Best practices for enterprise social media management by the social media dreamteam

1. Social@Scale
WHAT 30 OF THE BEST MINDS IN SOCIAL THINK LARGE BRANDS
MUST DO TO SUCCEED IN BEING SOCIAL AT SCALE.
HOW TO
PLAN AND
DELIVER
A GLOBAL
SOCIAL
MEDIA
DEPLOYMENT, PG 2
HOW PREPARED
ARE YOU TO BE
SOCIAL@SCALE?
FIND OUT NOW.
TAKE THE READINESS
ASSESSMENT, PG 58

2. Dedicated to those who share our
mission to help every large enterprise
be Social.

3. Table of Contents
What is Social@Scale?...................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
How to Plan and Deliver a Global Social Media Deployment ................................................................................. 2
The 6 “Must Haves” For Any Enterprise Social RFP ......................................................................................................... 3
SECTION 1: It’s Time to Start Thinking Social@Scale
DAVID MEERMAN SCOTT ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6
The Real-Time Mindset: Don’t Use the Word “Social”
DAVID ARMANO .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Social Business@Scale: Not If, But When
MITCH JOEL .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Does Social Really Scale?
MACK COLLIER ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Commitment to Change: Not Every Enterprise is Ready for Social@Scale
JOSEPH JAFFE ..............................................................................................................................................................................................11
Social@Scale and Other Oxymorons
MICHAEL BRITO .........................................................................................................................................................................................12
A Britopian View: Success Cannot Be Measured By Fans Alone
ROHIT BHARGAVA .....................................................................................................................................................................................13
3 Tips For Scaling Likeability (And Why It Matters)
NILOFER MERCHANT .............................................................................................................................................................................. 14
From 800 Lb Gorillas to 800 Gazelles
TED COINE .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 15
The Social and The Extinct
DAVID WEINBERGER ................................................................................................................................................................................ 16
The Internet is Not the Medium: WE are the Medium
SHELLY PALMER ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 18
No Crystal Ball Required: The Future of Social Media is Now
MARK EARLS ...........................................................................................................................................................................19
People Are Not Robots; Corporations Are Not Machines Either

4. Table of Contents cont’d.
SECTION 2: Are you READY to be Social@Scale? Organization, Tools & Tactics
RENEE BLODGET....................................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Achieving Social@Scale Means Getting Rid of Your Silos
AUGIE RAY ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23
Your Job is NOT to Raise Your Own Klout Score: Thinking Beyond Posts, Tweets, Games and Pins
BRETT PETERSEL ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Time to Get Rid of Your Social Media Silos
TED RUBIN .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 26
Return on Relationship: Why Companies Need to Embrace Social@Scale
SECTION 3: Social@Scale Organizational Models
SARAH EVANS ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 29
How to Scale the Social Media Corporate Team at the Enterprise Level
JEFF BULLAS............................................................................................................................................................................................... 31
Why Social@Scale Shouldn’t Be Left to the Interns
CHRIS BROGAN ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 33
Six Areas Where to Focus Your Social@Scale Energy
JASON FALLS ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 35
Social Media Software is Only Part of the Equation
JAY BAER ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 37
The 5 Critical Social Media Skills You Need to Disperse
MATT DICKMAN ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 39
Social@Scale Begins With an Informed C-Suite

5. Table of Contents cont’d.
SECTION 4: Content & Conversation to be Social@Scale
VENKATESH RAO ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 42
Avoid Fake Relationships: Using Irony and Humor to Engage Contradictory Marketing Realities
EDWARD BOCHES ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 44
7 Tips For Being Social And Doing It at Scale
ANN HANDLEY .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 46
An Open Letter to C-Level Executives: How do we SCALE social?
DOC SEARLS ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 48
The Personal Side of Social@Scale
RICHARD STACY ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 50
The Value of Small Group Conversations: Why a ‘Platform for the Masses’ is Not the Same Thing as a ‘Mass Platform.’
AMY VERNON ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 52
You Have to Care
SECTION 5: Branding in a Social@Scale World
PETER SHANKMAN ................................................................................................................................................................................. 54
The Great Airport Steak-Out: How Morton’s Gets Its Customers to Scale Social for Them
THOMAS BAEKDAL .................................................................................................................................................................................. 56
Is Your Brand Socially Compatible?
Social@Scale Readiness Assessment .............................................................................................................................................. 58

6. What is Social@Scale?
Combining cutting-edge technology,
corporate governance, and a disciplined
operational framework, Social@Scale
enables brands to engage in a timely
and relevant manner with their global
audience from a single platform
across multiple corporate functions
in multiple social channels.

7. How to Plan and Deliver a
Global Social Media Deployment
1 Map the Strategy
2 3 4 5
Define the business objectives and the specific set of social activities
designed to meet those objectives.
1 2 Staff Up: Suggested Roles
3 4 5
GLOBAL:
1 2
1 social media executive
2 an implementation team
REGIONAL:
1 2
1 social media director
2 an analyst
LOCAL:
1 2 3 4 5
1 a community manager 4 a content manager
2 a social media manager 5 subject matter experts
3 a reporting manager from marketing, HR,
customer service &PR
1 2 3 4 5 Measure
2 3 4 5 1 2
Plan to Operate 3 4 5
Consistently Brand Social
1. Campaign Effectiveness
1. Activity plan by role 1. Online social brand 2. Audience Engagement
2. Rules of conduct style guide for look
3. Reach
3. Activations 2. Detailed guidelines for
brand feel
4. Sunsetting & Business
Deactivations 1. Response Times
5. Best practices 2. Voice of the Customer
3. NPS
4. Attributable eCommerce
Revenue
SOCIAL@SCALE | 2

8. The 6 “Must Haves” For
Any Enterprise Social RFP
1 Multi-Channel Cross-Functional 2
Management Capabilities
Manage conversations across Collaboration among multiple
ALL social channels functional units
Support for new & international networks Automated & customizable rules,
filters, and actions
Native design for
multiple channels Workflow, routing,
queues, notifications,
and escalations
3 Scalability Social Governance 4
Natural Language Processing Global user access,
to manage large message volume permission, approvers, and
Architecture to support
volume spikes
RFP password management
Audit trails, digital asset
management,
Multi-country and
multi-language
calendaring,
templates
Legal
deployments
5 Customized Reporting Rapid Product 6
Enhancements
Measure engagement, Frequency of new product feature releases
response times, dispersion
Ability to support custom development
Connect social activity to business results
Integration with existing
VERSIO
2.0
analytics tools N
Message categorization
at a granular level
SOCIAL@SCALE | 3

9. SECTION 1
It’s Time to Start
Thinking Social@Scale

10. David Meerman Scott is a marketing strategist, advisor to emerging companies, keynote speaker, and an
international bestselling author of eight books including “Real-Time Marketing & PR” and “Newsjacking.” His
books have been translated into 30 languages. You can follow David on Twitter @dmscott or at his personal blog,
Web Ink Now.
