The shift to social media is happening all around us every day. A broad demographic change in the way we connect and communicate, as well as work and live together, began in the mid-2000s.
As the understanding of the changes in our pervasively networked, digital world grows, organizations can, by design, make their way into the future by incorporating the powerful new ways of working that social media represent. This change has been labeled with many names that are explored in a new book, Social Business by Design by Dion Hinchcliffe and Peter Kim.
Traditional organizations perceive newly adopted social modes of participation as optional activities. This becomes a challenge particularly when the newly desired behaviors required by social business design are not clearly defined and supported by operations. Often the old way of working is left intact: workers collaborate and customers interact through legacy channels that are familiar and supported by a long-standing process. Changing mindsets to adopt a social business approach must be a conscious and deliberate activity, especially in the early days of implementing a social business design.
Clear and obvious motivations and incentives must align with the use of new tools to instill behavior change and sustain a new model of engagement as habits are rebuilt. Social business has definite and distinct stages of uptake and adoption, regardless of audience type, as they adjust to the state of maturity and overall rate of social business adoption in the organization.
Adoption strategies for social business can be shared across a portfolio of social business efforts and then tailored to the local solution as needed. This is usually more efficient than reinventing the adoption strategies for each solution. Centralizing practices and knowledge drive the operational efficiency of the social business unit.
Adoption methods are very much in flux as social business becomes more formal and structured, yet powerful techniques are emerging. Social media can then be measured and monitored better than ever before.
Dion Hinchcliffe: Social Business By Design: Transformative Social Media Strategies for the Connected Company