There has been a lot of discussion lately about combining social media with business functions and programs. Everyone is trying to figure out what messages, tools, and platforms to use to best address various business issues while keeping the use of these tools meaningful and relevant to the business task at hand.

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In my work with companies looking to promote their outbound market and internal communications messages, I have looked at a number of “socialbiz” tools and methods that seem to be resonating in the workplace particularly with those that are members of the Millennial Generation who find messaging platforms are more preferable than corporate or personal email systems. In addition there has been an explosion over the past three years in the use of business analytic platforms and how these platforms render real-time information related to business performance against key targets and metrics. Combine this with the need for greater and more detailed communication regarding sustainability initiatives – including the bounce that mobility and social tools bring to program funding - and you find the convergence point.

As I pointed out recently in an Institute of Management Consulting webinar series on the topic, using social business tools is not child’s play. In fact one of the key success factors in using socialbiz platforms is to keep it relevant, timely and focused. I use the expression SAFTK (“stay away from the kids”) for business leaders and IT managers to know that there is a deep well of lost productivity if the tools are used for the wrong purposes across the wrong channels of communication. For example while news and media streams are helpful to keep general knowledge current and to see what the marketplace is communicating about your products and services, the use of socialbiz tools should be business-driven. For sustainability efforts, this means driving market objectives, internal consensus, and developing the requisite information to show the world you really are doing what you say you are.

In the framework I have developed to illustrate this life-cycle for sustainability programs, the axes are based on both the outbound and inbound direction of the communication as well as the strategic or operational context of the messaging. Based on this framework, organizations typically begin in the northeast (upper-right hand) quadrant and work counter-clockwise in their use of social media and socialbiz tools to address the activities of each stage of the life cycle.

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  1. You set goals and announce to the world. This is usually the first step, a strategic direction has been set, usually adoption of a guideline or standard, and it is communicated outbound to the world. Focus is on press releases – so called “statements of direction” – to communicate intent, specific activities the organization is undertaking, and examples of commitments that executives have made in various business circles around their products, services, and operations.

  2. You engage your workforce to put the goals into action. While employee-driven and grass-roots initiatives are known to occur particularly in smaller, less-structured organizations, for most of the public sector and corporate enterprises this is Step 2. Management is engaged to understand how the organization will satisfy the goals and objectives set forth in Step 1, sparking enterprise-wide conversations both formally and informally as to the merit of sustainability programs, what is important, and “how do we get there.”

  3. You need to find the information inside the organization to support your goals. Once the “how” answers start to crystalize, information is needed to provide the reality check needed to report against a standard or to demonstrate actual performance. Analytic platforms are used in large organizations to collect and synthesize large pools of information and to comment and digest on what is relevant and what is not in the process of this collection and internal discovery.

  4. Once you know what you have done, you report your progress to the world. At this point the organization can now begin to report progress to the market, state accomplishments, and refine their targets. This can be communicated in their sustainability report and even more now there is a desire to combine these reports with traditional financial reporting activities. Companies can speak to these activities in their annual report to shareholders, management briefings, and other forums.

In the next article in our series we will look at how Stage 1 activities occur and, given many organizations have been in this Stage 1 for some time, some best practices emerging in this space. As we journey through this life cycle I welcome your comments feedback and ideas. No one organization or group of organizations has all of the best ideas in the area of social media and socialbiz approaches to sustainability, as such the sharing of these practices is still emerging. We can all learn together based on our own interest to share, collaborate and innovate.

 

William Newman is a contributing writer to Sustainable Business Form, and serves as managing principal of Newport Consulting Group, an independent management and technology consulting firm based in Clarkston, Mich. A sought after public speaker, author and a frequent contributor for searchSAP.com, searchManufacturingERP.com (Tech Target Media) and GRC Expert, Financials Expert, and Project Expert publications (SAP Insider). His writings have also appeared in Manufacturing, Government Technology and President’s Strategy magazines. You may contact him via email at wnewman@newportconsgroup.com or follow him on Twitter (william_newman).