Most legendary bad boys (think James Dean) will say that rules are made to be broken. When it comes to not watching too much TV, not staying up late to finish that last video game level, or not swimming 2 minutes after I eat, I have to side with the bad boys. When it comes to starting your business down the online collaboration path, however, you may want to follow the example of Mr. Dion Hinchcliffe.
Dion Hinchcliffe recently posted 12 Rules for Bringing ‘Social’ To Your Business, his thoughts on if your business is starting or already heading in the right direction of becoming ‘social’. Dion starts with his thoughts on the term ‘social’ (I am not a fan of the term social; collaboration is what I do while working): “But lately, with the seemingly runaway rise of highly successful social networks like Facebook and Twitter, it’s become clear that adding the word "social" to virtually any product or service has become the current marketing trend du jour, often to the detriment of the consumers of those offerings.” He continues: “Claims that you can use a Twitter account to turn around your customer service are another. These things can certainly help make a business social, but they are just the means to a long journey; a new way of operating a business in a more open, emergent, and efficient way.”
To me, it sounds like he is looking for a complete solution when taking a business to the next level of multi-customer interaction. Community Server anyone? Ok, shameless plug, and maybe a bit of a stretch, but as he also mentions, a lot of major players are moving towards this type of marketing, brand management, customer service, support, etc. Customers are revealing the full story of their needs to Telligent’s own Lawrence Liu.
On to the main purpose of his posting: his 12 “rules” my thoughts are below each):
- Social businesses are made of people.
- One of these days, the machines will say differently, right Terminator?
- One of these days, the machines will say differently, right Terminator?
- The right tools and infrastructure naturally enable good social business.
- Agreed. Emphasis on the word “right.”
- Agreed. Emphasis on the word “right.”
- Foster conversations with your customers, partners, employees, and everyone else that’s interested.
- Community Server, Community Server again, Community Server Evolution, Inside Sales team. Maybe I was patting myself on the back a bit much on that last part.
- Community Server, Community Server again, Community Server Evolution, Inside Sales team. Maybe I was patting myself on the back a bit much on that last part.
- Popular social channels and services are important but are the smaller part of the social business story.
- Having one place where those types of functionalities come together is undoubtedly a great start.
- Having one place where those types of functionalities come together is undoubtedly a great start.
- Put the community first.
- A must. You have invested in it, now focus on it. Telligent gives you the tools to thrive; you still need to be the advocate to do so.
- A must. You have invested in it, now focus on it. Telligent gives you the tools to thrive; you still need to be the advocate to do so.
- Add a social dimension to your business processes.
- Simply going out and saying… “Ok, collaborate”, most likely won’t do much good.
- Simply going out and saying… “Ok, collaborate”, most likely won’t do much good.
- Rethink your views on intellectual property in a highly social world.
- Ideas will come from anywhere and everywhere. Listen to the old and the young, ideas don’t necessarily come from experience.
- Ideas will come from anywhere and everywhere. Listen to the old and the young, ideas don’t necessarily come from experience.
- You manage to what you measure; use a social yardstick.
- Got that taken care of: Harvest!
- Got that taken care of: Harvest!
- Do not use social channels for traditional push communication.
- Agreed.
- Agreed.
- Censorship kills participation.
- Obviously Telligent adheres to non-censorship, they let me blog! But seriously, every company is going to need to face the piper at some point.
- Obviously Telligent adheres to non-censorship, they let me blog! But seriously, every company is going to need to face the piper at some point.
- If you’re not sure where your organization ends and the network begins, you’re doing it right.
- Seamless integration, core business units talking to outsiders.
- Seamless integration, core business units talking to outsiders.
- Healthy social businesses explicitly extract value from the network.
- Why would a business want to be social if they don’t find value from their network?
- Why would a business want to be social if they don’t find value from their network?
Dion points out that “there are almost certainly a lot more rules for social businesses, but we’re still learning them.”
What are your rules for bringing collaboration to your business?
More: continued here