The Real-Time Mindset:
Don’t Use the Word “Social”
BY DAVID MEERMAN SCOTT
When I speak with executives around the world about social,
many think of their kids’ Facebook or Twitter and what you had
for lunch, deciding that social is frivolous at best and a dangerous
time-waster at worst.
“Recognize your
In order to scale social, I recommend not using the word employees as
“social” at all and instead substitute “real-time”
An immensely powerful competitive advantage flows to responsible adults.
Empower them to
organizations with people who understand the power of real-
time information. What are people doing on your site right now?
Has someone just praised you on Facebook? Panned you on
Twitter? Published a how-to video about your product on
YouTube? Executives understand real-time and are eager to
take initiative.”
implement the ideas.
Conventional vs. Real-Time
The conventional business approach favors a campaign (note the war metaphor) that requires people to spend weeks or months
planning to hit targets. Agencies must be consulted. Messaging strategies must be developed. Advertising space/time must be
bought. Conference rooms and refreshments must be prepared for press conferences. Do you serve them sushi or sandwiches?
The real-time mindset recognizes the importance of speed. It is an attitude to business (and to life) that emphasizes moving
quickly when the time is right.
Developing a real-time mindset is not an either/or proposition. I’m not saying you should abandon your current business-
planning process. Nor do I advocate allowing your team to run off barking at every car that drives by. Focus and collaboration
are essential.
cont’d. next page >>
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11. The Real-Time Mindset: cont’d.
Large Organizations Need to Work at It
The more people you have in an organization, the tougher it is to communicate in real time. In a command-and-control
environment where no action can be taken without authority, without consultation, without due process, any individual
who shows initiative can expect to be squashed.
The challenge is to develop a new balance that empowers employee initiative but offers real-time guidance when it’s
needed—like a hotline to higher authority.
In a real-time corporate culture, everyone is recognized as a responsible adult.
If you’re the leader, and you want to cultivate a real-time mindset throughout your organization, tear down the
command-and-control mentality. Recognize your employees as responsible adults. Empower them to take initiative.
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12. David Armano is Editor-in-Chief of EdelmanDigital.com and Edelman’s Executive Vice President -- Global
Innovation & Integration. David previously was a founder of the social business consultancy Dachis Group, helping
launch the business from stealth mode into the marketplace. He regularly writes industry perspectives for the
Harvard Business Review, and co-founded the “Allhat” event -- billed by SXSW as populated by “the most respected
voices in digital.” You can follow David on Twitter @armano or at his Logic + Emotion blog.
Social Business: Not If, But When
BY DAVID ARMANO
Do you remember webmasters? This was a real title at one point in the corporate world created many years ago to support
something we called the “website,” a digital manifestation of your company. The problem with webmasters was that as general-
ists who could wear multiple hats -- coding, writing, designing and managing one or more sites -- they as single individuals could
not scale.
Today, we are rapidly moving toward an era of Social Business@Scale, which loosely translates to an organization’s ability to
integrate social technology and behavior internally and externally. Why? Because much like “digital” before it, “social” promises
to empower both consumers and employees alike leading to positive business outcomes for the organizations which figure out
how to crack the social code.
cont’d. next page >>
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13. Social Business: Not If, But When cont’d.
The big question now is not IF social can scale, but when and how.
“... much like
To answer that, let’s look back at yesterday’s webmasters who
were replaced by teams, systems and new processes -- all
designed for scale. We can also look back at the leaders of
yesterday: the CIOs and CMOs who made digital a priority
and led efforts in e-commerce or ambitious corporate global
‘digital’ before it, ‘
social’ promises to
website rollouts. Lastly, let’s recall those who embraced a digital
culture, individuals who spent countless hours “surfing” the
information highway and living a digital lifestyle.
empower both
How will social business scale?
It will have something to do with “the three P’s” of change
consumers and
management. Changes in People (culture, job descriptions),
Process (systems and workflow), and Platforms (technology) employees alike...”
will need to take place in order for social to be woven into the
fabric of an organization.
Much like yesterday’s webmasters, today’s community
managers represent the first wave of social, a newly created
position designed to deal with a social web. But community
managers alone can’t scale and a social business can’t be
built overnight.
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14. Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image and the author of the best-selling business book, “Six Pixels of Separation.”
His next book, “CTRL ALT DEL - Reboot Your Business (and Yourself ) in a Connected World,” will be published in Spring
2013. You can follow Mitch on Twitter @mitchjoel or at his Six Pixels of Separation blog.
Does Social Really Scale?
BY MITCH JOEL
That’s the real question and that’s the question that organiza-
tions are going to have to hunker down and start thinking
about moving forward.
“Social is the act of
making all of the
At first, social media was all about making sure that you can
respond to customer and client needs in a timely (and public!)
manner. Now that we live in a world where close to one billion
people are connected on Facebook alone, things are going to
change. Enter the brave new Era of Social Business, where
material that a
we are all -- including everyone from the President down to
the receptionist -- moving from a hierarchical response-and- company produces
measure infrastructure to a much more non-hierarchical
structure. more shareable
and findable.”
We’re now all responsible for how we communicate – both
internally and externally. We’re seeing companies like Oracle
and Salesforce invest in and acquire (at an alarming rate) busi-
nesses that are able to help their people be more social. Sadly,
many people still think that social is about the conversation.
It isn’t.
Social is the act of making all of the material that a company produces more shareable and findable. When what you do – as a
business – is more shareable and findable, people will do something very social with it. They’ll share it, comment on it, create
content around it and engage with you and your business. If you can master that one little (but vastly important) nuance, you
will begin to see what happens when a company becomes social. Then you can make it scale with the right tools, philosophical
approach, and more importantly… the right people.
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15. Based in Alabama, Mack Collier is a social media strategist, trainer and speaker who specializes in helping
companies better connect with their customers via social media. He is also the founder and moderater of #Blogchat,
the largest Twitter Chat on the internet, where thousands of people meet each Sunday night to discuss a different
blogging topic. His first business book, “Think Like A Rockstar: How to Create Social Media and Marketing
Strategies That Turn Customers Into Fans,” will be published in 2013. You can follow Mack on Twitter @MackCollier
or at his personal blog.
Commitment to Change: Not Every
Enterprise is Ready for Social@Scale
BY MACK COLLIER
Before a large organization can scale social across itself, it needs to make two commitments:
1. It must create a continuous feedback loop between its customers and itself, where the organization and its customers have
direct channels of communication. A “quick and dirty” method of accomplishing this is via robust social media presences, but
it needs to go beyond that. There needs to be mechanisms in place both internally within the enterprise and externally among
the customers that facilitate and encourage the flow of information in both directions.
2. It must create an internal structure that can not only glean
relevant customer and company insights, but also distrib-
“There needs to be
ute those insights to the appropriate areas of the company
so it can act on that information. This is why there’s been
so much talk in recent years of removing the “silos” within
organizations, and more free-sharing of information. mechanisms in place
both internally... and
The problem is that these two commitments will require an
extensive financial commitment from the average enterprise,
and many won’t follow through unless they can see a clear
benefit. The average large organization won’t commit to
making these necessary changes until they better understand
externally among the
the value realized from better connections with their custom-
ers (and employees), especially via emerging social and mobile customers that facilitate
technologies.
