A fruitful social business strategy has a number of foundation principles that underpin any approach to integrating social into your business. 

But before we delve into some of these principles, I’d like to offer this quote, and ask that you to guess who said it (all will be revealed at the end of this post)

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.
He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it.
He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it.
We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”

To me this, this approach is at the very core of the revised attitude most companies need to adopt. They may have paid lip-service to this over the last century but today, and in the future, this attitude has to prevail – there is nowhere to hide anymore.

The challenge for more established organisations will be the sediment of a long held internal culture. It will take years for many organisations to make the necessary shift towards an open and collaborative platform but it’s a shift that has to happen.

By way of offering some enlightenment here are 4 outtakes our work in social business strategy:

1. ‘The change is social media is happening so fast, it is impossible to be an expert. We’re all just students, literally learning something new every day.’ Brian Solis, The End of Business As Usual.
No one has the keys to the digital castle and some of us are more informed at-the-moment. At best, we are navigators of the opportunities before us. Avoid know-it-all smugness, accept that no questions are stupid and be generous with sharing insights.

2. ‘The good thing about social media is it gives everyone a voice. The bad thing is….. it gives everyone a voice’, Brian Solis, The End of Business As Usual.
This taps into the common fear that many organisations have: losing control. Too late – you’ve already lost control but don't worry. A successful social business strategy (external) needs to be coupled with being a social business (internal) and that entails, in part, having policies, processes and guidelines which can manage negative reactions or controversy. Knowing yourself as a company and understanding your customers’ desires often negates disruptive feedback, minimising risk.

3. ‘The true character of any business is revealed in the collective experiences of its customers. It’s about what people say when you are not around.’ Brian Solis’, The End of Business As Usual.
As people continually connect with one another, vast interactive networks arise. It’s not brands with ‘clever messaging,’ attractive tool-based promotions or creative activations that control this space, it is people; you and me.

4. ‘Businesses that aspire to a higher purpose will outperform businesses that focus on the bottom line’ Brian Solis, The End of Business As Usual.
It is said that great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about things, small minds talk about other people and there are those who just talk about themselves (mostly brands).

This really says it all. Give people a common interest, add value to their lives and give them a reason to share experiences. Another challenge for most organisations is that they are socially inept, never having the need or desire to ‘give’ rather than ‘take.’

And as for the quote? It's from Mahatma Gandhi.

Martyn Thomas founded FRANk Media in 2000 to focus on communications strategy as a key differentiator from the pack. Today, his passion for staying in front of the curve has seen FRANk evolve into a hybrid full service agency with social business strategy at the core. Martyn’s rantings can be found on the FRANk blog frankmedia.com.au/blog