Social Web or New Marketing = Change of Business as Usual

Or was it the earth? Same letters. There's a reason why the social Web is such a foreign concept for many organizations - it challenges the very premise upon which their business is built.

Social does not equal media alone - it's not about the tools one can use in place of traditional channels. When a company goes social, it indicates its intention to do change, to bring the lessons learned during the public discourse back within its walls.

And at the very root of the issue may very well be the walls themselves. The fact that there are clearly demarcated areas where the business is about itself vs. it being about how it organizes around the human element and its needs - inside and outside.

The danger with business as usual is that it will get something exactly wrong - as it focuses on what worked, what made it successful in the past and doesn't see the change that has already occurred. 

Change is not easy. We're creatures of habit. Even the organizations that get social - or at least the importance of supporting customers - are having a hard time moving away from the corporate side of the brand.

Take for example Rackspace, which I know is a favorite of many for its Fanatical Customer Support messaging - and some say the experience of it. Take a look at that page with the leadership team. What do you see? Or maybe it's fair to ask, what don't you see?

From conversations I had with insiders, I know the San Antonio-based company has a relaxed culture. Maybe it's because it needs to show its viability as a hosting provider, but from the site it looks pretty serious to me. The blog doesn't have frequent posts and the ones that are there are basically articles about the company. 

I'm looking forward to learning more about Building 43 and Robert Scoble's work there. One question to Lew Moorman - why no link to Seth and Scoble in your post? These two individuals have a pretty substantial online presence. Linking is part of the culture of the social Web. In all fairness, I've also noticed others not linking when citing people who have an online presence lately.

Douglas Karr had an interesting post about what we're missing in technology. What are we missing altogether? Do we perhaps know too much?

[image by shoebappa]

Comments

[Bruce Christensen]

If I have learned one thing when following successful leaders - Do what they suggest.

After reading this lesson from Valeria, I added blogroll links on my blog to a couple of the thought leaders that I pay attention to.
It was painless and easy to make this change and follow a good suggestion!

[Stuart Foster]

The reason I'm blogging, tweeting, and participating in social media? (It isn't just because it's incredibly fun) My idols, role models and fantastic peers are all becoming game changers in the space. My professional development is borderline off the charts based on this study, interaction and digestion of the people within this space.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Bruce - it seems to me that if the culture of the 'sphere is about linking (and it is), then when the links are not there it feels like cheating, or back to the old Web site. Glad you found reason to act.

@Stuart - I feel the same way in many respects. Ever since I invested time and attention into learning not just about the tools, but about the people using them - what they know, who they are - I've reached a higher clarity of thought.

[olivier blanchard]

Getting into this space signals a shift from just wanting to push messaging and marketing to wanting to have more of a dialogue, more of a relationship. It is definitely the single most obvious symptom of a positive cultural change within a company. A sign of positive adaptation. That's why people react so positively when they find out that a company just started to blog or tweet. Even if they never bother to read the blog or follow them on Twitter, the signal is loud and clear. and always positive.

Good post. :)

[Ryan Wynia]

Right on, here!
Corporations are still structured the way they were, the way they evolved after the turn of the century when American big business first came to be. The fact of the matter is the advent of the social web will bring such a dramatic shift in budget and personnel staffing, that a deep change will need to occur in order for companies to adapt. Hyper-transparency will force internal to become tightly aligned with brand values and beliefs and, as you have pointed out here, to bring the lessons learned during the public discourse back within its walls.
My complete thought on the topic can be found here http://bit.ly/40vjN