When companies begin to move away from trying to directly
and encourage the
flow of information in
extract sales from customers (via traditional marketing) to
understanding that creating value for customers will indirectly
lead to sales, then we’ll begin to see the necessary changes
take place both internally and externally.
both directions.”
But these changes will come very slowly for many large
organizations. Cultures that take decades to form don’t
typically turn around overnight.
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16. Joseph Jaffe is Founder & Partner of Evol8tion, LLC, an innovation agency that matches early stage startups with
established brands to partner via mentoring, pilot programs, investment and/or acquisition. In 2009, he launched his
first foray into video in the form of JaffeJuiceTV -- in an effort to prove once and for all that he does not have a face
for radio. You can follow Joseph on Twitter @jaffejuice or at his “Jaffe Juice” blog and audio podcast.
Social@Scale and Other Oxymorons
BY JOSEPH JAFFE
“Social Media” – it’s a contradiction at best and oxymoron at worst; or perhaps I should say transferred epithet, while I’m split-
ting grammatical hairs. And the moron in question is anyone who is using it incorrectly.
“Social” = You and I grabbing a beer after work.
“Media” = The artificially created and contrived term created
“the real role of
by us to repetitively hit our “prospects” or targets over the
head with a blunt object called advertising or paid media.
social media
“Social” + “Media” aka Oil + Water = “Social Media.”
I like to refer social media as “non media.”
Not paid media; not earned media; not owned media, but is retention.”
non-media. It is the power of peer-to-peer; human-to-human
connections. Influence. Advocacy. Referrals. Credible
customer-centric endorsements. Yes, even word-of-mouth.
I believe that the real role of social media is retention.
I also do believe that social can scale. It can get to scale with the same outcome as marketers so desperately covet and desire,
BUT there’s an entirely different route that needs to be taken.
Social@Scale comes via a combination of two approaches:
1. Reaggregation -- I share this term with my colleague, Rishad Tobaccowala. It is a bottom-up approach that is diametrically
opposed to the carpet-bombing, top-down incumbent method. From the few comes the many.
2. Combining Technology and Humanity -- We’re very good at using technology to automate, streamline and simplify, but the
real challenge is how to scale humanity -- that is, how to use technology to achieve scale without losing our souls in the process.
Put the two together and we might just have a fighting chance of figuring out the sweet spot of new marketing, which represents
a win-win for both our consumers (authentic, credible and transparent connections) and shareholders (economies of scale,
critical mass and real business outcomes).
Simple, right?
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17. Michael Brito is a Senior Vice President of Social Business Planning at Edelman Digital. He provides strategic
counsel, guidance, and best practices to several of Edelman’s top global tech accounts and is responsible for helping
transform their organizations to be more open, collaborative and socially proficient -- with the end result of creating
shared value with employees, partners and customers. You can follow Michael on Twitter @Britopian or at his
Britopian blog.
A Britopian View: Success Cannot
Be Measured By Fans Alone
BY MICHAEL BRITO
Social media is not just about friends, fans and followers.
There is certainly some validity to this thinking because our
minds have been trained to focus on outcomes. If done
right, implementing smart social media initiatives such as
“Problems arise
when we don’t
community engagement, advocacy/influencer management,
a Facebook sponsored story or a Promoted Tweet will increase
community growth.
Yes, that’s a good thing. But there is so much more to it. think about the
Problems arise when we don’t think about the possible
implications that this bright and shiny object called “social
possible impli-
media” can cause. Issues usually include:
cations that this
* Disjointed Content
* How to Scale Programs Globally
bright and shiny
* Confusion of Roles & Responsibilities object called ‘social
This is not hype and not a scare tactic. These are real issues
that plague business today. media’ can cause.”
Social business can be compared to building a house.
Organizations must focus on the infrastructure first and
operationalize their content marketing and community
management, build governance models and create workflows
that address customer support integration.
The last thing you want to do is hang dry wall AFTER it is painted, right?
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18. Rohit Bhargava Bhargava is Senior Vice President of Global Strategy at Ogilvy and the best selling author of the
new book, “Likeonomics,” which illustrates why we do business with people we like and how any brand can profit
from being more likeable. You can follow Rohit on Twitter @rohitbhargava or at his Influential Marketing Blog
3 Tips For Scaling Likeability
(And Why It Matters)
BY ROHIT BHARGAVA
By now you’ve heard the predictions that social media is reinventing business, or products, or customers. In the midst of all this
“reinvention,” however, is the not-so-trivial challenge of delivering a great product or service. We are often taught that if we get
the product or service right, everything else takes care of itself. The only problem is that it doesn’t really work that way. Satisfied
customers leave all the time because they have no real reason to stay. Satisfaction isn’t the same thing as loyalty.
Social media can help by answering the most important customer questions, delighting them, and offering more than just a
satisfactory experience. Organizations that use social media effectively understand this, but there are still some big challenges.
Ownership is one. Who is really in charge of it? Who will answer that tweet on a Sunday afternoon? Just as important is
scalability. How do you scale something as elusive as “likeability?”
There are plenty of benefits of likeability for your brand, from increased customer loyalty to the ability to encourage more
proactive word of mouth and referrals. Customers stay loyal to brands that they have a deeper personal relationship with.
Here are a few tips for scaling this
likeability for your brand:
1. Encourage Humanity: People identify with brands
that treat them like real people, so skip the terms and
“People identify
conditions and make it a priority for your people to
engage with customers in more meaningful ways. with brands that
2. Identify the Creators: In every organization you have
treat them like
people who are passionate about creating content of all sorts.
Often they come from areas outside marketing. Conduct an real people”
internal search to find this passion, and you can often scale
your team from within.
3. Simplify the Tools: Using platforms to manage social media
offer great value, as long as you make sure they are simple
enough that anyone in your organization can use them to
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19. Nilofer Merchant inspires fearless cultures. When fear rules, ideas are stifled, innovation stagnates. Remove
that fear and you’ll see people thrive. Fearlessness brings results. Nilofer’s career began at Apple and she has since
been a CEO, run Fortune 500 companies, led successful start-ups, and launched over 100 products that account
for $18B in revenues. She’s also written O’Reilly’s most successful business book to date, “The New How: Creating
Business Solutions Through Collaborative Strategy.” In her work, she helps organizations close the Air Sandwich,
the proverbial gap between strategy and execution. You can follow Nilofer on Twitter @nilofer or at her “Yes And
No: Sparks For Innovators” blog.
From 800 Lb Gorillas to 800 Gazelles
BY NILOFER MERCHANT
“Size matters.” This is just one of five legacies that traditional strategy taught us that no longer apply in the Social Era. And, it is
simply wrong for leaders of organizations to continue to rely on this (and other) passé ideas.
Yet, too many still do. It is the reason that the 800 lb gorillas of
our days -- including banking and finance, automotive, energy,
agriculture, and IT – are dying or failing in tectonic ways.
