For many defense contractors, the hardest part of implementing or improving their social media is getting started. Here’s a book that can help.

1. Executive Summary:
The Social Media
Management Handbook
Everything You Need to Know to Get
Social Media Working in Your Business

3. Making Social Media Pay
Five Crucial Aspects to Capitalize on the Promise
and Overcome the Challenges of Social Media
Accenture’s recently published book, on marketing and sales, and the new
The Social Media Management collaborative nature of the customer-
Handbook: Everything You Need to company relationship made possible
Know to Get Social Media Working by social media.
in Your Business, is designed to help
executives and managers in any It’s Not Just a New Channel;
business capitalize on the promise, The Catalyst of Change at
and overcome the challenges, of this
Business’ Core
powerful new medium.
Chapters nine to eleven of the book
Social media has captured the explore the implications of social
attention of companies large and media on how companies run their
small. As more and more people customer service operations. While
are taking to their computers and many companies recognize that
mobile devices to connect with social media can transform how they
friends, post their opinions and market and sell, fewer understand the
engage in conversations, it’s vital for profound ways in which social media
business leaders to understand this can help them respond to customer
phenomenon and how to prepare inquiries.
their organizations to thrive when
customers wield more power and New Rules for Tools; The Social
influence over businesses than ever Media Technology Platform
before. Some companies have made
major strides in leveraging social At its core, social media is made
media to develop more effective possible by technology. With chapters
growth strategies. In studying 12 to 14 as a background, this aspect
these leaders, we have found shows how an integrated social media
success requires attention to five technology platform is the engine
crucial aspects: that enables a company to provide the
next-generation customer experience.
Pick a Strategy Before It
Picks You The Time for Experimenting
Is Up; Act Now and Expect
Drawing from chapters one to four
Wide Changes
of the Social Media Management
Handbook, this aspect covers While the front office is most closely
developing a robust social media associated with social media, that
strategy that aligns to the overall doesn’t mean the rest of a company
business strategy and that is is immune to social media’s impact.
supported by appropriate metrics, as Based on chapters 15 through 18, this
well as getting the entire organization aspect describes the varied impacts
behind the effort. of social media on other business
functions including R&D, HR and IT.
You’re Not on Stage Anymore;
Welcome Into The Crowd
With reference to chapters five
through eight of the book, this aspect
discusses the effect of social media
3

4. Pick a Strategy Before It Picks You
Social media is rapidly coming of age, and new local/global markets. But Engaging the senior executive team
as the massive acceleration of social social media also poses considerable requires much more than statistics on
media adoption around the world risk. Ignoring social media will not how much customers and competitors
can attest. Real people all over the make it go away or lessen its impact. are using social media. Facts and
world are having real interactions by If a company chooses not to engage, figures about broad trends alone are
the millions every day—conversations it will find competitors rapidly filling unlikely to convince executives to act.
that often begin with a simple trigger, the gap—and, potentially, could see In our experience, top management
then escalate quickly and broadly into its brand and reputation damaged needs a visceral case—a personal
something that often takes on a life by critical comments that ‘‘go viral.’’ interlude with social media—to
of its own. In fact, studies show that Thus, it’s critical for a company to recognize its importance. Thus, the
approximately one-third of individuals identify very early on the specific first thing the enthusiast should do
are active in social media, which puts goals it wants to achieve with social is to ask the critical question, “What
companies at great risk of having media and the business benefits exactly sparked the initial motivation
their social media strategy chosen of engaging. to consider social media?” In other
for them by default if they don’t words, what emotional connection did
act promptly. Just as important as the “why” behind social media make in the enthusiast
engaging in social media is the “how”: that inspired them to believe in
However, organizations that wade How can a company bring structure its power and potential impact on
into the social media waters and commercial return to this new the company? Whether the initial
unprepared are likely to find and vibrant global conversation, and spark came from a competitor’s
themselves quickly overwhelmed how can it invest resources sensibly actions, a board member’s insight
by the complexity and speed they into something that is neither fully from another company, or a personal
encounter. The “fire, ready, aim” accountable nor controllable? connection with another brand, all
approach can, at best, result in provide a valuable starting point for
failing to fully capitalize on the Answering both the “why” and the conversation with the rest of the
benefits of social media. At worst, the “how” of social media begins executive team. This step is often
it can lead to a public relations and with getting the organization, and overlooked, yet we find it to be one
customer relationship nightmare. especially senior executives, behind of the most crucial to getting
Likewise, bottom-up, fragmented the initiative; and creating the right executives’ support.
