Social Shakeup
Recently, I had the fun of catching up with Robin Fray Carey, Founder of Social Media Today, about the Social Shakeup Conference in September – what’s new, what companies are doing and what they should be thinking about in terms of social media best practices.
Social Media Today
Key Points from the Podcast
You’ll have to listen to the podcast to hear all the good stuff and check out the videos on Social Media Today. Here are a few highlights:
1. Social is being baked into areas of the company, as it should be: customer service, marketing, PR, product. That discussion started last year.
2. Social business (there is an important distinction between social media and social business) is still not fully understood by many companies. Social layers have the ability to add value to the bottom line. That’s key – we’re talking business.
3. Robin and I agreed that the best “Social CEOs” are sometimes (not always – hey, we hate absolutes!) ones that aren’t high engaged on social media themselves, yet they do get out of their employees’ way and empower others to scale and add value to customers. Yes, social CEOs need to understand the trends, and know what’s going on; however, some CEOs aren’t big tweeters or bloggers and that’s OK, as long as they empower those that are great at it. Social employee advocacy was big again at the conference and remains an important area for growth and measurable returns for organizations. That makes the business heart tingle.
4. Finally, a key thing companies need to be clear about it why the hell they are engaged in social in the first place: what are the company goals, and what are the bigger social goals companies have? Do they even know? I think this is where social business has a larger role to play in social change for the better. Robin said ‘disruptive’ only once – so no real jargon alarm here!
5. BONUS: Robin danced again this year at the end of the conference! As I reminded her, “Shakeup” is in the name and part of the brand promise. I saw her dance last year. Now, I don’t know if there is video of this, but there should be.
Enough Talk! Listen to the Podcast
What does social shakeup mean to you? What did you get from the podcast? Leave a comment below.
