Socialize the Enterprise
Why every company needs to have a comprehensive social media strategy
Ogilvy & Mather, 2010
Social media is not just a new channel or a few extra degrees in the 360o approach to marketing and communications. Social media represents a fundamental consumer behavioral shift requiring marketers to change how they market, how they are organized and how they measure success. To succeed via social media and to achieve real business impact, brands and organizations must adopt a comprehensive strategic approach to integrating this new discipline.
Were our well-intentioned CMO to have approached social media with a strategic eye, he would never have tried pinning it to the back of a traditional campaign. Instead, he and his brand team would have put “social” at the heart of the entire marketing and communications effort. Pundits have been evangelizing the power of social media for close to a decade. Consumers get it. The rate of marketplace adoption of social media and word of mouth around the globe is faster than anyone could have predicted. Companies, by contrast, have lagged behind their customers, but they are learning that embracing this platform is not optional. Whether you are a global FMCG, an automobile manufacturer, financial services company or a B2B technology leader, no one can afford to hesitate. At the same time, tactical, unconnected experiments will not vault the brand forward. Integrating social media into the marketing and communications functions implies a deep transformation not just of marketing but customer service, product development, and even the way the enterprise benchmarks success.
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