approaches to social media simply strategy and associated metrics.
do not permit large organizations After sparking social media interest
to operate social media at scale, Getting the Organization in someone on the executive team,
with appropriate controls and On Board the enthusiast must then get other
consistency across the enterprise. executives on board. This requires
Such approaches create significant Getting C-suite executives behind turning the spark into a “North
risks, including inconsistent customer social media requires a deliberate Star”—a mechanism that will connect
experiences, an inability to ensure approach, one that requires a unique with others who are critical to social
regulatory compliance, and redundant blend of engaging both “the heart” media’s success in the company and
investments in technologies and and “the head” of the executive will broaden the base of support to
human resources. team to succeed. In other words, move forward. Once again, appealing
a social media enthusiast who to both the heart and the head is
As they consider their approach wants to capture the attention of critical to bringing others on board
to social media, companies must senior executives must make an and maintaining momentum as social
first understand the benefits emotional connection with those media is adopted.
of engagement, as well as the executives around social media
risks of not engaging. For most while demonstrating the return on There are a number of commonly
organizations, social media offers investment social media can generate used ways to create interest and
significant opportunities to accelerate for the business. Failure on either enthusiasm among the broader
their ability to launch new brands, count will make it virtually impossible executive team. The first is polling
incrementally strengthen customer to convince senior executives to get the senior executive team about
relationships and drive revenues from fully behind social media—and, thus, recent experiences they’ve had on
existing customers, new customers make it an important part of the Facebook, LinkedIn or other social
organization’s operations. media sites with which they’re
4

5. familiar—a situation in which Creating the Appropriate Processes: The processes a company
they’ve either complained about or Strategy uses to manage social media across
complimented a company, and then the organization.
ask, “What if someone did that to Yet even with an engaged executive
our company?” suite and supportive champion, a People: The impact on the people
company will fail in social media if involved in the processes and the new
If such a personal experience can’t it doesn’t take the time to develop roles that social media requires an
be found among an executive or a strong social media strategy that organization to create.
board member, the next best thing is tightly aligned with the overall
is creating one by pointing out business goals. Metrics: The indicators used to
what customers are saying about gauge the aspects of the business
the company via social media, or by Indeed, to be successful, social that social media is expected to
getting executives to participate in media, like quality, has to become improve (including an important,
panel discussions with social media- embedded in the fabric of the new integrated return on investment
savvy customers discussing how they organization because it affects every (ROI) measure called customer health,
use social media to engage, interact functional area. Doing so requires a which provides a holistic approach to
with and buy (or not buy) comprehensive approach to ensure predicting the impact of social media
the company’s products. consistent customer experiences, investments to increase revenue,
reliable content creation, compelling profitability, and long-term customer
Appealing to executives’ heads insights through analytics, appropriate loyalty).
requires compiling a fact base— data governance, and sufficient
an engaging business case for regulatory compliance. Policies: The policies that define
why a company must launch a acceptable, unacceptable, desired, and
comprehensive social media initiative To help leaders chart a path through undesired behaviors among internal
and where it will have the most the opportunities, threats, and risks and external audiences, including
impact. Successful business cases of social media, we developed a employees, contractors, vendors,
provide the financial and competitive comprehensive list of the factors customers, and prospects.
justification for diving into social critical to the success of building
media, and are most effective when large-scale social media capabilities. Importantly, once the initial strategy
developed collaboratively by players These factors form the core of a is defined, a company must test and
whose functions will be affected most social media management framework refine it over time. Social media is
by social media (typically marketing, that can help organizations create or still a relatively new domain, and no
customer service, sales, HR, IT and improve their social media strategies. one knows specifically which tactics
product development). There are at It can help ensure a company gets will achieve results with audiences,
least three layers in a fact-based, a significantly greater positive who are, by definition, unique.
social media business case: a focus impact from social media and
on areas that executives value highly delivers a prioritized road map for
instituting the process, technological,
and easily understand (such as
organizational, and cultural changes
The “fire, ready, aim”
attracting and retaining customers); a
discussion of benefits for downstream required to effectively implement approach can, at best,
its social media strategies. The
opportunities (for example, developing
framework contains six elements: result in failing to
new products, creating brand
extensions, and improving the way fully capitalize on the
the organization engages with its Context: External considerations
employees); and the links between such as regulations and competitive benefits of social media.
the social media initiative and dynamics as well as the information At worst, it can lead to
broader corporate programs (for that an organization gathers through
instance, reducing operational its social media listening activities. a public relations and
complexity or improving customer customer relationship
service efficiency). Culture: Critical input into a
successful social media strategy nightmare.
development that includes habits,
behaviors, ways of working, and
subcultures within an organization.
