always begin with the goal / problem in
mind. Examine your goals for this year and the problems your business wants
to solve. Pick one where social can have an impact.

• Analyse the business case(s). Drill down to speciﬁc use case(s). For example:

• Business case: The network of salons are using and selling fewer L’oreal
products due to recession. Enhancing the way salons connect, engage
and deliver services can give them the competitive edge. Social media can
play a major role in this.

• Use case: L’oreal salons enhances engagement with their customers on
Facebook via their own custom Page. They can easily customise
information and content according to their business needs.


!

Create an environment
for strategic thinking Assess Your Social Business Maturity Level

about social business
For each section, choose the statement that best describes your social business program. Give yourself
1 point if you choose “1,” 2 points if you choose “2,” and 3 points if you choose “3.” Add up your total
score below to determine your social business maturity level.

A. Program
___ 1. We are mostly experimenting with social media.
___ 2. We've launched long-term initiatives that are part of an overall social strategy.
___ 3. Social business permeates the enterprise — it's transcended the Marketing department, and
impacts Product, Support, R&D, etc.
B. Leadership and Organizational Model
• Analyse the current state of ___ 1. We do not have a formalized Social Strategist role or organizational model.
___ 2. We've organized into a Hub and Spoke model with a formal Social Strategist role at the helm.

(internal and external) social ___ 3. We've evolved to a Multiple Hub and Spoke or Holistic model, and business units can deploy
on their own with little guidance from the Hub.

affairs. Sample activities: C. Processes and Policies
___ 1. We have not conducted internal audits or established processes or policies for governance.
___ 2. We've conducted internal audits and established processes and policies across the enterprise.

• Conduct social SWOT, ___ 3. We've created clear processes and workflow across cross-functional teams.

D. Education

market/competitive analysis, ___ 1. There is no formal education program to train internal associates.
___ 2. We've launched an education program but it's not rolled out to the entire company.

social business maturity
___ 3. We’ve formalized an ongoing education program that serves as a resource for all employees.

E. Measurement

test. ___ 1. We’ve tied our social media efforts back to engagement metrics, like number of clicks, fans,
followers, RTs, check-ins, etc.
___ 2. We’ve tied our social media efforts back to social media analytics, like share of voice,

• Identify needs or
resonation, word of mouth, etc.
___
3. We’ve tied our social media efforts back to business metrics, like revenue, reputation, CSAT,
etc.

opportunities that can be F. Technology

your starting point or
___ 1. We’ve invested in brand monitoring to listen to and develop understanding of our customers.
___ 2. We've invested in scalable technologies such as community platforms or social media
management systems (SMMS).

catalyst for adopting a
___ 3. We've invested in social integration with other digital touchpoints like the corporate website,
kiosks, mobile devices, etc., across the entire customer lifecycle.

socbiz framework. Rethink Total score ____
If you scored between 0 and 6 points, your program is at the Novice level.

an existing business If you scored between 7 and 12 points, your program is at the Intermediate level.
If you scored between 13-18 points, your program is at the Advanced level.
!

process. !
Your Social Business Maturity Level!_________________________________________!

http://www.slideshare.net/jeremiah_owyang/how-mature-is-your-company-social-business-maturity-quiz
!

social business

• Review how your business is organised around social media. Review the
workﬂows. Investigate which roles are necessary to engage customers at
the functional level (service/support, sales, marketing, collaboration/
innovation, etc.)
• Clarify success goals and evaluation metrics. Make decisions with metrics.
• Adopt an integrated approach in planning and running. (No cherry-picking)
Identify incremental values.


social business

• Research is the basis for any strategy. Know your audience well.

• Conduct socialgraphics research with the end goal of creating your
company’s social customer personas.

• Check if your content strategy, brand proposition, and other marketing
programmes map to socialgraphic insights and the needs of your social
customer personas.

• Develop a listening strategy aimed at identifying inﬂuencers, hot themes/
topics, and competitor activities.


social business

• Review your brand marketing.

• What is inherently social about your brand? Which one resonates the most
with your customers / partners? Which one do you want to amplify?

• Are you creating marketing programmes with interaction drivers in mind?
E.g. emotion, fame and fortune, fun and entertainment, utility

• Are you creating marketing programmes with solid building blocks for
community development?


How social success looks like

• “Social Business by Design”, by Dion Hinchcliffe and Peter Kim, lists six success
factors. You know when you’re on the road to becoming a social business when
your company:

• Listens, analyzes, and engages, continuously

• Integrates social into the ﬂow of work

• Plans for change and the unexpected

• Turns on the network effect

• Removes barriers to participate

• Enables everyone to participate

And may I add:

Engages, learns, and engages again.


Start being social by intent and design.
Evolve from a social brand to a social business.

A social business calibrates organisational structures, processes, culture, and
leadership to an ecosystem of participation, collaboration, and adaptation, and
the creation of shared value by default. Why? Because a social approach to
business provides a more effective to make better decisions, brings agility to
business functions, enhances workforce productivity, and creates better
products that all ultimately lead to designing better experiences for your
customers, partners and workforce.


Good luck!
Remember: social business is a journey.

And it’s not ice-cream


Social media
doesn’t
solve
everything.


Thanks for
listening!

Blog: http://SocialBizStrategy.com
www.twitter.com/@delunna
timi.alcala@socialbizstrategy.com

All facts and case descriptions were taken from
these sources unless otherwise specified:
- Book: ‘Social Business by Design’ -Dion Hinchcliﬀe
and Peter Kim (non-Dutch cases)
- Websites: Altimeter (Open Research Reports),
Favela Fabric (Dutch cases)
Images are given aribution where they appear.


Social by design: jump-start your social business strategy

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