Social Media - What is the current Strategy?

Social media as we know it, started it's life out as an informal experiment in most organisations, where it was regarded by many executives as a mere novelty rather than a serious business tool. Many of the C-suite executives were late adopters and some have still not realized the need to adopt.

In the past we had ad hoc strategies, driven by independent tweeters and bloggers who knew they could help grow brands but who did not form part of a coordinated strategy. These tweeters and bloggers are still however the backbone of any strategy and should never be overlooked. No in fact they should be encouraged, nurtured and rewarded and they add authenticity and immense value into the companies goal of becoming more social and eventually being acknowledged as a social business.

Just to recap a Social business is the concept of activating social networks using social technology and media to create business value, across any number of functional or business processes.

Yes by all means appoint Digital and Community Managers, if you can afford them (the good one's don't come cheap) but never forget the champions that are already growing brands within your company.

Social business is all about balance, you need to find the balance between those you pay to do the service and those that are building brands within your organization already.

The real challenge is to keep all those lines of communication open and focused on the business goals at hand.

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