SocialMedia404

While Social Media continues to dominate the organizational functions of marketing/sales, and externally focused communications, there remains enormous opportunity for these new tools, new thinking, within the enterprise.

This article has an initial look at why you should be thinking inside the box.

We’re fans of the people behind the Dachis Group. We’ve looked past their occasional self-labeling as “thought leaders” (we hate that phrase), and recognize they are among the rare voices expanding the social media consciousness beyond sales. They are, thinkers. Dachis Group have outlined a concept they call ‘Social Business Design‘.  It is the cornerstone of the Dachis message.

Dachis describes this as “the intentional creation of dynamic and socially calibrated systems, process, and culture. Its goal: helping organizations improve value exchange among constituents.” The ‘constituents’ referred to are customers, partners, and employees.

The key to this diagram, we think, is the rapidly growing influences that work and personal lives, and technology has in every person’s existence. Lines are blurred, and territories are mixing: people not only use social media for work, but for play. Opinions on work-related subject matter (negative or positive) are played out in personal Social Media spaces. Personal content is becoming influential, to various degrees, at work. And organizations wonder what to do about it all.

We agree with the notion of Social Business Design, but think the Dachis Group has overlooked a few other  audiences:

There are relationships people and their organizations have with many more segments than just customers, partners, and employees. And, as in real life, these relationships are unique. They are created, nurtured, and maintained for different purposes, using different techniques and messages, having different objectives and outcomes.

The appreciation of the uniqueness of each of these audience groups, and what effort you invest, helps create the experience any organization has with them. Each of these relationships and experiences with all your audience groups, can not only be supported but enhanced using Social Media.

Don’t forget, all these ‘audiences’, are people. People interact, and have relationships.

About two years ago, I realized I had been using a technique all along to understand and subsequently architect online environments to support and grow these relationships:

This diagram of the Community eXperience (CX), and the need to understand the complex interactions, whether intended or not, was the genesis for our OASIS Best Practices framework.

In the organization, specifically in the workplace (which, let’s not forget, is populated by people), several opportunities exist to nurture, grow, and enhance the existing relationships of the organization, as well as create new ones. All to support organizational objectives.

NLEC have asked us to present this ‘Social Media in the Workplace‘ future to their annual conference in a couple of weeks. So, since the brochures are soon being sent to delegates soon, I can’t steal my own thunder (OK, at least a rumble or two) by releasing those opportunities, and the reasons they are crucial, right now. I’ll summarize those concepts here after the conference.

In the meantime, have a think about what relationships your organization has, and how you could improve them using more than the methods you are using now. More importantly, think about the “why”: either why you should, or why you think you can’t.

Chris Brogan, recently said at New Media Atlanta, “Systems, by their nature, maintain consistency” (a paraphrase, Chris, apologies). So, are you a systems-thinker? Is all your effort dedicated to blindly maintaining the status quo?

You, a person, may singlehandedly be your organization’s biggest barrier.