Social business. A term that’s been steadily gaining traction at the intersection of social media’s rise and the current shift in the business world. But what does it mean? Clarifying the term “social business” is critical to determining whether it’s something we want our companies to be, and if so, how we go about achieving that. At SideraWorks, we’ve spent a great deal of time defining social business in a way that encompasses its essence, but avoids much of the jargon that simply adds to the confusion.

1. What Is
Social
Business?
Defining Social Business
SideraWorks LLC - SideraWorks.com
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2. What Is
Social
Business?
Agile
The business world, and especially the professionals immersed in
Open social media, have been discussing and debating the
definition of social business from a number of different angles.
Clarifying what we mean by “social business” is critical to
Engaged determining whether it’s something we want our companies to
be, and if so, how we go about achieving that.
Adaptive
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3. A comprehensive
understanding of social
business requires
several components.
We need to know:
• What a social business is
• What a social business does
• The difference between social media
Understanding both the nature
and social business of a social business and how it’s
different - and better - than what
• Why being a social business is desirable
we’re doing today means that we
• The elements of becoming a can approach it intelligently, and
as a true organizational evolution,
social business not just a tactic or campaign.
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4. What A Social
Business Is
This is first question most people have, yet it’s the hardest to answer
consistently and completely in just a sentence or two.
It’s like asking “What is Customer Service?”
The answer differs if you’re describing the purpose, the processes, or
the outcomes. Depending on your point of view - as the customer,
an employee, or a partner - the answer can vary even more. To that end, here is
the resulting high
At SideraWorks, we’ve spent a great deal of time defining social
level definition of
business in a way that encompasses its essence, but avoids much
of the jargon that simply adds to the confusion instead of providing social business...
clarity.
All social businesses believe that meaningful change and evolution,
and the achievement of the above, must consider people and
processes as well as technology and platforms.
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5. Social Business is the creation of
an organization that is optimized
to benefit its entire ecosystem
(customers, employees, owners,
partners) by embedding
collaboration, information sharing,
and active engagement into its
operations and culture. The result
is a more responsive, adaptable,
effective, and ultimately more
successful company.
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6. What A Social
Business Does
So how do you recognize
a social business from the
outside? Active
Connected
The core of a successful Empowerment Openness Intelligence
social business and the
activities that support it
will reflect these six traits: Agility
Adaptability
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7. The Six Core Traits Of A Social Business
Agility Balancing speed of response, Smart Connectivity Sensibly
communication and information sharing with integrating and deploying technology that removes
thoughtful coordination and long-term scalability. barriers to communication rather than creating them,
and improves the information flow among customers,
prospects, teams and partners.
Openness Communicating with less
friction across organizational lines, in ways that
distribute and improve access to knowledge among Active Intelligence Listening
stakeholders. Acknowledging and rewarding and using established as well as new sources of
innovation, creativity, thoughtful feedback and information. Leveraging data and analysis not just
collaboration. to track activity, but to actively inform business
decisions and feed intelligence back into the business
to improve products, services, and processes.
Empowerment Allowing communities
to self-organize within the business to solve business
problems and share insight, and trusting decision-
Adaptability Designing an
organization that is flexible to the needs and
making to happen at the margins of the organization.
demands of employees as well as customers, and
believing that continuous adaptation and evolution is
not only critical to survival, but desirable in order to
stay ahead of the market.
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8. But what about the term ‘social media’
that has taken the world by storm?
Is doing social media and becoming a
social business the same thing?
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9. The Difference
Between Social Media
& Social Business
Social Social
Media Business
They are two of the most commonly confused terms in
today’s business world, but they aren’t interchangeable.
What‘s the difference?
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10. Social Media Social Business
are the platforms and technologies that is the process and result of optimizing
people use to communicate and create your internal business to take advantage
interactively, like Twitter, Facebook, of social media’s opportunities, putting
Yammer, or YouTube. Most often we refer processes and governance in place
to social media as the technologies that to mitigate its risks and adapt to its
are used between a company and the implications, and applying social concepts
public at large, but it could also refer to and technology internally to enable
the platforms used inside a company collaboration, sharing, innovation, and
to communicate in a more social and open engagement.
collaborative manner. Social business can encompass using
When most people reference social external social media, but it’s not a
media for business, they’re referring to requirement. Technically, an organization
using these technologies for engagement can be a social business without engaging
with the public, or for leveraging for data publicly in social media at all.
purposes. The activities are typically
(though not always) used and managed
by customer-facing departments like
marketing, customer service, PR, or sales.
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11. As an example, a global building supply company created an internal
social network that enabled over 20,000 of its employees to collaborate
with one another, expediting and improving things like product
A social business launches.
isn‘t necessarily They still needed to create policies and governance that support
employees who are using social media personally, set vision and
engaged in objectives for the organization, and coordinate and improve a number
of internal practices to accommodate the increased connectivity.
social media. Collaboration, dynamic engagement, policy creation, governance,
efficiency...this is certainly an organization evolving as a social
business, yet public engagement with social media isn’t currently a
focused part of their efforts.