5

6. You're Not on Stage Anymore;
Welcome Into The Crowd
While a company lays the groundwork for social
media by engaging executives and developing a
social media strategy, the effects of social media
are felt on multiple areas of the organization.
Marketing and sales are two functions that are
intimately linked with social media.

7. One of the most visible impacts Social media can give companies a To capture the insights hidden in
of social media on the marketing torrent of highly valuable customer social media conversations, companies
organization is how it affects the feedback. Every day, millions of must refresh their processes and
traditional “four Ps of marketing”— people around the world are blogging, systems for collecting and analyzing
promotion, product, place, and price. participating in social networking data. Data collection and analytics
When the four Ps were created, sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, processes are no longer linear in
customers gathered information and providing opinions on products progression, historically focused,
about their purchases mostly through and services on sites like or project-oriented. Analytics that
their direct contact with sales Epinions.com, Amazon.com, and leverage social media must be more
channel providers, such as retailers, ConsumerReports.org. iterative, real-time, predictive, fine-
and information provided directly grained, and collaborative. And
by the maker, like product labels or Such input is largely free. Unlike they must be able to deal with the
advertising. So it made sense for focus groups and surveys (which often increased volume and complexity of
marketers to base their sales-growth must pay consumers to participate data (as most social media data is in
efforts on manipulating those four and often require the services of a unstructured rather than structured
attributes of their offerings to find market research firm), consumers give form, which is often difficult to
the right combinations that would feedback at no charge. use directly in traditional customer
entice customers to buy. analytics tools).
Customer feedback issued through
While the initial four Ps still apply, social media is qualitative data, But giving companies the opportunity
social media requires the addition just like the data that market to learn more about what customers
of a fifth P: people. The distinction researchers derive from focus group are thinking and feeling is only one
here is that the original four Ps and in-depth interviews. Such data way social media benefits companies’
relate to proactive things a company is the best type of customer feedback marketing and sales efforts. Social
does to its customers, while adding because it gives companies a better media also enables enterprises to
the “people” element recognizes chance to get inside the customer’s create more meaningful dialogues
the new collaborative nature of head—something that structured with customers by moving from a
the customer-company relationship surveys, which force consumers to mass-marketing model (in which the
made possible by social media. In choose from predetermined answers, goal is to acquire as many customers
other words, prior to social media, simply can’t do as effectively. as possible) to a more targeted,
people were on the receiving end of tailored approach (in which the
a company’s actions while, today, Such qualitative data is in digital aim is to start a conversation with
they have joined the conversation form—in text or digital video on a customers and increase the richness
and play a more significant role in website. The advent of text-mining and depth of those conversations
shaping what is “done to them.” tools—software that combs through over time).
Within this context, we can view the voluminous customer comments
additional fifth P as having five key to find patterns and problematic Capitalizing on social media in this
elements—the “five Rs”: reputation, issues—means companies now can way typically requires a phased
responsibility, relationship, reward and analyze huge amounts of qualitative approach, with each phase being
rigor. The five Rs, which we discuss data much more efficiently than focus dependent on an increasing level of
in more depth in The Social Media group discussions or one-on-one customer insight, but also resulting
Management Handbook, are the interviews. In the past, companies in deeper and more profitable
guideposts for how companies engage would have been overwhelmed had customer relationships.
with their audiences in today’s they asked 10,000 customers to each
collaborative world. write several paragraphs about their The first phase, Listen, is where
feelings about a product. It would a company joins relevant social
Another area that social media is have been too time consuming and communities to begin hearing what
rapidly changing is the process by expensive for an analyst to determine their customers and prospects are
which companies understand the what the collective input really talking about. Using these early
“voice of the customer” (VoC), which meant. Text-mining tools enable insights, a company can pinpoint
should be at the heart of every a company to easily ‘‘quantify’’ initial opportunities for service or
company’s marketing and sales qualitative feedback. product improvement initiatives.
efforts. Social media is a powerful Once it is comfortable listening, a
source for understanding the VoC for Of course, making sense of this input company can begin interacting with
four reasons: requires a new level of customer existing communities and establishing
analytics capabilities. its presence on a few of the major
social networking communities.
