Social Business

Where Does Social Media Fit With Brand Culture?

by Heather Rast · December 2, 2011

Creating and maintaining the right culture is essential for sustainable business. Probably more so today, given our access to tools and technology, and ever-increasing adoption. Zappos, Askinose Chocolate, Tom’s Shoes, and Land’s End are just a few of the brands recognized for centering entire company operations – from product to policy – around a set of carefully chosen values. Those values are the structural basis of every decision, action, or passive outcome that comes after.

These brand values – brought to life as deeds and messages – begets culture. When values flex and bow, culture is weakened. And the brand becomes fuzzy, internally and externally. Toss on some social media and you’ve got a heck of an operational and communications failure.

12 comments

Evolving Social Media Marketing to Social Business

by Jason Falls · November 21, 2011

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest post from Jordan Viator Slabaugh, Director of Social Media at Spredfast, a social media management solution provider and SME client.

Businesses small and large have worked to wrap their heads around using social media to aid in marketing efforts for years now. What began as interactive and “new media” tactics quickly transformed into true social capabilities companies can pull out of their arsenal of marketing plans, tools and tactics. And until recently, most planning and execution of social media lived in Marketing and Communications departments.

20 comments

Building A Scalable Social Business

by Jason Falls · September 21, 2011

Even companies deemed advanced users of social technologies are still deficient in their implementation and approach. That was the conclusion of the latest report from The Altimeter Group, authored by Jeremiah Owyang. The research that came from that report will be the subject of Jeremiah’s opening keynote at the Awareness Exploring Social Media Business Summit in Boston, Mass., on Oct. 17. The extended early bird registration ends THIS SATURDAY, Sept. 24. Reserve your seat on our registration page or below.

5 comments

It Takes Time to Grow a Social Media Garden

by Mark Smiciklas · August 24, 2011

A well established notion about social media is that it takes time. No arguement there, but I think organizations misunderstand the type of time investment required to build tangible business value.

Many companies still view social media as a series of linear, tactical exercises. Step 1, get on Twitter. Step 2, tweet. Step 3, cash cheques. To use a gardening analogy, they plant a seed, wait and expect to bear the fruit.

16 comments

Is Mobile Important In Your B2B Social Media Strategy?

by Jason Falls · April 25, 2011

Editor’s Note: Today’s offering is a guest post from my friend and author Eric Schwartzman. He is a long-time, well-respected public relations pro, entrepreneur and thinker and is the co-author of Social Marketing To The Business Customer with Paul Gillin.

Is mobile important to B2B social media marketers? Take this quick, down and dirty assessment to find out what opportunity, if any, the mobile web presents to your company.

You’ve heard that the marketing wars of tomorrow will be fought on the small screen. Smart phone usage and mobile search continue to grow, with analysts predicting nearly 3.5 billion mobile searches per month by next year.

5 comments

Social Business Leadership Framework

by Mark Smiciklas · March 10, 2011

From a leadership perspective, embedding social business ideas into an organization has less to do with embracing tools and technology than it does with learning how to facilitate and manage culture change. What set of skills do leaders need in their toolbox to effectively lead organizations through the process of adopting social business philosophy?

The following framework is inspired by James Kouzes and Barry Posner’s Five Practices Model, from their ground breaking book The Leadership Challenge . This post is designed to help leaders understand some of the unique considerations, competencies and behaviors related to leadership in the age of social media.

11 comments