How to start out with enterprise social media

I find presenting to large audiences about enterprise social networking very difficult - there is such a wide range of understanding.  Invariably I get extreme reactions - one set of people for whom the presentation is thought provoking and one set for whom the information is not new.  But there has been a shift in the last six months, as Craig Roth points out.  I agree that we are ready to move on to hearing more statistics and stories about lessons learned as well as discussing how to get from A to Z.

Social media is fundamentally about creating better relationships. We don't lack tools and methods for developing relationships but social media increases the speed at which we can create close relationships and enables the development of relationships formed through other channels. Business - from resolving payment disputes to acquiring companies - require relationships. The better the relationships, the faster business activities can happen. 

Which gets me to how organizations should think about getting started in social media and it, perhaps obviously, goes back to organizational and functional strategy.  What relationships, from an organizational perspective, are mission critical?  What relationships are important but not core? Which relationships may be primarily transactional and could be interchanged?  If you are a holding company that does a lot of M&A, the mission critical relationship may be with investment bankers.  If you are a tier one automotive supplier the critical relationship is with the car manufacturer.  Consumer brands most important relationship is with their customers. Management consulting firms most critical relationship is with their employees. 

So where does a company get started?  Well, where a company wants to end up is clear - enabling those mission critical relationships and functions.  But, starting out it may be worth determining which users within the company are early adopters that can test out various tools and usage models - and those people may or may not be in the mission critical functions but they will help you learn how the tools can be effectively deployed in your organization.  During that pilot, bringing in some of the staff in mission critical areas is very important but those same functions are the ones in which you don't want to have an unsuccessful pilot. So - my advice:  Start with an eager group in a small way and get a pilot going.  Once active, bring in lead users from mission critical functions and get their feedback on the dynamics, tools, and content and how it may need to be different to support their function.  Use the early adopters to act as evangelists and mentors when you start rolling social media tools out in core strategic areas.

But most importantly: those driving the social media efforts - from the project managers to the executives - should be blogging, Twittering, and participating in public social networks to explore for themselves how it works. Like most enterprise initiatives it won't work without public and regular support from the top and with social media, that will require a degree of time and energy.

[photo by teliko82]

Comments

[Bruce MacVarish]

Rachel - Great post. I agree with your key points that (a)social media helps optimize relationships within the enterprise and at the enterprise edge and (b) leaders in the enterprise need to participate in the public social networks.

Typically some of the most critical relationships and conversations that impact an enterprise are happening at the edge or outside the business, not inside.

Your comments and perspectives on enterprise social media are very helpful. Keep them coming! Thanks.

[Rachel Happe]

Hi Bruce - Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I think it is critical for those leading the charge to have personal stories about how it has changed the way they work...if they can't provide personal conversion stories they will have a hard time convincing others.

[Terry Fernandez]

Rachel,
Great post. Thank you

Some comments below:

1) "Social media is fundamentally about creating better relationships". Need a story here, to drive home the point perhaps? it might help get to a broader audience easier

2) "Which gets me to how organizations should think about getting started in social media". I believe in most traditional organizations this is going to be Stealth KM. You talked abou this in the last paragraph quite well. Example that comes to mind. In a large traditional fortune 50 company when Microsoft windows ruled the roost, a linux user group formed, over a period of time this group has helped ADOPTION of opensource significantly.

[Rachel Happe]

Hi Terry - thanks for stopping by and the comments/suggestions. I'll give some thought to putting some stories together.

Thanks!