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8. Prior to social media, community encourages open and page. Once registered, any tweeting
honest communication among all its Best Buy employee who encounters
people were on the members, and the community page a customer tweeting about a bad
receiving end of a serves as a valuable information
hub. It provides several resources—
Best Buy experience can respond to
the customer by sending a message
company’s actions including chat rooms, answer center, from the @Twelpforce account.
discussion boards, and eBay blogs—to The Twelpforce service enables Best
while, today, they have help members stay informed about Buy to spot and engage an unhappy
joined the conversation the latest events, programs and news. customer more quickly, which not
In doing so, eBay enables community only strengthens the bond with that
and play a more members to resolve issues among customer, but also keeps the issue
significant role in themselves without having to engage from spreading.
the customer care department.
shaping what is “done
to them.” In the third phase, Optimize, a
company uses its social media
presence as part of its multi-channel
Insurance company USAA for years customer engagement—developing
has done a great job of anticipating strategies that engage and empower
customer needs before they surface customers and business partners
and taking advantage of social to participate in the company’s
networks to interact with customers. day-to-day business operations.
For example, through Twitter As part of this effort, a company
(http://twitter.com/USAA), USAA starts by linking several platforms
lets customers know about tools for and integrating them with their
managing personal spending, tips for digital and CRM applications, and
surviving storms, advice on talking to connects social CRM with other key
adult children about financial matters, functional areas. This increasing level
and guidance on how to prepare of integration across the enterprise
their children going off to college or provides the backbone for truly
university. It also offers an accident tailored experiences that will
checklist iPhone application that stand out from competitors.
guides customers through the process
from reporting an accident Best Buy’s Twelpforce is a great
to securing a rental car. example. The consumer electronics
giant encourages its employees from
In the second phase, Engage, a across all operations to help handle
company is ready to build its own customer service issues via Best
network—to establish its own Buy’s Twitter account. Using their
customized community to learn from company and Twitter ID, employees
customers and actively promote can register for the service, after
products and brands. Once the which their tweets will be displayed
community is active, a company in a single stream on the same
must interact with it—publishing
content, executing activities, polling
community members, providing To capture the insights
new services, and identifying and hidden in social
influencing respected and active
members of the group. media conversations,
companies must refresh
For example, eBay established a
social community network on its their processes and
corporate website that is made up systems for collecting
of eBay members, buyers and sellers,
as well as eBay staff. The eBay and analyzing data.
8

10. It's Not Just a New Channel; It's The
Catalyst Of The Change At Business' Core
For many organizations, social media same way as they view the phone, feedback channel available to all
is seen primarily as a new marketing fax, e-mail, or their website–just one their channels—call centers, e-mail,
and sales channel, a way to stimulate more way for customers to contact regular mail correspondence, and so
greater demand among existing them. As a result, these companies on. This makes adding a new channel
and potential customers. However, use the same traditional complaint- expensive and time consuming
social media is also a powerful tool handling processes for social media, because everything must be accessible
for helping organizations excel and that’s where the struggle begins. for all people. It often forces
during critical “moments of truth”: Companies quickly find they can’t customers to plow through volumes
when customers require assistance respond fast enough or appropriately of information and options that cover
with a problem or question about without dramatically increasing their all possible service issues to register
a company’s products or services. resources. The one-size-fits-all model a complaint. Maintaining all channels
How well companies deal with these doesn’t factor in the speed with equally becomes expensive and
moments of truth can go a long way which the social media complainant onerous, and often is not necessary.