“The #SocialEra has
new rules: scale
Social allows us to do something entirely differently. But before
we can, we have to disaggregate two words – social is not
always attached to the word media. Social can be a way to
operate all parts of the business model, from what we create,
to how we deliver, and also how to reach markets.
happens by being
It’s not enough to do what we did yesterday incrementally
better. Until we collectively stop thinking of Social as some way
connected with
to do x incrementally better, we’re never going to redesign the
enterprise. To patch Social onto the existing enterprise means
community.”
a programmatic approach. But to use Social for a strategic
redesign, well, you have to have the ability to meet the rapidly
changing demands of a volatile and global marketplace.
Scale in the old era meant being big. That’s why we celebrated the 800-Lb Gorilla. But the #SocialEra has new rules – and clearly
a new truth – scale happens by being connected with community. Social@Scale will look more like 800 Gazelles – nimbly
forming into tribes and being fast/fluid/flexible to act and engage with the market. This will lead to more than “winning,” it will
lead to thriving organizations.
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20. Ted Coine is one of the most influential business leaders online and is recognized on the Forbes list of Top 50
“Power Influencers” in Social Media. He is currently writing his third book, about how social media is changing
business leadership as we know it. You can follow Ted on Twitter @tedcoine or at his Switch and Shift blog.
The Social and The Extinct
BY TED COINE
What is Social@Scale for the enterprise? That’s simple: How
many employees do you have?
That’s how large your social media staff can be. Simple, yes, but
“If you don’t get social
integrated throughout
not necessarily easy. So here are a few tips to make sure you’re
headed in the right direction.
1. Craft a social media policy that fits your culture. Is your cul-
ture controlling or enabling? Your policy must fit your culture
your enterprise and
infused in your culture
or you’re headed for trouble.
2. Which department should “own” social? Marketing? PR?
Customer Service? R&D? Recruiting? Executive Leadership?
The savvy enterprise will answer “all of the above –
ASAP no other advice
,
will matter.”
and more!”
3. Train, enable, and connect everyone. See what they come up
with. Social is by definition a bottom-up endeavor.
4. Meet your audience where it already is, and engage in conver-
sation, not broadcasting. Think of it this way: SOCIAL (media).
5. Whatever technology you use to manage across social platforms, make sure it’s nimble enough to add new ones as they gain
popularity – even several times a year, as necessary.
Finally, a word of warning because my main area of expertise is C-level leadership rather than media old or new: If you don’t get
social integrated throughout your enterprise and infused in your culture ASAP, no other advice will matter. Social is changing
everything about how business is done. Everything. Leaders who ignore that do so at their own peril.
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21. A frequent commentator on NPR, David Weinberger is a senior researcher at Harvard Law’s Berkman Center
for the Internet & Society and Co-Director of the Harvard Library Innovation Lab at Harvard Law School. He also
is the author of “Too Big to Know,” and the co-author of “The Cluetrain Manifesto.” Under the radar, David also
wrote seven years worth of gags for Woody Allen’s comic strip, but was never asked to make a cameo in any of
his movies. You can follow David on Twitter @dweinberger or at his personal blog, Joho.
The Internet is Not the Medium:
WE are the Medium
BY DAVID WEINBERGER
“Social@Scale” until recently was a contradiction. We assumed the more social ties you had, the weaker they became -- until
you were down to people whose names you can’t quite remember. But the Net is a swirl of sociality that can go from zero-
to-intimate in nanoseconds. And each new relationship can be the start of something that builds, can fall away forever, or can
be there as a possibility for another unexpected fling. Sociality thus doesn’t work the way we assumed it did. New possibilities
are emerging.
And this is for three key reasons. First, the Net connects us all —
“When businesses
well, a couple of billion of us.
Second, it enables a flourishing of innovative ways of being
social. (How often in our history could we have said that? Wait,
I know! This once!) try to push their
Third, the Internet is not a medium. A telegraph wire is a
medium for dots and dashes: messages are sent through it. The
own messages
Net’s not like that. Messages pass through the Internet because
we -- the people on the Internet -- find them interesting enough through the Net,
it is worse than
to send along. Telegraph wires don’t get to send only the dots
and dashes they happen to care about. And telegraph wires
don’t see their social standing go up or down based upon the
messages they pass. The Internet is not a medium. We are
the medium. ineffective - it is
Because of this, when businesses try to push their own messages
through the Net, it is worse than ineffective. It is offensive. The
offensive.”
Net manages to provide scale based on intimacy. It does this
by enabling connections that express what matters to us.
Messaging of the marketing sort corrodes intimacy.
cont’d. next page >>
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22. The Internet is Not the Medium: WE are the Medium cont’d.
So what should businesses do?
1. Don’t talk unless what you say will improve the conversation.
2. Since hierarchies don’t interact well with networks, the people who speak for you on the Net need also to be speaking for
themselves as honest-to-God humans with names and faces -- people who put the value of the conversation and the interests
of your customers ahead of the narrow interests of your business.
We’re building something wonderful here. Corrupt it at your peril.
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23. Shelly Palmer is the host of Fox Television’s Shelly Palmer Digital Living, the author of “Overcoming The
Digital Divide: How to Use Social Media and Digital Tools to Reinvent Yourself and Your Career” (York House
Press 2011) and the founder of Shelly Palmer Digital Leadership, an industry-leading advisory and business
development firm. You can follow Shelly on Twitter @shellypalmer or at his Digital Leadership blog.
No Crystal Ball Required:
The Future of Social Media is Now
BY SHELLY PALMER
According to Cisco, by 2015 there will be more than 15 billion
connected devices in the world. Even if this number is an overes-
timation, it is virtually certain that tomorrow there will be many
more connected devices than there are today. Intel projects that
“The capability to
interpret and act
this trend will continue until over 4 billion people have access to
the Internet somewhere around 2020.
No crystal ball is needed to see the future of social media.
Metcalfe’s Law tells us that with each connection, the value of upon millions of
messages in real
our network increases. This is an immutable fact of the future,
but it is also a challenge. As the network grows, so will its power
to amplify the speed and scale of any message -- good or bad.
It is incumbent upon today’s digital leaders to make every effort time is not a thing
of the future, it is
to prepare for the exponential growth of social media. The
capability to interpret and act upon millions of messages in real
time is not a thing of the future, it is a necessity of the present.
In my professional experience, I have found that businesspeople a necessity of
the present.”
are generally extremely smart, but bureaucracies are generally
extremely stupid. The challenge is to integrate a scalable,
interactive, real-time social media processing mechanism into
a large number of bureaucratically-built legacy systems, and then
socialize its use company-wide. This may take a while. The good
news is that the tools exist. All you have to do is choose a best
practices suite of solutions. What’s the bad news? There is none,
I’m optimistic about the future and the evolution of Social@Scale.
