While in Austin at SXSW I had a chance to listen to
Peter Kim from Dachis, who recently put out a book on Social Enterprise - Social
Business By Design: Transformative Social Media Strategies for the Connected
Company
In 20 minutes – he outlined the key principles for success
of a social business program, which I think are extremely applicable to any company trying to launch Social Enterprise initiatives.
1. Ensure that anyone and everyone can participate . When you limit participation, you limit results.
2. Create shared value by default. Most shared value is created in simple social connections and contributions – however when they are all aggregated together, the value will build exponentially.
3. While participation is self-organizing, focus on business outcomes. Don’t try to control the direction of the community, but clearly outline the business objectives for the organization and participation.
4. Enlist a large enough community to achieve results.
5. Engage the right community for your business objectives. Ensure the correct communities are participating to both identify issues and discuss possible resolutions.
6. Participation can take any direction, be prepared to take advantage of that. You will be surprised at some of the directions and ideas. Be prepared to take advantage of serendipity.
7. Eliminate friction. Eliminate barriers to participation. Ease of use is essential.
8. Listen and engage continuously.
9. Tone and language of social is casual and human. No marketing speak, internal acronyms, etc… speak and respond with a human voice.
10. Most effective social business activities are deeply integrated into workflow. Don't tack on to the end as an afterthought, participation in the Social enterprise must be integrated into the company workflow. If you have to consciously shift from one to the other, you will limit participation and loose inspiration.
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