Executive's Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy

DAVID B. THOMAS is Executive Director at New Marketing Labs, a new media marketing agency. Before joining NML, he was social media manager at SAS, where he led the company's global social media strategy. A marketer and communicator with more than twenty years' experience, Dave blogs at dbthomas.com. MIKE BARLOW is an award-winning journalist and author. He is Managing Partner at Cumulus Partners (cumuluspartners.com), a marketing communications strategy consulting firm specializing in original content development and content-based marketing.

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• Foreword xiiiPreface xvAcknowledgments xviiIntroduction 1Country Village or Gleaming City? 2Beyond Disruptive 4Step Aside, Fred Taylor . . . 6Social Media or What? 6Why Now? 7So, What’s the Best Way to Skin a Mastodon? 8Questions You Should Be Prepared to Answer 10Critical Areas for Success 12Part I The Grand Scheme of Things 15Chapter 1 Speed, Scope, Complexity, Power, and Potential 17They Laughed at the Wright Brothers 19A World of New Challenges and Opportunities 21Getting a Firm Grasp on a Viral Phenomenon 21What’s the Hurry? 22Too Newfangled for You? 22A Very Cool Scenario 23Step Up and Meet the Millennial Generation 26Just What You Needed: Another “Convergence” 27Chapter 2 The New Mode of Production 29Social Media, Teamwork, and Collaboration 29Mapping Social Media to Results 33Accelerating Product Development 35Driving Knowledge into and across the Organization 37Crowd Sourcing 38We’re All Hackers Now 41Chapter 3 The Social Enterprise 43Forget Murphy’s Law 43More Important Than Money? 44The Social Workforce 46Collaboration is the New Efficiency 47Social HR 48First Impressions Count 49The Train is Leaving the Station 51The New Social Dimension 52Social CRM 53Social Leadership 55Making It Stick 57Legal Niceties 62High Speeds Need Seat Belts 63Take the Time to Write It Down 65Part II Building a Structure for Success 67Chapter 4 Get Everybody Together in the Same Room 69Invite the Practitioners, Not Just the Rulemakers 70Figure Out What’s Important 71What are Your Existing Goals? 72What Makes Sense in Your Industry? 73What Makes Sense in Your Company? 73How Can You Figure Out What Will Work for You? 74Chapter 5 Creating Social Media Guidelines 75Be Clear and Concise 76Guiding Principles for Social Media at SAS 76Include Dos as Well as Don’ts 77Include Examples 78Communicate as Often as Possible, in Every Channel You Have 79Spotlight Successes 80Lead by Example 81Chapter 6 Staffing and Structuring 83Where Does It Live? 85Hire or Designate? 86How Do You Structure for Social Media? 87How One Organization Pulls It Together 89Outsourcing the Roles 90Chapter 7 Listening, Measurement, Analytics, and ROI 93A Simple Listening Framework 94First, a Word from the Measurement Queen 95“Listen, Yes. But Think Bigger.” 96The Five Kinds of Listening 98What is Social Media Analytics? 101CareOne’s Measurement Model 104Not a Simple Formula, but a Formula Nonetheless 106Chapter 8 The Keys to Success in Social Media 113It’s Difficult in Its Simplicity 113Finding the Time to Do It 115A Simple Model 116Using All Your Channels 117Nine Easy Ways to Write a Blog Post 118Part III Putting Your Social Media Strategy to Work 121Chapter 9 Marketing 123From Strollers to Sharpies 125From the Nursery to the Kitchen 128Sharpie, Meet Lamborghini 129Bert’s Advice 130Chapter 10 Social Media for B2B 133B2B and Phonebooth-to-B 135Taking an Integrated Approach at Cisco 137Chapter 11 Public Relations 141The Old Model of PR 142The New Model of PR 143Social Media PR at Mayo Clinic 144Social Media in a Crisis 146Greenpeace versus Nestlé 147The Power of Parody 148Chapter 12 Sales 153Turning Twitter Connections into Sales Leads 158A Debt of Gratitude 159Chapter 13 The Voice of the Customer 163Customer Service 163Comcast Cares 164Nothing is Certain but Twitter and Taxes 165Product Development 168The Phone is Ringing 170Chapter 14 Internal Communications 173The “Virtual Water Cooler” 175Social Media and Internal Communications at SAS 176Appendix: Intuit Social Communications Policy 179Additional Resources 187Recommended Reading 191About the Authors 193Index 195