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24. Mark Earls is one of the marketing world’s leading experts on human behavior and behavior change. Mark
is the author of “Welcome to the Creative Age: Bananas, Business and the Death of Marketing,” “HERD: How to
Change Mass Behavior by Harnessing Our True Nature,” and “I’ll Have What She’s Having.” In the last few years,
he has advised a wide range of organizations around the world including: Sony Corporation, Greenpeace, Unilever,
The School of Life, Channel 4 TV, and the UK’s Royal Mail. You can follow Mark on Twitter @herdmeister or at his
personal blog.
People Are Not Robots;
Corporations Are Not Machines Either
BY MARK EARLS
The single biggest challenge for any business leader pondering
“One of the
the pros and cons of this social revolution is human-shaped.
Let’s be honest, the technology itself is banal and easy to learn
to use, to track and to interpret – it is in different forms already
part of our personal lives. And there are – as you’d expect – reasons that these
social techno-
lots of folks willing to take your money in order to explain how
to use the technology to the nth degree (not all of these are
snake-oil salesmen, mind you).
No, the biggest challenge for all of us lies in the humans who logies are being so
use the technology and the (largely false) assumptions we hold
about those people.
readily adopted by
our consumers and
People are not like machines. They are not individual independ-
ent utility-calculating robots – they are much smarter than
that. Humans are fundamentally social creatures who live their
lives in the company of others, more often than not making
choices based on what those around them do and say. They
customers is that
outsource cognitive load, using the brains of those around
them to store, recall and decide. they feel natural.”
One of the reasons that these social technologies are being so
readily adopted by our consumers and customers is that they
feel natural. They serve to amplify a central part of our humanity: our super social nature. Mass adoption of social tools means
that while it may seem simple to think about “the consumer,” it is very rarely “the” anymore.
A similar misunderstanding of the people thing is visible inside most organizations – we imagine corporations are like machines
that are improvable and perfectible. That’s why management consultants so like the idea of “[re-]engineering” businesses.
cont’d. next page >>
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25. People Are Not Robots; Corporations Are Not Machines Either cont’d.
But corporations aren’t machines and thinking about them as
“Organizational
if they were misses the point, too. Corporations are built on
people like those who live outside and buy its products and
services. It is the degree to which you manage to get them to
do so successfully which is the source of much contemporary
competitive advantage. This is one of the main reasons why the
‘purpose’ has gained
notion of organizational “purpose” has gained traction at the
same time as the social revolution has blossomed. Purpose traction at the same
time as the social
gives people something to engage with and something to
rally around.
revolution has
Whether you’re thinking about inside or outside the
organization, the social aspect of our humanity is fundamental
to any organization’s success. It makes things messier, more
unpredictable and more prone to cascades of irrationality and
enthusiasm than we’ve been used to. And as too many
blossomed.”
corporate horror stories attest, it makes businesses much
more vulnerable to sustained criticism. Or to be more precise,
it reveals how things have long been while we were hiding
behind our “engineering” metaphors.
No, the biggest problem doesn’t lie with them (customers,
employees etc) but with us and our ideas and our default settings.
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26. SECTION 2
Are you READY to
be Social@Scale?
ORGANIZATION, TOOLS & TACTICS

27. Renee Blodgett is the founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral
marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries
get traction in the market. Renee is also the founder of We Blog the World, an online culture and travel magazine,
and regularly blogs at “Down the Avenue.” She was ranked the #12 Social Media Influencer on a top 50 list by
Forbes earlier this year. You can follow Renee on Twitter @MagicSauceMedia or at her Down The Avenue blog.
Achieving Social@Scale Means
Getting Rid of Your Silos
BY RENEE BLODGET
Developing personal relationships with customers isn’t new and smart marketing-centric companies have been investing in
customer relationships for years. Dell, McDonald’s and American Airlines did it in the early days. Zappos now makes personal
customer relationships their raison d’etre and after a series of “fails,” Comcast is attempting to show the customer matters
with “Comcast Cares.”
“Developing
It’s never been easier to reach out and develop relationships
with customers in an always-on world where you can respond
to their needs, demands and praise instantaneously. What
makes it complex and expensive for corporations to take
customer relationships to a deeper level is the fact that con- personal
relationships with
versation threads are fragmented and exist in silos on multiple
social media channels, making it not only difficult to monitor
and manage, but tough to keep a consistent voice that matches
the brand.
customers
isn’t new.”
There’s an added layer of complexity when the brand is
perceived differently in different countries around the world
and an added layer of fear ensuring they abide by proper
governance protocols.
Getting rid of the silos so more efficient communication can happen on a regular basis is the key to success. Multi-division
enterprises need to focus on one single platform where you can manage the brand’s voice across all of these channels and
smartly curate customized content. This will ensure that not only their customer’s concerns are heard, but responded to in
a way that will foster relationships contributing to their bottom line.
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28. Augie Ray was most recently the Executive Director of Community and Collaboration at USAA, where he and
his team managed social media programs for marketing and customer care, deployed communities, educated
employees and executives on social media trends and created the enterprise social business vision. Augie was
previously at Forrester, where he consulted on social media marketing, community and social media management
platforms as well as the organizational structure for social. You can follow Augie on Twitter @augieray or at his
Experience: The Blog.
Your Job is NOT to Raise Your Own
Klout Score: Thinking Beyond Posts,
Tweets, Games and Pins
BY AUGIE RAY
Lots of folks seem to feel that the words “control” and “social”
don’t belong together in the same sentence. That’s ridiculous
-- large companies cannot simply unleash thousands of employ-
ees to launch whatever accounts they wish and maintain them “It can be a costly
mistake to allow
in any manner that feels right, all without rules, tools, guidance
and monitoring. The stakes are far too high: Large brands can
neither afford to be the next poster child for social PR blunders,
nor can they allow a competitive advantage to slip away over
fears of social missteps.
different parts of
It is too easy for a social media professional to get caught up
in all the ideas and possibilities of social, but the first step isn’t
the company
to think of tweets, posts, games and pins. Instead, Social@Scale
begins with more mundane but vital things:
to secure their
Does your industry face any special regulations? own listening
Do your employees understand their limits and what actions
can get them and the company in trouble? platforms.”
Do your managers understand what is and is not appropriate
when disciplining an employee for something posted to a
social network?
Is your organization’s social media policy supported with education and communication to keep it top of mind?
Do you have monitoring in place to recognize and act upon legal, compliance and reputation threats?
Are policies in place that govern how your brand participates in social media?
cont’d. next page >>
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29. Your Job is NOT to Raise Your Own Klout Score: cont’d.
It’s also important to select tools that can be deployed and support the enterprise. It can be a costly mistake to allow different
parts of the company to secure their own listening platforms, social media management tools, community platforms and other
social tools. Coordination is necessary to prevent redundancy and conflicting data and systems. Social@Scale means having to
find the right tools that can scale and adapt to different needs for different departments.
Once the foundation is in place, the next step is to devise and execute strategies for (and in collaboration with) departments
throughout the enterprise. The social team in a larger organization has to think of all the ways the organization will use social
and help peers to understand the needs, processes and tools. This includes not just marketing and PR personnel, but also
customer service, human resources, product management, business intelligence and others.