toward determining whether customer wants an answer. People who use
word of mouth will propel a company Twitter, Facebook, or another social The second reason why many
and its brand to stratospheric heights channel regard timeliness as far more companies are struggling with social
or catastrophic lows. important than getting a polished media is because they have tried
answer. The complaint-resolution to handle the burden of responding
Unfortunately, most companies aren’t policies of most companies are effectively themselves. They become
prepared for an increasing number of anything but speedy. daunted by the expense and number
customers using social media as their of people they believe they must
service channel of choice. Why? The In addition, the one-size-fits- hire to respond to thousands or
first reason is that they have applied all model typically means that even millions of customer messages
a one-size-fits-all customer service each channel is offered the same coming in through social media. And
model across every customer segment information. Some companies yet they don’t realize that outsiders
and response channel including social have a philosophy of making all may be as capable as their own
media. They view social media in the the capabilities for one customer employees in answering customer
10

11. How well companies to operate in a unified channel and The third action is designing a
in creating online communities that measurement system to gauge how
deal with these enable customers to help each other. well the company is responding
moments of truth can And they allow many employees be a to social media complaints and
face to the customer, not just a few. a feedback loop for instituting
go a long way toward Finally, they are never content with necessary improvements. Three
determining whether their success and continually work to metrics—different from those used in
improve their social CRM channel. a traditional call center setting—are
customer word of As a result, these leaders consistently especially important. The first is
mouth will propel a use the social channel to surprise and the “mood” of the people who talk
delight their customers. about the company via social media
company and its brand channels. If the mood is good or
to stratospheric heights Of course, social media also can positive, the social media response
present major customer-service team has done its job. A second
or catastrophic lows. challenges when an individual or metric is the level of advocacy
group is determined to use social among customers. If the number
channels to disparage an organization of supportive comments posted by
questions. These companies shy away or its brands. Companies that don’t customers about the company’s
from using, as part of their service act quickly to contain consumer products or services outnumbers
capability, the people who spend time outrage fanned through social media negative ones, and customers
on social networks and love their can watch their brand reputations increasingly help other customers
brands. They worry about the risks to get tarnished rapidly. Indeed, resolve issues they are having, the
security, corporate culture, and brand companies now must play “defense” team has been successful. The third
reputation from enlisting the help of against the “offense” of such metric is “handoff.” By this we mean
outsiders. “aggressive consumer activism.” how well a company can identify
How? We have found three actions complaints that stump the social
Other companies fall down in to be especially important. media crowd and bring those issues
responding to the social media chatter in-house for effective handling.
because their left hand doesn’t know The first action is to establish criteria The more quickly the company can
what the right hand is doing. In many for determining which complaints to accomplish the handoff, the less time
organizations, sales, marketing, and respond to and guidelines for how an issue sits unresolved.
service are autonomous functions that to respond. A complaint-handling
don’t work closely with one other. For “decision tree” can be helpful in There’s no doubt that marketing
example, customer service employees that regard. Such a tool helps and sales are the functions that
may be on top of a product quality companies recognize the nature of, or most companies commonly think of
issue that customers are sounding off reason for, the complaint; and then when considering adopting social
on in Facebook, and yet marketing determine how to respond based on media to improve the business. In
may continue to operate as if there is a combination of the value of the reality, however, there’s just as
no problem at all, running adverts that complaining customer, the potential much potential to be found in the
don’t address the issue. damage to the firm’s reputation, and customer service area—both in terms
the “noise level” or extent to which of improving the overall customer
Despite the numerous missteps in the the complaint could travel. experience and reducing service and
marketplace, a number of companies support costs.
have successfully incorporated social The second action is recognizing the
media into their customer service different roles of people who are
models. In our research and consulting willing and able to respond to social
experience, we found these firms media-generated complaints—and People who use Twitter,
share a number of common practices. having in place the right procedures
They are able to define a unique that enable those people to mobilize Facebook, or another
customer service channel strategy quickly to address them. Responders social channel regard
for social customer relationship could include not only “official”
management and truly understand the customer service professionals, but timeliness as far more
investment period required to build also employees outside of customer important than getting
this channel. They are also adept at service and even customers who care
getting marketing, sales, and service about the company. a polished answer.
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12. The Time for Experimenting
Is Up; Act Now and Expect
Wide-Spread Changes
Beyond the traditional customer-facing functions
of marketing, sales and service, engaging other
functions early in the process are critical to success
–including Technology, HR, Legal, R&D and others.

