The idea of becoming a truly social business isn’t as “blue sky” as it was a year ago – the market is starting to shift. More people are talking about the benefits of engaging with consumers and collaborating internally. We’ve even heard of corporate mandates from the C-suite: “Social is happening; get the company up to speed.”
Earlier this week, my colleague, Kate Rush Sheehy, posted about the importance of implementing corporate social media policies, and I couldn’t agree with her more. Policies should be firmly in place before a company attempts any internal or external social initiative.
So, your business wants to be more “socially calibrated.” You bought the tools, but no one is using them. You have a Twitter account, but no one is responding to tweets. You are confused because when you said, “Let’s do social,” everyone said “YES!” So, what now? You must address corporate culture, which means you need to examine internal behaviors.
Common wisdom says that being a large company in a regulated industry somewhat forfeits your ability to conduct business in a social manner. There are just too many rules; it’s just too risky. Right? There is some truth to this belief, but we think there are several ways to engage. Think of social engagement in phases, balanced by the risk and reward of each.
Ellen Reynolds is a Consultant at Dachis Group, performing both client engagements and internal research.