MAD Perspectives Blog

I've been thinking about how companies get started using social media. External usage tends to be led by the marketing team. Their focus is on sharing company and product information with customers to increase brand awareness, thought leadership and ultimately lead generation. This does not mean that that companies are not focused on other uses (think Dell, Comcast or Jet Blue have not focused on customer service. We've read and heard about leaders in social media. But, I'm now thinking about how company leadership influence adoption or use of social media.

There are great case studies about Marriott, Cisco and Best Buy (to name a few) and how CEOs at these companies "got it" when thinking about the benefits of social media. However, many c-level execs think in a traditional hierarchical organization mindset. They raise concerns about risk, security and confidentiality. For me, this begs the question about leadership style. Do certain types of business leaders just "get it" easier than others, or are they just throwing caution to the wind?

In her book "Open Leadership" Charlene Li, shares her thoughts on how social technology can change the way you lead. She presents great examples of companies who have experienced success. She shares case studies on how social media has influenced leadership and culture. She also talks about the best mind set for open leadership:  passion for the vision, focus on relationships and a hacker mentality (by this she means dissatisfaction with the status quo). But still, I wonder, is that enough. I've experienced many leaders who had passion for "their" vision, focused on relationships (with customers, industry leaders or peers and executive peers within their company), yet, their support for social media was tepid at best.

Social media requires openness. Are leaders open? Social media is collaborative. Are leaders collaborative?  Social media requires trust. Are leaders trusting?  Social media is authentic. Are leaders authentic? In fact, this last question is the big issue that faced many of the top executives at financial services and automotive firms during the economic crisis. There is a significant cultural shift underway, enabled by social technology, that is bringing openness back to big business. Do customers and employees trust executives? Once upon a time, yes. Once upon a time companies were transparent. 

My career alma mater, HP, is a classic example. The HP of Bill and Dave was one of collaboration, innovation and openness. Trust was paramount. However, the HP of the past few years is hierarchical and siloed with employees living in fear of making a mistake that might cost them their job. Communication flows downstream and is edited and reshaped until it loses meaning. Power is craved and held tightly. The culture of open communication is long dead and the bottom line has become the driving force (and perhaps that is partly Wall Street's fault) of all activity. 

Executive support is critical for social media success. What leadership characteristics are needed to drive social media success from the top? I recently read "Leadership and Self Deception" by The Arbinger Institute. Their advice (adapted a bit for my own purposes) is relevant:

     - Don't try to be perfect - try to be better!
     - Don't use vocabulary people don't understand. Be clear and true to your own principles.
     - Don't impose your fears, confusion or uncertainty on others. Assume the best!
     - Don't give up when you make a mistake. Apologize and move forward.
     - Don't focus on what others are doing wrong. Focus on what you can do right to help!
     - Don't worry if others aren't helping you. Focus on helping others.

If your executives and senior leadership exhibit these characteristics (they sound awfully social don't they?!), your company can successfully implement social media tactics to engage customers. That is the goal, right? A meaningful social media strategy requires support and involvement from executives and employees across the company.  Employees won't feel empowered to be authentic and transparent unless their leadership also exhibits those traits.  Customers are demanding honesty and openness.  Social media is the desired method for this style of communication.  Are you ready?  Are your executives ready?

What's your perspective?

Many companies recognize the potential value of blogging, but struggle to organize their thoughts and the actual writing of the blog.  Subsequently, the blogs imply doesn't happen.  Yet, according to the Business.com 2009 B2B Social Media Marketing Study, 74% of companies surveyed maintain one or more blogs.  What are all these companies blogging about? And, how do they manage it?

When I look at companies or sites who are blogging regularly and considered leaders in their industry, I've learned the following:

     1. Empower Your Employees - Encourage your employees to blog and share their insights, their smarts, their personalities.  Invite employees from different business groups to write about what's going on the industry.  They will have unique perspectives given the groups they represent (i.e., marketing, sales, engineering, R&D, support).  Their perspectives will be interesting to your current and prospective customers.