13. The scope and scale of social media According to the company, IdeaStorm product development team to help
is such that all functions of a was created ‘‘to give a direct voice determine the formula of the product
company—not just the front office— to our customers and an avenue to that ultimately went on sale.
are affected, albeit to varying degrees. have online ‘brainstorm’ sessions to
One way to think about impact is to allow you the customer to share ideas Still others are using social media
consider a spectrum of influence, such and collaborate with one another and in an often-overlooked part of
as that in Figure 1. Dell.’’ Dell reports that three years the product development process:
after the launch of the site, more the experience customers have in
At the far left of the spectrum than 10,000 ideas have been explored purchasing and using a new product.
are functions farthest from the and nearly 400 implemented. Companies traditionally have
customer—such as legal and finance. collected feedback on the customer
These functions are likely to be least When people think of social media experience through surveys—phone,
affected by social media. and product development, most think in-store, and online. In all cases, the
of the front end of the innovation data may not be timely. Social media
In the middle are functions that process, or the ideation stage. And lets companies acquire customer
experience moderate impact. They as the Dell example illustrates, feedback on the buying and post-
include R&D and the supply chain, social media can be very effective sales experiences in real time and
which, while not directly connected in gathering and brainstorming new begin to assess and correct potential
to customers, play an instrumental ideas to be explored further. But what issues immediately, before they
role in fulfilling customer demand about the other steps in the process? become problems. Furthermore, social
and will require new levels of agility We’ve found that companies that are media allows companies to hear or
to accommodate the always-on, fast- truly leveraging the power of social read consumers’ unvarnished, real
paced nature of social media. media to boost product development words and get an appreciation of
are using social media in many steps the emotion and context involved,
The R&D function, in particular, can of the process, not just in ideation. unhidden by a survey firm’s
be influenced significantly by social For example, some companies are interpretation of them.
media, as social media creates a using social media to more precisely
whole new way for customers to understand the demographics behind A great example: In the days
form an emotional attachment to a a certain customer segment or better immediately after the launch of
company’s offerings. Social media divine their needs—that is, to listen Apple’s iPad, hundreds of thousands of
enables a company to stimulate better to the voice of the customer. tweets were sent containing the word
and then tap the collective passion This is important in trend-driven ‘‘iPad.’’ Was this just meaningless
and insights among its customers, markets where needs change rapidly chatter? Quite the contrary, as an
identify new needs, test solutions to due to peer interaction. editor at Harvard Business Review
meet those needs, create customer discovered. Scott Berinato, working
buzz, and get customer acceptance— Other companies use social media with software developer Jeff Clark,
even before a new product or to hasten and improve the step evaluated the more than half a
service hits the market. Social of getting feedback on product million tweets containing ‘‘iPad’’
media also helps companies harness prototypes. One example is the during the product’s launch weekend
additional resources and expertise to campaign conducted by Marmite, a and found that while some proportion
complement and bolster their internal Unilever-owned brand famous for its of the tweets certainly had no
development capabilities—in effect, yeast spread (similar to Vegemite, the value, the vast majority of them, if
making the entire world a potential version sold in Australia) that incites analyzed correctly, offered a gold
rich (not to mention low-cost) either lust or disgust, depending on mine of insights that Apple could
source of new ideas. one’s palate. Looking to create a new use to improve various aspects of the
‘‘more mature, extra strong’’ version product and the company’s support
For example, Dell Inc. for years has of its standard spread, Marmite of it. From a product development
used online tools to solicit ideas identified a set of customers who standpoint, for instance, the tweets
from customers, which has helped were extremely active and passionate offer an unflinching look at users’
improve its computer hardware, about the brand on social networking experiences with the product. By
software, services, and customer sites. The 200 lucky individuals, pairing up attributes of the iPad (such
service. The computer manufacturer dubbed ‘‘Marmarati,’’ were then given as ‘‘keyboard,’’ ‘‘display,’’ or ‘‘weight’’)
was one of the early adopters of beta versions of the new product mentioned in the tweets with positive
the crowdsourcing concept with and asked to provide their views and negative words in the same
the launch of its IdeaStorm web on various aspects of the samples. communications, Apple’s product
site (www.ideastorm.com) in 2007. Their feedback was sent along to the development team can quickly
13

14. The scope and scale of employer. Every organization likely relevant, not only in the recruiting
will need multiple social media policy process, but also in the training and
social media is such documents for different purposes development of existing employees.
that all functions of and audiences. For instance, one Indeed, companies aggressively
document typically includes broad adopting social media will find that
a company—not just guidelines for the entire employee not only are new roles needed to
the front office—are base on the appropriate use of social
media relative to making specific
manage specific aspects of their
social media initiative, but also many
affected, albeit to references to company matters or existing roles—including those in the
presenting themselves as “speaking C-suite, brand and product managers,
varying degrees. for the company.” A separate sales and service representatives, HR
document provides more operational and learning professionals, and legal
guidelines for workers who use social teams—must change in response to
pinpoint what’s turning users off
media as part of their job. There also the opportunities and challenges social
and, thus, prioritize fixes they should
are policies for users of a company- media presents.
