I am a Serial Social Addict. Harness your social network!

OK.  I admit it.  I tweet multiple times a day, I have 2 blogs, and I love social.  My passion is reaching customers and having them connect with my company in new and smart ways.  As such, I experiment, learn from my peers, and measure these new tools for marketing.   As an executive at IBM, I have found that these Social 2.0 techniques drive down costs and increase revenue.

IBM's 2012 CEO Survey revealed that 57% of CEO's identified social business as a top priority and more than 73% are making significant investments to draw insights into data.  And more than 1,700 chief marketing officers reveal 82% plan to increase their use of social media over the next three to five years.

This shift of consumer to business networking, known as "Social Business" has become the next big challenge for organizations which are quickly learning that social networks are no longer the new water cooler but rather their new production line, a place where employees, partners and clients connect to share vast amounts of knowledge. The big winners will go those who harness the ability to capture and analyze the knowledge their social network creates and share it throughout the business to accelerate innovation, out-market competitors and remove boundaries internally and externally.

Consider the Social Graph.  A Social graph is a graph that depicts personal relations of internet users   Understanding the connections of your clients helps you see the networks, where clients are isolated and where connections can drive revenue.

For example, chief marketing officers (CMO) are looking to gain insights from both internal and external data from sources like Facebook, Twitter and public forums to react more swiftly to customer trends and build their brands.  HR Leaders are looking to build communities to improve recruiting and talent management services.

By interacting with the video game, students can make real-life business situation decisions. They can see the results of their decisions right away, and if they make a mistake, it’s much more private than “failing” in front of a classroom of their colleagues. Because a love of gaming is shared around the world, professors have told us the game can help to bridge cultural barriers   While it’s too soon to measure the full implications, there’s a new business environment emerging.

We cannot ignore the changing group dynamics and social implications. In fact, we should tap into the most innovative ideas to redefine the fundamental nature of educating the market.  Just as games present us with situations that invite players to make choices, consider the advantage of using graphics and decision-making steps of games in business. Using Social Media, we could allow decision makers to immerse themselves in the real-world simulations, judging cause and effect before making decisions.

The arrival of Social Business has created an emerging battleground for IT vendors. For example, financial analyst firm CLSA recently cited enterprise social software as one of the top tech trends in 2013 and Forrester Research reports that the market opportunity for social software will exceed $6 billion by 2016.

by sandraanncarter