Top13 Social Business Trends in 2013! #ibmsocialbiz #socbiz

Happy New Year!

These are my top 13 trends for 2013 around Social Business!  

1.  Meet the new C Suite!   Full of T shapped Skills! 

Social and social tools means that CMOs need to know more about Technology, and that CIOs need to understand more about how to engage clients, and marketing.    With CEOs, according to IBM’s CEO Study, understanding that social will be the #1 way to engage clients by 2015, it is imperative that both roles learn more about the broader equation.

2.  Social is more than Technology — it is like a Diet.  It is a life style change!

Social changes the way that employees work.  It changes the way that clients interact with you!  At Aberdeen’s 2012 Chief Service Officer (CSO) Summit, 85% of attending business leaders stated that their organization was placing an increased importance on customer service.  Social is the preferred way that clients want to get your help!  Are you ready?  So you have a social client service model?

3. No longer B2B, or B2C.  It is now P2P.  2013 is the year of People to People.

Corporations are people.   But they don’t act like it on social sites like Twitter and Facebook sometimes.   Since people want to do business with people, not businesses.  2013 is the year to focus on relationships — not fly by social!  Social networks and mobile devices put brands in front of customers and employees at all times—and give them the power to impact them at warp speed and interface with people!

4.  HR must be overhauled.    2013 is the year of social HR!

Recruiting is broken using old fashioned methods!   How many people apply for a job and never hear back.  Or think about the thousands of people applying and a company having to choose!  In 2013, we believe that social will revolutionize this process.   HR leverages external networks for recruiting, retention and employee brand monitoring.  Emerging education networks and mobility channels create new options for learning

To have more analytics, matching culture to the person and their talents can make more companies more competitive.

5.   The “Sunday night, Monday morning” syndrome is no more!

Today 37% of US information workers are solving customer and business problems using technology that they master first at home and then bring to work.   In 2013, the bridge between the technology they use at home on Sunday night, is no longer better than work tools!   We can all dream!

6. Be more selective!  De-friend in 2013.

With the proliferation of social networks, in 2013, everyone will want to focus on their true friends.   I forsee private communities, and will be “unfriending” those who do not really have interests that are aligned or are establishing relationships. 

7.  Your mother told you “social Skills” mattered!  She was right!

A Harvard Business Review survey showed that only 12 percent of companies using social media think they do so effectively.   It will very important that companies train their employees on social usage, and hire the right set of people to drive social.  For instance, not just community managers for 2012, but social analytics specialists, social innovation officiers, and more.   Make sure you don’t forget to focus on these skills!

8.  Social is NOT the only means to engage. All channels are important.

Social is not THE only way to interact.   Milenimials still prefer texting. Digital immigrants Social Networks. Baby Boomers in person. All use social tools but some as a primary and some as secondary.   It just emphasizes that one size does not fit all.    The  rise of remote and non personal interaction will grow with digital natives and have an impact on society.   But I digress.    Make sure your company uses ALL channels to reach the employees and clients.

9. Social drives the shifts from demographics to behavior.

The old way was to focus on age or geography but on passions, lifestyle behavior learned and discovered through social analytics.    These psychographics drive that stronger relationship.  Social enables us to learn more about our employees and clients so that we can provide them choices based on their likes and dislikes.   2-13 is the year to use this big data to bigger serve your clients!

10.   Social inside a company’s 4 walls continues to outpace external.

Why?  Employee engagement drives client engagement.  According to IBM’s latest trend study, 43% of clients are now using social inside of their 4 walls.  41% in 2012 use it more externally.   I predict this trend will continue as the economics drive the need for stronger employee engagement.  The McKinsey study shows that social drives higher engagement when employees can leverage social to innovate inside the company.

11. End to end social experience is the only way in 2013.

2013 is the year of no more piece parts, it takes a comprehensive social client experience to deliver value.  So no more twitter account not attached to a business process.   Make sure you have leveraged social to anticipate the need of your client, enhance serive, engage the clients, and simplify the way the way is done!   End to end!  Not just one piece!

 12. 2013 is the year to know your social graph.

 A social graph maintains relationships between me and the people in my network as well as content.  To leverage the power of a social graph, you can amplify marketing messages, locate the best sales content or expert to progress your sales opportunity, discover your most avid fans or find the right expert to ensure first call resolution of customer queries. 

13.  Content in context.   Interactive business stream lives!

Overwhelming information demands that Content is presented in context. In 2013, we will demand more than a river of  news but an  interactive integrated business stream.