consider for future releases.
operated online community and
guidelines for managers on how to Furthermore, social media is playing
At the far right of the spectrum are
handle social media. an increasingly prominent role in
functions that are highly affected by
how organizations attract employees.
social media. As discussed previously,
Importantly, policies should not be Prospective candidates are using social
these include the front-office
designed to “control” employees. media to get a composite picture of
functions of marketing, sales and
Trying to control what employees say an organization to determine whether
service, as well as human resources
about their company in social media it is a good fit for them (which means
(HR) and information technology (IT).
would essentially require controlling companies need to make sure the
employees’ thoughts and actions employee value proposition they
From an HR perspective, the impact
every hour of every day. It’s just not present via social media is appropriate
of social media is twofold. Because
possible (and why would anyone want and compelling). Companies can
social media can effectively make
to do that, anyway?). Instead, leaders also use social media to find and vet
every employee a spokesperson for the
must provide the right balance of candidates, which requires people in
company, HR must determine how to
empowerment and accountability. the HR function who are adept at
manage the ways in which employees
After all, trust and empowerment are incorporating social media searches
engage in social media conversations
inherently less expensive than control. into their overall recruiting process.
about the company and how they
Trust and empowerment do not
represent the organization in these
require reporting, audits, or processes. The IT function, by virtue of the
conversations. This is substantially
In addition, trust and empowerment technology-driven nature of social
different from years past, when public
obliterate fear and diminish politics media, is also in the ‘‘high-impact’’
relations and HR only had to concern
in the workplace. Moreover, every zone. While the job of the chief
themselves with the limited number
policy should be unique. Companies
of ‘‘official’’ spokespeople who were
must create social media policies with
authorized to interact with the
media, had the appropriate training,
an understanding of the processes The time for pilot
and conducted their interviews in
they intend to impact, the employees
who will carry out those processes,
projects related to
controlled environments.
the measures of success, their unique social media is over.
culture, and their context (regulations,
Today, while employees aren’t
business objectives, organizational
Now, companies must
holding press conferences, they do
have the ability to do good or cause
history and other factors). determine how they’re
harm online, so they must be much
Just as important from an HR
going to generate value
more aware of the nuances of their
communications and have clear
perspective is the talent question. via social media and
As companies increasingly use social
boundaries regarding what they
media in multiple business functions, avoid the significant
say and how they say it. Thus, all
companies need a strong social media
HR must ensure that employees potential risks that
possess the appropriate social media
policy to help employees understand
skills and capabilities. Doing so are inherent in poor
the boundaries of their social
media activities relating to their
requires considering such skills, where execution.
14

15. Low Impact of Social Media High
IT Sales
Legal R & D Supply Marketing Service
Finance Chain Human Resources
Figure 1: The Impact of Social Media
information officer (CIO) has become work with ‘‘disposable technologies.’’ companies must determine how
broader and more influential in Social media introduces all sorts of they’re going to generate value via
the past two decades, social media technologies that aren’t necessarily social media and avoid the significant
expands the CIO’s role even further. going to be around for 15 years, so potential risks that are inherent in
It ups the ante for CIOs, making they’re not infrastructure per se. But poor execution. Doing so involves
their jobs more consequential. still, the organization needs to have understanding the important role
The reason is that social media a plan for how to acquire and retire each function within the business
connects the company directly to them as well as how they fit within plays in “getting social media right”
customers, creating an unprecedented the overall IT portfolio. They must and enabling the enterprise to fully
opportunity to market better, service figure out how to adapt the overall capitalize on social media’s promise.
customers more effectively, improve planning and execution process
product development, and accomplish for technology in the business—for
other competitive mandates. In this instance, shifting from annual to
way, social media is one of the best quarterly planning for technology
things to happen to CIOs and their to accommodate rapidly evolving
IT departments, as they now play a social media tools and large shifts
more direct and strategic role in the in customer bases. And they need to
success of the business. rethink their innate desire to decrease
the complexity of the technology
But social media also makes the CIO’s footprint as well as the need for
role much more complex. For instance, stable technology platforms that can
CIOs now need to determine how be integrated easily with a company’s
they will capture, organize, analyze, present and future systems.