     2. Share Your Policy - Many companies will be concerned with giving their employees a public voice.  This is where establishing a policy will alleviate many concerns.  The policy is basical the rules of engagement for your employees...and for your customers.  It should provide guidance to your employees about what is acceptable or unacceptable blogging behavior.  By sharing your policy publically, your customers will know what to expect when engaging with your blogs.  Here are some examples from HP, IBM, SAP and Intel.  My thanks to the high tech community for being so open about their policies!

     3. Enable Comments - Invite and encourage readers to comment!  Comments are what make blogs interactive.  They enable the conversation.  They provide you, the company, with honest, candid, immediate feedback.  It may be supportive, discouraging, antagonistic or enthusiastic.  Aside from concerns about foul language, do not disable comments for fear of negative comments.  common sense must be employed to determine the best approach to addressing negativity, but that negativity can have positive results.

     4. Invite Guest Contributors - Every industry has its pundits.  They exist in the form of analysts, columnists, technologists and executives.  Inviting these thought leaders to contribute to your blog can bring a new perspective to a hot topic, insight to emerging trends and clarity to industry debates.  Your alignment (or lack thereof) with these pundits may attract new readers to your blog.
 
     5. Establish an Editorial Calendar - Creating a plan can simplify the effort associated with managing and writing blogs.  While it is often useful to allow the blog to just "happen" in response to industry trends or to incite new discussion, it is also beneficial for it to reinforce annoucnements or events.  Laying out the calendar will help define the need for content or resources, and give you time to fill that need.

     6. Be Interesting - This is most important.  Think about what you would want to read.  What kind of information are you seeking that only a blog can fulfill?  A blog is not a product or press release, allow your personality to shine through.  As always when thinking social, be transparent and authentic.

What companies or blogs did I check out when thinking about this blog?  After 25 years in high tech, I folow blogs from the companies reference above.  However, I also check in with Marriott, Nike, and Whole Foods.  With my focus in digital/social media, I read streamingmedia.com, Mashable, Social Media Today, Smart Blog on Social Media and more.

Does your company blog?  What's your blogging experience?  I'd love to hear the good and the bad!

What's your perspective?

 

Tranparent.  Authentic.  These may be the two most overused terms in social media. 

Every social media pundit emphasizes the importance of transparency and authenticity. 

 

Whether we are communicating as an individual or as an organization or company, we are encouraged to be transparent.  What does this mean?  The dictionary definition states “easily seen through, open, frank, candid”.  It means to be clear.  Clarity is often in the eyes of the beholder to adapt a well known phrase.  While the communicator may feel they are being clear, the listeners may not agree.  The evolution of social media is challenging organizations to be very clear in their intent and in their communication.  It also allows the listeners to emphatically state when communication is not clear. 

 

Hand in hand with transparency is authenticity.

The dictionary states “not false or copied, trustworthy, valid”.   It means to be honest.  There is an interesting paradox that states that perception is reality.  However, this does not mean perception is honest or authentic, yet the internet provides a forum for information exchange that is not always true.  Fortunately the increased level of interaction via various customer forums encourages reality checks.  A company can make claims to the value of its products.  However, if even one customer is unhappy there is a chance that they will express their dissatisfaction online, thus disruption the chain of communication promoted by the company.

 

 

Transparency and authenticity.

With the advance of social media, companies are being held to different standards.  Before the internet companies pushed information to their customers.  They created campaigns and messaging to position their products and services in the most positive light.  They were honest, to a point.  They did not have to worry about the viral nature of the internet where one unfavorable comment can mushroom into a perception that takes both time and money to reverse.  The messaging was, sometimes, overly positive.  It focused on the positive and on the benefit to consumers or businesses. 

 

 

Companies are learning to listen.

As they become more transparent (i.e., Dell asking for advice on how to improve its customer service) and authentic (i.e., Zappos) they are understanding that they have an opportunity to create much tighter customer relationships.  They have the ability to understand the needs and demands of their customers better than ever before.  However, they must open themselves up to this interaction by becoming more transparent and more authentic.

So, yes these terms are overused, but they are the keys to success in implementing a social media strategy, internally or externally!

What's your perspective?