Hot off the heels of the NW 140 Conference on May 19, 2011 where co-presenter Bruce Elgort and myself gave a talk called Social Business Strategies (available to watch by clicking the talk title), this week was all about digging a little deeper into Social Business. Feel free to take a moment to refresh yourself on the four areas of Social Business: Brands, People, Trusted Relationships and Getting “Stuff” Done.
Welcome back. Now for the final piece of advice for the Social Business 101 series.
Don’t Fear What’s New!
Technology, tools, what’s hot and what’s not change at blinding speeds and can overwhelm businesses looking to build an effective Social Business Strategy. If companies choose to build upon one social network, like Facebook, over another, what happens when that network evolves into something that no longer supports your social initiatives? What happens if they go out of business or are no longer the social network of the day? Remember MySpace?
It’s important that you develop a culture of adaptation that utilizes the tools of today, no matter what they are, to communicate internally and externally according to your goals and objectives. The foundation of a business is not the tools that they use on a daily basis, but the brands that the company provides, the people internally and externally that make business a reality, the trusted relationships that enable commerce, and meeting corporate goals and objectives (GSD).
As a documentary filmmaker, I know that I can produce a final video regardless of available editing software, cameras or lighting, because I have developed a process that is not reliant upon specific tools. That doesn’t mean that I don’t prefer to use the same tools over time. It just means I’m not up a creek without a paddle if Adobe no longer supports Premiere or Final Cut Pro is no longer the industry standard for editing software.
With that, don’t fear what’s new. Adapt by not reacting to the latest fads, but instead choose to build the four areas of your Social Business: Brands, People, Trusted Relationships and Getting “Stuff” Done.