Social Media Marketing

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c h a p t e r

9 :

SOCIAL CRM

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Gautam Ghosh

Gautam Ghosh is an HR professional and colleague of mine in India with a passion for internal

collaboration: You can follow Gautam on Twitter (@gautamghosh) and read his blog here:

http://www.gautamblogs.com

When building your team, include your legal team or similar policy advisors.

While we all know it’s easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission, as you move

from a contained, experiment-driven approach to social media and even limited forays

into social business, the stakes will begin to rise. The cost of forgiveness may become

unacceptably high, and so to not involve the parties that really need to be involved—

like corporate legal—borders on recklessness and irresponsibility. Take the time up-

front to get important stakeholders involved early.

On the specifi c issue of legal involvement, recognize that the professionals in

your legal team—like your IT department and your corporate systems administra-

tors—have jobs to do, and those jobs generally involve protecting the business as well

as protecting you in the context of the business. Rather than viewing legal as an adver-

sary, take the time to understand the issues that are specifi c to your fi rm or organiza-

tion’s use of social technology and then factor them into your Social CRM plan.

If the idea of pulling legal, fi nance, HR, and others into the process seems

daunting, consider the following:

•    You have something to add, and so do these other teams. A law degree or HR cer-

tification on their part does not mean that you can’t understand their perspective

or their concerns, anymore than your business, marketing, or engineering degree

means that they can’t understand yours. Ask questions, understand their points

of view, and offer (them) the information they need to really understand why you

believe the program you are proposing will be beneficial to your business.

•    Involve these other teams early. People love “ownership” and “stakes” —we’re

social, remember? As soon as you have your basic business case in order—objec-

tives, audience, metrics, goals—start building your wider team. Make sure that

there is (still) an opportunity for them to change things or add ideas of their own.

You’ll look “smartest” when you are able to make them feel “great” about what

you are proposing and proud of their role in it.

•    Ultimately, the adoption of social technology is a business decision. Legal, HR,

and Finance should be part of your program to help you build the business.

Social Computing Policies

Speaking of your business or organization’s legal counsel, this team is central to your

development of social computing policies. Social computing policies are an absolute

Gautam Ghosh

Gautam Ghosh is an HR professional and colleague of mine in India with a passion for internal

collaboration: You can follow Gautam on Twitter (@gautamghosh) and read his blog here:

http://www.gautamblogs.com