Social is Good for Business
I read this post by Don Power today in which he interviews Yammer’s Director of Community, Maria Ogneva.
In the article, he asks her how she sees social media impacting corporate culture and the future of social business.
How Have Social Collaboration Tools Changed Corporate Culture?
There were a few things that resonated with me as someone keenly interested in the social evolution of business.
One of these was what Maria said about the importance of CEO’s and managers to drive the collaboration movement within an organization.
“If a corporate culture exists that doesn’t support sharing, or if a CEO doesn’t do anything to change that legacy, then the organization won’t realize the maximum benefit of an enterprise social media implementation,”
Anyone who works in the social media world knows that one of the biggest challenges is convincing decision makers that embedding social into their business culture is just good business.
When we apply these tools to areas outside marketing, then the challenge is revved up 100% because the business model that most leaders grew up with was one in which managers and staff kept information close to their chest.
“The concept of sharing is still relatively foreign to many enterprise organizations, she says. However…“social media has made information more democratic because it’s freely available on the web at the click of a mouse.”
Knowledge is power and that power was closely guarded.
So it’s understandable that when a culture of “hoarding” is replaced by a culture of “sharing”; evolving to a social business becomes more an exercise in managing change than managing social media.
Can companies simply ignore this evolution and go on about “business as usual”?
Sure – at their own peril.
This change is not coming from inside the corporate world, but from the outside by a public that is far ahead of it in terms of social networking.
The enlightened are storming the gates.
Social media and their associated implications are at the very center of that change.
(From Sideraworks: What is Social Business?)
- The incoming workforce, its values, and its expectations for open communication and empowerment demand a more flexible culture and work environment
- Customers expect to communicate more seamlessly and have more attentive, personal relationships with businesses
- The technologies available to successfully enable social concepts have matured in both capabilities and affordability
- The profile of today’s successful companies reflect social values that are embedded in the core of the organization.
“The term “social” is so deeply embedded in our culture now, “that we see a future where social business is just going to be called business.”
What do you think?
About Ray Hiltz
Ray Hiltz is a Social Media Strategist with management roots in restaurant, hotel and performing arts. A strong proponent for the power of collaborative communication and "humanized" digital networking, Ray writes about social media, social business and Google Plus. His clients include hotels, restaurants, consulting firms, entrepreneurs, writers and individuals just trying to make sense of "social". Ray is a popular speaker on Social Media, Social Business and Google+.
