Lesson 1: “Executive engagement is critical”
That’s what Sandy Carter told me when I had asked her about the appropriate level of executive engagement in social media.
“It’s a question of credibility,” she explained, adding that it was “almost unethical” for executives to advocate use of social media and not be engaged themselves.
For her part, Sandy started a blog in 2005 because she saw the potential and wanted to lead by example.
And lead she did. Her IBM blog, “Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) — Off the Record,” eventually garnered a million followers, making her one of the highest profile B2B bloggers on Earth. (When I mentioned that I was not yet writing for a million people, Sandy was kind enough to say, “You’ll get there!”)
Lesson 2: Ask the right questions
“The question I get asked most frequently is, ‘How do I get started on Facebook (or Twitter or Second Life, etc.)?’” Sandy said, “It’s always something very specific. ‘I saw my competitor on [fill in the blank], how do I do that?’”
She continued by saying, “I think that people should be asking, first, ‘Where do I start?’”
The answer to that question begins with answering this one: “Where are my customers?” For example, IBM ran a B2B campaign on Facebook which failed. They ran it again on LinkedIn and it was a success. Why? LinkedIn is where you’ll find B2B folks ready to do business.
The other question that Sandy thinks people must ask is, “How does this fit in to what I’m already doing?”
“You can’t have someone on the side doing social media to see what happens,” she added, “it has to be integrated.”
Lesson 3: “Social media is not just about marketing”
Lesson 3 follows from Lesson 2. When thinking about social media and how you might leverage specific tools, you need to focus on the whole organization and not just a particular function.
“Social media is about social business,” Sandy insists, “and ’social business’ means leveraging social media within your entire business.”
“It’s greater than marketing,” she went on to say, “Social media can transform everything from service and support to inventory management. It can even be part of your commitment to corporate social responsibility. For example, holding virtual events in Second Life was one way we chose to implement our green strategy.”
Let’s Review!
Sandy Carter is an executive committed to social media in the enterprise because she has seen first hand how it can work.
Her experience has taught her that executives have to “walk the walk” if they want the organization to adopt social media technology, that getting social media right means starting with fundamental, business-focused questions, and that social media can and should be used across the enterprise, not just in marketing.
She’s also learned the most basic lesson of social media success: Listen.
“50% of social media is about listening,” she says, “So the ultimate question you need to ask is, ‘Have you listened?’”
Tags: High Tech Marketing, IBM, Social Media
You provide an amazing service by pointing out the two questions:
1. Where do I start?
2. Where are my customers?
These alone make this an article of fabulous value.
Shallie Bey
Smarter Small Business Blog
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Shallie.
There is so much distracting buzz around tools and technology that it’s easy to forget that these need to serve the business first and foremost.
Of course, serving the business means connecting you in meaningful ways to your customers so you can serve them!
Great post. I’m constantly being asked by skeptical clients for good examples of social engagement by B2B brands, and I’ll be using Sandy Carter and IBM as an example from now on (a million readers for a SOA blog!?).
I think she nailed executive involvement as a key factor. I might extend that to include “executive support,” as I have seen companies where the CEO creates the context for social engagement but doesn’t participate him/herself.
And interesting she mentioned LinkedIn…I’m seeing a lot of evidence that LinkedIn is making the jump from job networking site to a true B2B social network.
Interesting article on several levels. One point that I took from it was how to get started. Of course you need to think about what you want to do and how to reach your customers. But you also have to realise that if you start to engage with people you can then listen to their feedback and let your ideas evolve. The “50% of social media is about listening” point is critical.
Very thought-provoking, sincere remarks by Sandy Carter there – I can see why her blog is so successful. I’ve noticed many execs have delegated social media completely to employees while personally shunning it. I don’t think many realize that social media has the huge potential to be a platform for customer service as well. Thanks for the interview.
Mike – Glad I was able to help you with skeptical clients!
Mack – I would even go so far as to say that, at the beginning, one should shoot for 100% listening.
John – Indeed, social media can play a role in customer service and support, product development, community relations, internal collaboration, etc. – it’s not just for marketing anymore!
“It’s a question of credibility,” she explained, adding that it was “almost unethical” for executives to advocate use of social media and not be engaged themselves.
fabulous article
Thanks, Viswanath. The question of executive engagement/participation seems to be one that interests a lot of people.
Great Insights!
As more people use and talk about Social Media, companies try to climb into Facebook with poor arguments such as “everybody is using it” and forget to focus on real marketing and bussines objectives.
Then some of them they try to “engage” people by using the same tools as they use in other media, and they publish a brochure or place a banner and start waiting for results. Of course, they arrive to the conclusion that SocialMedia doesn’t work….
This article show a little bit of that happening on the “moms” segment: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007502.
Keep going on evangelizing… Regards,
Sebas