Too often, social strategies start in the wrong place--with a focus on a Facebook fan page or Pinterest board. I often find myself
returning to Forrester’s simple but powerful POST methodology:
1. Define the People -- the audience, their social
behaviors, etc.
2. Set the Objectives: What do you wish to accomplish “Too often, social
strategies start in the
and how will you measure success?
3. Devise the Strategies: How will you achieve
those goals?
wrong place--with a
4. Determine the Tools, Technology and Tactics. This is
the stage when you determine if you have the skills
and resources you need, the responsibilities for
focus on a Facebook
personnel, the tools to be used or acquired, etc.
Being responsible for social media in a large firm is far
fan page or
more about helping others to succeed -- and preventing
them from making costly mistakes -- than developing
Pinterest board.”
and executing your own ideas and strategies. At the end
of the day, your job is to allow hundreds or thousands of
people to create value using social platforms and strategies,
not raise your own Klout score. Lots of people can do the
Social part, but finding the right leader who can help a
firm with the Scale is tougher.
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30. Nicknamed “The King of Social” by Samsung at South by SouthWest, Brett Petersel is constantly connecting
people, testing and recommending technology, and always striving to improve the influence and impact of
community. Brett is author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Twitter Marketing,” and “The Grande Guide to
Community Management.” You can follow Brett on Twitter @Brett or at BrettPetersel.com.
Time to Get Rid of Your Social Media Silos
BY BRETT PETERSEL
It only takes one fire to rage out of control to damage a brand’s reputation. That’s why managing Social@Scale should be a critical
requirement for any global enterprise today. Whether it’s proactive engagement with consumers or reacting to concerns of dissat-
isfaction, large companies need to plan and react faster and smarter -- across departments, divisions, cultures and continents.
With lessons learned about online reputation management, companies need to constantly listen and engage customers, where
and when they are talking about them. But first they have to scale how they use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social me-
dia channels in order to best monitor their brand reputation. And large global enterprises can’t do this in departmental or social
media silos.
Companies that manage all social media communication across the entire organization using an independent social media man-
agement solution to benchmark every action and reaction will succeed. They’ll be able to reduce support traffic and related costs
and resources, while increasing personal engagement, improving customer support and developing more valuable relationships
with customers.
The next question I usually hear from companies is: “Who is
going to handle these responsibilities?” Many departments within
an organization can dedicate themselves to listening, engaging,
“It only takes one fire
marketing, sharing, responding to and supporting their audiences
-- but they’d be missing the point. Again, this is a silo-approach
to rage out of control
versus an action taken across the global organization. Large
enterprises have already appointed decision-makers and teams
to damage a brand’s
across the organization for approving important communica-
tions. By adding Community Managers, these decision-making
reputation; large
teams can have a go-to for analyzing how their actions had a
direct impact on the company as well as direct online access to companies need to
plan and react
their SMMS.
As more people embrace social media as their weapon of choice
for all things help-related, companies will find themselves yearn-
ing for a single platform that will alert and connect them with
faster and smarter.”
audiences they care about.
One platform to rule them all sounds great to me, especially when large companies like Dell, Samsung, Dupont and Cisco already
invested in a global solution to manage all their social media efforts. Now, learning about, communicating with and engaging
with customers old and new has never been easier.
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31. Ted Rubin is the most followed CMO on Twitter. In March 2009, he started using and evangelizing the term
ROR, Return on Relationship, a concept he believes is the cornerstone for building an engaged multi-million
member database, many of whom are vocal advocates for the brand. He proved the ROR premise with the
communities he built as an executive for e.l.f. Cosmetics and OpenSky. His book, Return on Relationship, is
due to be released in September. You can follow Ted on Twitter @tedrubin or at his Straight Talk blog.
Return on Relationship: Why Companies
Need to Embrace Social@Scale
BY TED RUBIN
Since my social mantra has always been about “Return on Relationship,” it’s refreshing to see a shift in the corporate mindset
regarding the business use of social media. According to a 2012 Social Business Benchmarking Study by FedEx and Ketchum,
large companies still view social as a tool for building brand loyalty and strengthening customer relationships (and in my
opinion they have a long way to go).
However, companies are also beginning to see the benefits of scaling social to other relationship-driven aspects of the business,
from enhancing collaboration and dialogue with stakeholders, to strengthening relationships with employees and vendors.
And it’s about time! Since everything we do in business relies on developing and strengthening good relationships, why lock the
most effective relationship-building tool we have in a marketing closet?
Take away the “social media is for marketing” blinders, and all
kinds of possibilities within your organization become clear.
Shift your approach from Social Marketing to Social Business.
The value of Social goes well beyond marketing.
“Shift your approach
Take a step back and envision ways you could use social tools from Social
Marketing to Social
WITHIN your business, especially if your organization has
multiple centers of operation. Wouldn’t it be nice to have faster,
better communication between departments? Share workflow
around projects across time zones? Enhance conversation with
external stakeholders around the world and quickly open dialog Business. The value
of Social goes well
with new vendors? Of course it would!
The power of social communication can get you there because
t enhances the ability to make personal connections happen --
and personal connections are what drive business forward. beyond marketing.”
cont’d. next page >>
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32. Return on Relationship: cont’d.
We’ve seen a little of this in the way some companies have
tapped employees to enhance customer service across social
channels, expanding those departments from centralized “85 percent of
operations to team-based collaborative efforts that eliminate
walls. The result is an exponentially increased level of service
through expanded human-to-human attention -- something
companies
that no automated system can replicate.
surveyed said that
It’s like a return to the earlier times of doing business before
commoditization took out the human factor and depersonal-
ized business transactions. We knew our neighbors, we knew
employee
our local butcher, the grocer, the milkman -- all on a personal,
face-to-face basis. Now we’re able to return to that level of participation in
company social
personal touch because social media has essentially given the
consumer a voice again, and our innate desire to personally
interact with other people is driving it. I think the FedEx/
Ketchum study is a reflection of that recognition and a
welcome one. efforts has
According to the study, 85 percent of companies surveyed
said that employee participation in company social efforts
increased over the
has increased over the last 12 months. And companies are
beginning to engage their employees internally through last 12 months.”
social -- almost 50 percent of those surveyed. That’s a good
start, but it needs to go even further.
Forward-thinking companies should be scaling social to allow diverse team members to collaborate on complex projects in
real time (from anywhere), as well as eliminate bottlenecks that encumber internal processes. More businesses need to tap into
the power of social search to gauge sentiment, get a feel for what’s happening on a global scale, investigate and interact with
vendors, and use that information to innovate faster in a shifting marketplace.
Does it take retooling your organizational systems? -- Yes.
Is it painful? Perhaps, but we only resist change because we’re unable (or unwilling) to visualize the outcome, and those who
don’t adapt to a changing environment quickly die. The ground may be shifting beneath our corporate feet, but we can’t go back
to business as usual and survive. We’ve seen social power at work in developing better customer relationships for companies of
every shape and size. It’s no longer an unknown -- it’s a proven tool.
