Link Internal and External Social for Higher Benefits!

Hot of the presses!

  • 96% of companies don’t link internal & external efforts – Dachis Social Business Council, August 2012
  • And if you do link them together as per McKinsey's Web 2.0 Survey – calculating the average benefit increase of Fully Networked compared to only Internal or External -- showed that “Fully Networked” companies achieve 3.6X higher benefit increase.

So how about you?  Are you linking the 2 together?


Social Business Coffee Break Vblog! CEMEX as best practice

Happy Social Business Coffee Break!

This is CEMEX one of the very best Social Businesses in the world!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHf-p_CeDeA&feature=youtu.be]


What are the benefits of becoming a social business?

In most of the visits I do with companies on social, the big question I get asked is what is the benefit of becoming a social business? 

Here are a few great benefits that I see:

  • Stronger employee engagement.   Stronger employee engagement leads to great client engagement.  In a social business, employees are smarter, more loyal, and engaged because their organization uses social networks, collaboration systems and shared messaging services. 
  • Great talent in and around!  A "social" approach enables employees around the world to tap into each other’s expertise and connections. Companies can attract top talent and give employees the social tools they need to work together. Executives can layer analytics on top of social technologies to make sure their companies have the right skills and expertise to meet market demands.
  • Exceptional client service.  A social business is also one where customer service is exceptional because the company reaches out to customers through social networks, Twitter and blogs in innovative ways and acts on the insights it pulls together about consumers.   That way, customer service teams have the insights and the analytics they need to predict and resolve problems before they happen.
  • Personalized.   Value in a Social Business is created not for 'market segments' or demographics but for individuals.  Companies can dish up more targeted offers to customers and respond more quickly to their problems. R&D can gain new sources of inspirations and insight from customers and employees so that the products customers want are the ones that get to market ... customized to their particular need, even made to order!

What are your thoughts on the value you see in Social?


Social Business Tip of the Day! LinkedIn Mentions

Social Media Tip of the Day!

Did you know that LinkedIn just announced a new function – mentions – which makes it easier to engage with your network by mentioning connections and companies in conversations on LinkedIn. Just start typing the name of a connection or a company in your status update box or a comment field and select the person from the list that appears in the drop-down.

The person or company you mentioned will receive a notification that they have been mentioned. Mentions will be rolled out to English-speaking members first.


Welcome to Social Business all you Pragmatics!!! A Video Blog!

Welcome to our Social Business Coffee Break !!! I am welcoming all you pragmatics to the social era!

Trying to get adoption and use of social from these folks are very different for companies than the leaders and visionary!

I'd love your thoughts!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTJ1z_DeDqU&feature=youtu.be]


Very cool Social tool for Women in Businesses - the Women's ToolBox !

I have been fortunate to meet an incredible group of women through my professional and organizational roles, and one person who shares my passion for expanding opportunities would like to encourage more women to connect with each other and access great resources through her organization, The Women's Toolbox. Janet Powers, the Chief Executive Connector, will -- in her own words -- help you FIND Your Voice, SHARPEN Your Skills, SHARE Your Expertise and EXPAND Your Network. Its tagline (“Practical Advice for Busy Business Women”) illustrates its mission is to empower, educate, and entertain women.

I had the opportunity to talk with Janet at a lunch I hosted for female executives during our recent global customer event IBM Connect, and she suggested we work together in our support of women's empowerment. As part of her commitment, I am excited to share that if you become a new member of The Women's Toolbox, for a limited time you will receive a copy of my book, Get Bold: Using Social Media to Create a New Type of Social Business. I hope you will learn more about the resources available from Janet's organization, and that you will share the opportunity to participate with the women in your networks as well.

Join online at

http://womenstoolbox.com/join-today/.


Does Social Require you lose control (of your brand?!)

Is losing control of your brand a good thing or a bad thing?

We are used to operating with the idea that we have to protect the brand.   How do we lose control of our brand so that our customers have a role in shaping our brand as much as we do?

Well, we know that your brand is not what you say it is, but what everyone else decides.  Social enables you to influence your brand and engage where and how others want to talk.   You can identify and engage influencers and unleash your employees as a “digital army” by building  with customers and convert them to brand ambassadors

If you use Social Analytics to identify needs in the marketplace for specific products, features, or process enhancements by listening and this could allow you to tweak your brand value prop.   Leveraging crowdsourcing to engage employees, partners, and even customers in innovation discussions increases the number and sources of new ideas; but also enables the best ideas to become more visible and mature through collaboration.

I LOVE having brands be leveraged by clients is great -- and I don't think that it is anything new.   Companies now orchestrate and can shape the brand not based on what we are selling but on their character, their interactions, their experiences.

Check out our IBM CMO Jon Iwata!

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/62205426]