Social Media Marketing

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c h a p t e r

12

: SOCIAL A

PPLICATIONS

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connected business. Table 12.1 connects the broad classes of social applications to

common tactical business objectives.

P Table 12.1 Social Applications and Tactical Objectives

Social Application Tactical Objective

Listening Learning, conversation analysis, source (influencer) identification

Publishing and Sharing Conversation initiation, knowledge transfer, content creation (engagement).

Support Problem identification, product and service enhancements (innovation)

Ideation Collaboration, innovation, competitive differentiation, brand loyalty

Community Advocacy, brand loyalty, development of sustained conversations

Internal Applications

(Enterprise 2.0)

Internal knowledge transfer, collaboration, response facilitation

Building on the basic planning process, and with your internal workflow and

response programs defined, this first step up from social media marketing—toward the

higher levels of customer engagement like content creation and collaboration—centers

on connecting your online presence socially, into the communities and social activities

of your customers and stakeholders. If you’ve taken—or are ready to take—the rela-

tively hard steps of preparing your internal operations for the collaborative involvement

of your customers, suppliers, partners, and stakeholders, you’ll find that implementing

and thereby benefiting from social tools is relatively easy by comparison.

Review and Hands-On

Chapter 12 tied together the concepts of higher-level forms of engagement—content

creation and collaboration for the purpose of driving advocacy—with the basic best prac-

tices around the use of social objects and the social graph. The discussion of social appli-

cations centered around enabling the kinds of activities that lead to conversation, new

ideas and innovations, and suggestions guiding your continuous improvement programs.

Review of the Main Points

Review the main points covered in Chapter 12, listed below. Consider these as you

begin to develop your overall plan for the integration of social technology in your busi-

ness or organization.

•    Social applications tie social objects and social graphs together. Simply put,

people connect with other people around the things that interest them in order

to accomplish tasks that improve their lives.

•    Internal readiness—the capability to respond and to address business challenges

holistically rather than functionally—is an element of your social technology

implementation effort.