So now is the time, my friends, to take social out of the marketing box and scale it across ALL business in order to truly maxi-
mize return on relationships. Embrace it -- own it -- make it part of your business culture, and Social@Scale will help you thrive.
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33. SECTION 3
Social@Scale
Organizational Models

34. Sarah Evans is the Chief Evangelist at Tracky, an open social collaboration platform. She shares her social
media and tech favorites at Sarah’s Faves as well as a daily resource for PR professionals called Commentz. Sarah
previously worked with a local crisis center to raise more than $161,000 via social media and is a team member
of the Guinness Book World Record holding #beatcancer. You can follow Sarah on Twitter @prsarahevans or at
SevansStrategy.com.
How to Scale the Social Media
Corporate Team at the Enterprise Level
BY SARAH EVANS
CEOs must recognize that the “communication cycle” – the way information originates, spreads and influences – has forever
changed. We no longer “own” our corporate messages – assuming we ever did, of course. But this ownership shift has created a
new, even more vital need for scaling a social media team at the enterprise level.
Think about how social media integrates with your culture
(internal and external), but don’t overthink it. For now, focus
on the short term fix and long term strategy. In larger organiza-
tions, new initiatives can die a slow death by committee. You
“We no longer ‘own’
our corporate
don’t have time to overthink social and let it become
the elephant in the room.
For most enterprise-level clients, I recommend implementing a
hub-and-spoke model. The corporate social media team serves messages.”
as the “hub” with other departments within the organization
serving as the “spokes.” The social media team is empowered
by the CEO and, like your PR team, has direct access to key
internal positions.
For example, while you may or may not have a customer service representative as part of your corporate social media team,
you may have a liaison from that department. This person knows their fit within the social media structure and may be routed
customer service inquiries on a regular basis. Depending on the organization, these departmental liaisons may have different
levels of accountability and responsibility to monitor, respond and follow up with social tasks.
It doesn’t matter what your team “in charge” of social media is called, as long as you have the right team.
The typical makeup of a corporate social media team looks like this:
1. EVP or VP Social Strategy -- This person may oversee all communications efforts with an additional social branch added on.
(Some organizations add this to the EVP of Communications or Marketing role).
2. Social and Emerging Media Manager -- This position is responsible for day-to-day social activities and implementation of the
overall strategy. This person would also serve as point-of-contact with any creative agencies.
cont’d. next page >>
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35. How to Scale the Social Media Corporate Team at the Enterprise Level cont’d.
3. Community Manager -- The online voice and perhaps, the
“Arm your
face of your organization. In order to make this a sustainable
role, you may want to have multiple people in this role or
rotate responsibilities.
4. Social Analyst -- This role is needed to monitor online trends, corporate social
media team with
track analytics, create internal reports and the like.
5. Web Developer and Designer -- This role may be filled by an
existing role within an IT team. If you have a large IT team,
someone should be appointed to be part of the social team. the right tools and
6. Content Manager -- Depending on the size of your organiza-
tion, this may be multiple roles. You need people to produce
equipment needed
to do their jobs.”
high-level multimedia content on a regular basis. It’s a
full-time job.
7. Internal Evangelists -- Employees who love to talk about your
organization online (and probably already do). Bring them on
as ad hoc members of the team, train them accordingly and
empower them to compliment the team.
8. Public Relations and/or Communications Liaison -- This is a member of the PR/marketing department who collaborates with
the team to ensure messaging is the same across the organization.
A bonus... The platforms you use can make or break you.
It’s great if you have your corporate model and team in place, but it will be worthless without a clear workflow and the right tools
in place. You must arm your corporate social media team with the right tools and equipment needed to do their jobs.
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36. Jeff Bullas is a digital marketing strategist and one of Forbes’ “Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers.” He is
also the author of “Blogging the Smart Way - How to Create and Market your Blog with Social Media.” The
JeffBullas.com blog receives over 300,000 hits a month and has 170,000 unique readers. You can follow Jeff on
Twitter @JeffBullas or at his personal blog.
Why Social@Scale Shouldn’t
Be Left to the Interns
BY JEFF BULLAS
There are many myths about social media marketing but the biggest one by far is that it is easy and can be done by an intern
at lunch time.
For medium to large enterprises, is it is far from simple because social media marketing does not scale very easily and it
requires many resources, skills and processes that until recently were at an adolescent stage of development.
With social media marketing you need to:
Write, film and capture the content. “social media market-
Edit the content into a creative format that entertains,
educates and inspires.
ing does not scale very
Create it for the different types of media such as video, text
(for blog posts), Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other major
easily and it requires
social media networks.
many resources, skills
Establish processes that control the publishing and monitor-
ing of the content that is spread globally by many individuals
within one organization that keeps the brand police happy.
and processes that
Publish it on multiple networks. until recently were
Optimize it for a variety of multimedia formats.
at an adolescent stage
Develop and optimize it for many types of screens including
laptops, iPads, iPhones, Android smartphones and tablets so
that it renders properly and is easily consumed.
of development.”
Optimize the content and platforms for search engines.
Monitor and measure the data you receive to see what works and what doesn’t.
cont’d. next page >>
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37. Why Social@Scale Shouldn’t Be Left to the Interns cont’d.
It is becoming a deluge of data on many social networks.
So far, organizations in the main are using disparate and multiple tools such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck and Klout that add
a layer of complexity and are silos of data and processes that do not lend themselves to the era of big social data.
Help is at hand.
Tools and processes are emerging to make it possible to do Social@Scale.
Some enterprise class platforms will be able to deliver on the promise of one stop social solutions platforms that will enable
organizations to do “Social@Scale.”
I look forward to this emerging evolution of social media marketing as it moves from adolescent promise to mature and robust
business class platforms and processes..
We are seeing the rise of the “Ninja Nerd” who understands technology and the creative process on an increasingly social web.
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38. Chris Brogan is president of Human Business Works, a publishing and media company devoted to promoting the
Human Business Way. He frequently consults with Fortune 500 companies on the future of business communica-
tion including the impact of social networks and mobile technology. Chris is also the co-author of “Trust Agents” and
author of “Google+ for Business: How Google’s Social Network Changes Everything.” You can follow him on Twitter
@chrisbrogan or at ChrisBrogan.com.
Six Areas Where to Focus
Your Social@Scale Energy
BY CHRIS BROGAN
For those complaining that social media doesn’t scale, the trick is this: We equate these tools to personal relationships. Because
of that, we can’t just open a “call center” for many of the touchpoints. However, as we move forward, and these tools become the
new phone, the new radio, the new TV, it’s no longer going to be a world of solo trust agents, but trust agencies.
Will you be ready?
When I talk about scaling your efforts, here are the areas
I’m talking about:
“Add to client
1. Listening/Monitoring – In my estimation, every social
media effort has to have this at the core. You can split up
the listening/monitoring chores so that each member of your
relations when
team owns some level of the process. For instance, your PR
person can use the tools to listen for crisis issues, for storytell- you can, from
internal resources.
ing opportunities, etc. Your customer service people can use
the tools to enhance their communication. Your marketers
can listen for opportunities. Although you’re splitting the vast
bucket of information that comes in during listening, someone
should still own it. Maybe that’s the product lead, the manager It pays off.”
of that line of business, whoever is responsible for the bottom
line. They should have their eyes on listening the entire time.
