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c h a p t e r12: SOCIAL APPLICATIONS■• Understanding your business objectives and organizing your social technology
planning process around them ensures that your approach is “business challenge
and expected contribution first, choice of technology second.” Note that his
bullet item has an ROI of its own. If you doubt it, add up the costs in your own
organization of technology implementations that failed because the chosen tech-
nology never matched the business. Cost avoidance—in this case, not making
that mistake with social technology—has a knowable and legitimate ROI.
On this last point, in the 12 chapters of this book there have been references to a
large number of technology platforms, partners, and solution options, all of which do
basically the same thing: They support the development of conversations and ultimately
encourage collaboration between participants in a defined network that is important to
your business. Starting with business objectives ensures that you will correctly identify
the technology best suited to your specific situation. When it comes to social technology,
given all of the unknowns, there is one thing that is certain: You have lots of choices.
Right along with business objectives, consider next the participants (or lack
thereof) that you expect to interact with or learn from. While the use of ratings and
reviews is nearly a given across all age groups within the United States, Canada, and
Europe, this is not always the case in developing markets where technology adop-
tion itself has a pronounced “age” factor. In India, for example, while there is a very
important (and large) component of the marketplace that is using social media in
substantially the same way as any other marketplace, the difference between those
connected and those not connected to the Social Web is significant and therefore must
be considered. When Godrej (a respected Indian manufacturer of a wide range of con-
sumer goods) announced its plans for its online community called GoJiyo (meaning
“Go Live”), Godrej patriarch Adi Godrej described the effort at a conference I spoke
at in Bangalore as being intended to reconnect Godrej with the emerging Indian youth
culture. The insight is this: Godrej has a much larger marketing effort supporting
its entire marketplace. GoJiyo is one component, tied to a specific business objective
and created for a specific (and growing) customer segment. That is smart thinking at
Godrej, and it’s the right approach anywhere.Internal Readiness: Workflow and Your Response Plan
Coincident with your external social technology plan, begin early the process of iden-
tifying and recruiting colleagues across business units for the development of your
cross-functional social technology team. Need help getting started? Go back to the
identified business objectives: Who has profit responsibility associated with those
objectives? Those are good people to start with. Add representatives from your legal
team: They can help you create effective social media policies that are consistent with
the culture of your firm or organization. HR and Finance/Compliance are part of this
too: Sarbanes-Oxley, in the United States, and the unfettered employee use of social