Objectives & Strategy–Social Business Starting Points

There’s so much talk about social ROI but the focus seems to be on the endpoint (ROI). As important as determining the ROI can be, it’s the caboose on the business case train.

The starting point is objectives, followed by strategy design, KPI definition, and then lastly, the determination of the ROI. Let's talk turkey.

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Focus Roundtable – Becoming a social business

If you missed The Business of Social Business live talk on Focus, catch it on replay. This was the first of several sessions where Dr. Natalie and I discussed the 7 steps to become a social business.

This week, we covered the first 3 steps: 

  1. Understand the impact on traditional functional roles.
  2. Understand the impact on the business at large - people, process, & technology.
  3. Listen & discover with social monitoring.

Next week, Dr. Natalie and I will continue the discussion, focusing on social objectives and strategy.

Both of these sessions are based on content from our The Business of Social Business ebook.

RIM (Blackberry) = Social Business #Fail

OMG. Have you been following the RIM (Blackberry) outage snafu in the UK? This is an operational crisis accentunated by a communication crisis. And it's an anti-case study in how to be a failed social business that lacks customer centricity.

Update - Oct 12 - The crisis moved into the 3rd consecutive day so I updated my video analysis. Here it is...

Dr. Natalie and I are talking about The Business of Social Business in tomorrow's Focus Roundtable. We'll be providing important insight this week and next in how to avoid being a RIM. Because trust me, you don't want to lose customers the way they're going to.

 

Reference articles

BlackBerry Service Crashes in Europe

BlackBerry Outage Persists in U.S.; Customers Rely on Work-Arounds

Outages Plague RIM's BlackBerry for Second Day in Europe, India

Social Media Woes Highlight Marketing Faults

 

This article isn't specifically about the RIM outage, but you may find it an interesting perspective about RIM's future...

A third of BlackBerry's enterprise base to head for exits in 2012

 

Social Business Impacts People, Process, & Technology

If you want to build a successful social business, then you need to understand how it will impact your company. For example, you need to understand there’s a difference between activities like launching miscellaneous marketing campaigns using social media channels and implementing corporate-wide initiatives.

The latter situation is a change management issue – and that means it will impact people, processes, and technology

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4 Ways Rackspace Email Inspires High Customer Satisfaction

Rackspace Email is the example of a customer-centric companies all others should aspire to. Here's why...

Catch the replay of yesterday's Focus roundtable on Customer Centricity in a Social CRM World, co-hosted with Dr. Natalie and including our guest Emily Yellin.

 

How California Tortilla Exemplifies Customer Centricity

In last week’s Focus Roundtable on The Promise of Social CRM, Dr. Natalie and I talked about how Social CRM is emulating the human approach. Kelly asked the question “What is the antithesis of a human approach? Example?”

In answer to Kelly’s question, I said look at most companies call centers. Putting the snark aside, though, there are companies that are getting Social CRM and doing it right.

California Tortilla is one company and I'm going to tell you why.

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Customer Centricity in a Social CRM World–Ebook now published!

The Simplifying Social Business ebook series just keeps rolling on. Customer Centricity in a Social CRM World, the 3rd book in the series, is now published on Kindle and Nook.

Social customer relationship management (Social CRM or SCRM) is one of the planks of the social business model and turns the focus to the customer, making them central to the business.

It goes beyond saying your customers are important, though. Companies with strong SCRM strategies build genuine and authentic relationships with customers by sharing two-way conversations with them.

A question begging an answer then is – What is “customer centricity” in a Social CRM world?

My answer goes against the conventional wisdom of some of today's thought leaders.

Crowd wisdom in social m

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The Business of Social Business–Now Published!

Woo hoo! I’m happy to report The Business of Social Business is out on Kindle and Nook. I wrote the book in partnership with Dr. Natalie.

Social business is revolutionizing the business landscape. Fifty years from now, historians will look back and realize social business was as game changing as the rise of PCs on everyone’s desktops.

The thing is, though, a lot of business leaders continue to struggle with understanding the importance of social business or the impact it can have on a company. And they don’t understand how to implement the social business model to solve real-world business problems or to springboard opportunities.

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