2. Customer Service – Some companies already have this nailed down. Dell, Comcast and Zappos have built great customer
service integrations using social channels. This area seems the most important to scale. Customer service is a tireless experi-
ence and requires prompt attention. You need a deep bench. I think Frank at Comcast has 14 people on his team at this point,
to give you a sense of it. Of all the social media tasks, this is tied for the most time consuming and most important (client
relations is the other). Learning how to scale this might be nuanced and customized, but just knowing this is the hardest part
might be enough to get you a little further.
cont’d. next page >>
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39. Six Areas Where to Focus Your Social@Scale Energy cont’d.
3. Client Relations – I separate client relations from customer service because I think this part includes managing things
like Facebook groups, managing blog comments, etc. It’s the “There’s no problem, but I’d like to keep you warm” part of
business. You sometimes see “community manager” in this role (though I see the best community managers combining
a few of the above topics). This is also the hardest of the brand promises, because if you’re nice to me on Twitter, but your
counter help stinks, did you really move the needle? I vote no. And if you start offering this to your customer base, you’ve
got to maintain it. Reduce the hours spent here at your own risk.
4. Social Marketing – This area involves things like finding new customers via Twitter, coming up with YouTube challenges,
etc. Social marketing is probably the easiest area to scale, but it’s also the one where you can see the most obvious results
of marketing campaigns. For instance, if you build a loyalty program and you need sign-ups, you can count pretty easily
how many people took advantage of your offer -- and you know whether or not to devote more attention to it.
5. Sales Prospecting – Your sales team should already be realizing the sales benefits of the social web. Every day, someone’s
out there talking about their needs, and giving you a sense of how you could sell to them. These opportunities require a bit
of time, but no more so than old fashioned prospecting. Switch out some of your time from sifting through phone books
or wherever you find your customers, and dedicate it to searching for new clients on the web tools on the web. For ongoing
relationships, if you’re not keeping tabs on their social presence, you’re missing the opportunity to know how they’re doing
before you make your important sales calls. This doesn’t take a ton of time, but requires you to build it into your process.
6. Publishing – Blogging, shooting videos, content development – that’s where much of your time gets eaten up, and yet, that’s
also where a lot of the value comes from. My blog posts may seem like they are given away for free, but some will generate a
query for business. Publishing should never be considered the thing to slip. Hell, it’s the product sometimes, and other times,
it’s the best advertising you could ever create. Never skimp on publishing.
Where Does That Leave You?
I’ve told you that everything’s important and that nothing can be cut back. So where do you scale?
Spread listening/monitoring as deep as you can.
Enhance customer service and deepen that bench internally.
Add to client relations when you can, from internal resources. It pays off.
Social marketing can be augmented by external help.
Sales prospecting is a sales job, but can be augmented.
Publishing is important, but can be augmented by external help.
That’s how I see it. Again, if you’re talking about smaller scale operations, you’ll have to find the mix. I’ve put it almost
in order of importance, from top to bottom. You can shuffle it a bit. Is that how you see it?
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40. Jason Falls is an author, speaker and CEO of Social Media Explorer, a digital marketing agency and information
products company. An award-winning social media strategist and widely read industry pundit, Jason has been noted
as a top influencer in the social technology and marketing space by Forbes, Entrepreneur, Advertising Age and others.
He is the co-author of two books: “No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide To Social Media
Marketing” (2011), and “The Rebel’s Guide To Email Marketing,” due in September 2012. You can follow Jason on
Twitter @JasonFalls or at SocialMediaExplorer.com.
Social Media Software is
Only Part of the Equation
BY JASON FALLS
As much as I’m sure many involved with this project would love it if I said what the enterprise needs to be Social@Scale was a
nifty software platform, it’s far more complex a problem to solve than code can provide. Social@Scale is only feasible with three
core tenets:
1. Personnel
2. Environment “I like to think of a
3. Consistency
You have to have the right people to make Social@Scale happen.
‘dialed-in’ social
And it’s not always just throwing more people at the problem,
it’s making sure the right people are in place. Assigning fran-
team like an old
school newsroom
chise store managers the task of performing the local end of
social media is often a mistake. The manager may not have the
interest or inclination to tackle social on top of his or her other
responsibilities.
on deadline.”
Having team members that are in tune with a collaborative and
nimble environment is helpful. I like to think of a “dialed-in”
social team like an old school newsroom on deadline. As issues
arise online, segments of the team swarm into action, responding, routing, discussing opportunities. Yes, this might happen with
one social media manager at the corporate level and two assigned local or departmental contacts within the company, but it
could also be a war room full of “engagement” experts in a large enterprise with a high volume of always-on conversations.
Your environment includes everything from the software you use to the workflow built in with compliance and legal to ensure
your responses can be as fast and efficient as possible.
Southwest Airlines realized responding an hour after a customer complained about something online was far too long. So at
least one member of senior management and one person from the company’s legal team is now on-call, 24-7, to respond to
social media issues. And last I checked, they were required to respond to any situation that arises in minutes, not hours.
cont’d. next page >>
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41. Social Media Software is Only Part of the Equation cont’d.
Software comes into play here, too. You can’t scale anything without the tools that empower the personnel to read, react,
respond and resolve. You need to be able to publish, engage, monitor, measure, capture leads and more, and none of that
happens easily without software. But you also need policies and if-then workflows that create an empowered environment
for your team to execute upon.
Finally, to build Social@Scale, you have to take your team and your
“You can’t scale
environment and be consistent with your efforts. Customers
don’t take time off from online conversations. Customer service
is now a 24-7 problem online. At a minimum, enterprise
companies need to have a team and structure in place to
ensure current customers are cared for and responded to in our
anything without the
always-on world. Reaching beyond the read-and-react execution
of social, companies need to build content that attracts and tools that empower
engages its stakeholders, but you can’t do that this week and
not next. Once the expectation is set, it’s there to stay. the personnel to
This isn’t meant to scare companies off that are considering
social. If you’re not “in” yet, you’d better get there soon. Today’s read, react, respond
consumer is online more and more and most often on and in
social media sites. It’s not a question of “if,” but “when” you’ll
need to be dialed in to social and thinking about scale. The
and resolve.”
consistency tenet is there to establish the expectation, for you
and for your customers. This is the world we live in now.
You have a seat at the table. So pull up a chair and introduce yourself.
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42. Jay Baer is co-author of “The NOW Revolution” and a “hype-free” social media consultant for 29 of the
Fortune 500. You can follow Jay on Twitter @jaybaer or at his Convince & Convert blog.
The 5 Critical Social Media
Skills You Need to Disperse
BY JAY BAER
Everybody in your company is in marketing, whether they want to be or not.
Let the ubiquity and speed of real-time communication empower your staff to act and be helpful, no matter where they are on
the organizational chart. Increasingly, social media needs to become a skill, not a job.
cont’d. next page >>
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