Businesses using Social - Part 1

I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that so many businesses are still tip toeing around the social media space... but for me, I'm surprised everyday by just how many really smart business people are still afraid to broach the subject. And frankly, how many really smart people are disregarding the subject as "Twitter/Facebook fluff", deeming it irrelevant for their level of business. Its understandable to disregard something when its so overwhelming - remember Waltzing with Bears?. Just getting you're head around what it is and what it means is a big leap. Unless you're in MarComm or Social Tech the huge shifts in communications probably hasn't reached a recognizable threshold yet.

During a meeting last week I found myself answering a frequently asked question "So who (in business) is doing this (going social)?" The question's been qualified with "tell me only about best in class companies". Folks want examples and ROI which is completely understandable but if we're being honest, not completely practical or tangible in the ways we're used to.

The answer isn't simple because many organizations have been embarking on enterprise social media strategies that are not really visible to the public but that have had tremendous impact on their corporate culture, especially multinational organizations. Some of the effects have been great and many have had to learn from mistakes or struggle. But the idea that what we're talking about doesn't fit the traditional evaluation criteria is tough.

I've put together slideshares that can answer some of the basic questions but the rest require lengthy conversations to bridge the knowledge and understanding gap. The learning takes time and so the more that can happen up front and independently the better everyone is served. We need hyper-relevant material that we can provide to these very smart people so they can be learning on their own without feeling overwhelmed or being distracted by the "buzz stuff".

So I started thinking about writing a Fortune 100 blog. Researching and collecting what the Fortune 100 have done with social media, internally and externally. I know my clients' questions are not unique and I'm sure many other folks like me can put that kind of resource to good use in answering their customers' questions.

The catch is...its going to be a lot of work to collect all of this. That said, I've decided to keep it public so it can be shared for anyone else who can benefit from it and if you're in-the-know, have a blog or article on any of the Fortune 100 that is focused on their initiatives in social media, especially at an enterprise level, then please contribute here (feel free to post a link in the comments). I'll post as often as I can and will hopefully be able to act as a digital curator on the topic and produce a meaningful collection of business resources for us all.

Twitter Feed for Tweets containing Fortune 500 and Community or Social

“…B2B communications are NOT in video…”

In a conversation that came about after my last post regarding video as a “relevant “ communication medium in a software development businesses, I found myself facing nearly the same argument from a B2B perspective. My protagonist in this case accepted video and other forms of online media as valuable B2C vehicles but dismissed its presence in Business to Business relationships, management, and information exchanges (hence the quote). So the conversation was interesting and we debated a bit, but I knew I would have to show this individual the face of what he believed non-existent in order to help him reach the first step: Acceptance.

This morning I’m digging around my usual online news centers and thinking about trying to find some recent articles that addressed this evolution in Business communication. As I’m reading a WSJ.com article with some level of consciousness and thinking about my recent conversation, something to the right of my screen caught my eye. There was a movie box playing what “looks like video" of a glass with coins filling it. There were also words posing the questions “Do you invest in IT?”, then “Do you spend IT?”. A few seconds later, I’m recognizing this is exactly what I was talking about. The ad completes and I see Accenture, so I click the box and allow my attention to be directed at their landing page. I smiled widely. This is another place that gets it, and for all those that don’t yet, be concerned.

The landing page presents me a visually pleasing presentation of information on the value prop and solutions. Mid screen is a movie box above which has a blurb describing who the individual in the box is and why I might want to hear from her. This is known as a talking head piece (meaning a head and shoulder shot), and this piece is a video testimonial. Now I’m standing up at my desk I’m so impressed. You have no idea how many times I have advised a client to use video testimonials, they can brilliant! So of course I press play and learn from a very nice, enthusiastic woman, who happens to be a CEO at a major electric organization how Accenture products and service helped her transition her organization to a platform for growth which has lead to a 125% increase in stock. SHWING!

This is not only B2B communication (and marketing)but it is on IT, I mean this is about as dry a well of content as you can drill and they have made it engaging, informative, compelling and the most important quality, relatable. If I am a CEO with enterprise IT needs, I would listen and learn. I would pick up the phone after hearing a piece like that a gazillion times faster than after reading a white paper from …no names…let just say the other guys who don’t yet get it.

Here’s the landing page for Accenture that I saw.

BTW – the article I was reading on WSJ.com was about Dell, HP and others full court press into online video. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out it out. Dell now has a place referred to as Studio Dell that is a library of video content on everything. This is B2C communication evolution.

The WSJ article