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12. The Case For
Social Business
But the transition
The evolution from business
carries with it a
as we’ve known it to social significant number of
business is a complex one, benefits, including...
and includes a number of
facets, from cultural shift to
organizational design, process
improvement and a hefty
dose of thoughtful change
management to guide it all.
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13. Benefits of a Social Business
Improved customer satisfaction More effective knowledge Lowered costs through
since you’re reacting faster and sharing that’s one part a sound everything from improved
more openly, applying their input technology base, one part product development and an
towards improving products and well-thought out process, and appetite for innovation to more
services, and making them feel a large part giving everyone efficient internal processes, more
like a much more invested and from employees to partners the collaborative employee education
engaged part of your business. ability to learn from, contribute and training, and stronger
to and preserve the collective relationships with partners that
intelligence of the company. yield better opportunities.
Deeper employee loyalty fueled
by a more collaborative work Strengthened brand reputation Clearly established vision
environment that empowers each from customers and partners and governance to guide the
person in the organization to be who feel better informed, heard, organization’s social initiatives
a part of shifting and improving and connected, and from the overall, and a coordinated center
the business. That makes your people inside your organization to unify independent social and
company a more attractive place who are charged with stewarding collaboration projects within
to work, too. that brand in their everyday work. departments or business units.
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14. However, all of these things, including
the unquestionable benefits of agility,
collaboration, and so on have been
objectives of the more progressive
organizations for some time.
Why is this anything new? Why are
organizations so aggressively pursuing
this thing called ‘social business’?
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15. Organizational efforts in the past have been driven from the inside.
Efforts to acquire these individual traits have typically had passionate
sponsorship within a successful company at one time or another. Yet,
those internal efforts most often wither away, relegated lower and lower
on the priority list as the daily demands of business take precedence.
Instead, today’s perfect storm of business evolution is powered by a
series of external forces that are driving the shift instead. Social media
and their associated implications are at the very center of that change.
For example:
The answer to
• The incoming workforce, its values, and its expectations for open
that question communication and empowerment demand a more flexible culture
and work environment;
lies outside of • Customers expect to communicate more seamlessly and have more
the company... attentive, personal relationships with businesses;
• The technologies available to successfully enable social concepts have
literally. matured in both capabilities and affordability;
• The profile of today’s successful companies reflect social values that
are embedded in the core of the organization.
While that may mean that it is no longer a choice for a company
to evolve if it wants to thrive in this changing environment, it also
represents a significant opportunity.
The biggest question for most organizations, however? How to move
from where they are today to the social business model they envision
for the future.
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16. How To Build A
Social Business
Social business strategies Almost any area of a business can become
the spark that ignites a social media initiative
can vary widely between and turns it into the foundation for a social
business plan.
organizations based on But whether social business begins in
their unique opportunities marketing or customer service, or starts as
a holistic and organization-wide initiative,
and challenges. there are specific areas that an organization
will need to address and evaluate as part of
shaping an overall plan.
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17. The start of any social business
Vision & Goals: Is there a guiding vision for why the company
wants to become a social business and what they hope to planning - whether departmental
achieve as a result? or organization-wide - should
start with a comprehensive
Cultural Readiness: Is the organization’s mindset conducive readiness assessment that
to change and the more open and collaborative nature of social considers each aspect of the
business? company that social can and
will touch, whether directly or
Organizational Structure: Is the design of the business
indirectly. Knowing where you’re
optimal for faster information flow and more distributed decision
starting from ensures that you
making? Are all the pivotal roles filled with the right people? Are
there critical roles that don’t yet exist? can craft a thoughtful model for
where you’re headed.
Social Strategy: Are there external and internal social strategies
in place, and are they unified or integrated in some way? In its culture, people,
communication and systems.
Communication: Are there fluid communication processes in Social is something that a
place and the infrastructure and tools available to support them? business is, inside and out, not
just something that marketing
Social Technologies: What systems are in place now, and are
does. It’s forging a new center
they consistent across the business? Are there needs gaps?
How is due diligence and deployment being handled? to the business universe, a
center that needs a new kind of
Training and Education: How is social business and social ecosystem - and balance -
media education being designed and implemented throughout to thrive.
the organization?
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18. The real power of
social lives in the
bedrock of a business.
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19. What Does Our work
might include:
SideraWorks • Assessment and audit workshops
• Development of ‘end state’ social
business vision
Do? • Plan development for bridging from
‘current state’ to ‘end state’
• Program management of a social
business plan
In short, we focus on developing and building
• Change management & culture
social business models and helping companies
initiatives
implement them. We don’t work on social
media programs, like individual social marketing • Social technology due diligence,
campaigns or developing and managing social deployment planning, contract
media presences on Facebook. assistance
• Process and governance
Instead, we focus our expertise on the business implementation
evolution process, from conducting audits and
readiness assessments for businesses trying to • Executive and partner/agency
become more social, to building a centralized facilitation
pivot point for social program coordination in an
• Development of training,
organization that we call the Center of Gravity™. onboarding or education programs
For more about what makes SideraWorks different and how we approach our
engagements, have a look at our website and case examples.
Questions? Comments? Email us at info@sideraworks.com and let us know.
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20. Sideraworks LLC
321 Clark St // Ste. 500
Chicago // Illinois
SideraWorks.com
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