and leverage the vast amounts of
data social media generates. They In short, the time for pilot projects
also have to understand how to related to social media is over. Now,
15

16. New Rules for Tools; the Social
Media Technology Platform

17. Arguably one of the biggest forum site, or a product review One of the biggest
challenges companies will encounter webpage. Each one has its own
in embracing social media is the rules. Each one focuses on its part challenges companies
technology aspect. This is especially of the CRM process. A customer will encounter in
true as companies move from who tweets a complaint may be the
experimenting with social media same customer who sounds off on embracing social media
to making it a core part of their the company’s product review site.
enterprise. But because the applications were
is the technology
implemented separately, the company aspect.
To date, companies have instituted doesn’t know that. Another customer
social media technology in two may post gripes on the company’s
phases: experimental and business new online customer forum. But
transformation. The experimental that system isn’t linked to the
phase was all about the tools. CRM system, so the company can’t
Companies deployed components of positively identify the source of
social media such as blogs, product the gripes.
ratings, discussion forums, and
customer comments as one-offs— What’s the solution? The Social
isolated and often uncoordinated Media Handbook delves into this
initiatives that paid little attention to topic in considerable detail, but at a
the existing technical infrastructure. high level, we believe managers need
to take a more thoughtful approach
But we are past the experimental to selecting the right technologies,
stage. Social media must be seen in building a sustainable and scalable
a larger, more strategic context—in infrastructure, and developing
the way companies manage their and delivering applications in the
entire customer relationships. This constantly changing world of social
is the business transformation phase media. And a key element of that
of social media, and it requires approach is what we call a social
much more planning, resources and media platform.
experience than the experimental
phase that preceded it. The business A social media platform is technology
transformation phase moves past that enables a company to identify
stand-alone, outside-the-firewall and aggregate in one place all of its
skunkworks initiatives and focuses interactions with customers as well
on linking social media technology as the social media chatter of those
with a company’s core information customers about the firm (in addition
systems. to noncustomers who take to blogs,
discussion boards, and the like). The
Indeed, integration is absolutely role of this platform is clear (although
critical to making social media not easy): Find out who is talking
work. Without an integrated about the company and its products,
approach to technology, a company’s policies, and so on through social
responses to and interactions with media and get that information to the
customers will be disjointed, which people in the company who can take
ultimately will erode the firm’s appropriate action.
reputation and jeopardize customer
relationships. Yet many companies Currently the social media platform
today struggle with the remnants cannot be bought from one software
of their original, un-integrated vendor; some software companies
experimental approaches to social provide key pieces of the platform,
media. Their data from online but none sells the entire suite. As
customer interactions resides in a result, companies must build the
multiple silos. They installed social platform more or less from scratch,
media applications as point solutions although they can and should take
to point problems—for example, a advantage of commercially
blogging tool, or customer discussion available software.
17

18. A social media platform has six core as how well it has responded to those
components: discussions. A social media platform
must be created with metrics that
1. Community services: These keep managers informed on their
technologies enable companies firm’s online reputation.
to build and maintain online
communities such as blogs, ratings 6. Integration with the existing
and reviews, referrals and sharing, CRM system: Social media is a
and forums. critical channel for companies to
listen and react to customers. The
2. Integration with external social platform must give companies a deep
media channels: This component understanding of their customers’
links a company’s social media preferences—and based on the actual
capabilities to the social media behavior they display (what they’re
channels that are outside of its complaining about in Facebook, and
control—for example, Facebook, so on). But it’s not the only channel.
Twitter, and external blogs. It enables The contact center, e-mail, traditional
a company to ‘‘fish where the fish marketing and sales campaigns,
are’’—comb the Web’s many places and the conventional sales forces
where customers and noncustomers will not go away soon, if ever. Thus
hang out and provide content as short companies need to link their social
as a comment on a blog and as long media platform to their enterprise
as a one-hour video on YouTube. CRM systems. Social CRM systems
that collect data and facilitate
3. Work flow optimization: The relationships with customers and
work flow component enables influencers must be connected to the
companies to define which social corporate CRM system.
media events require attention, the
kind of attention they require, and The social media platform has become
who in the organization must act. The an essential new element of a
work flow component also features company’s technology infrastructure.
a tracking mechanism that monitors It is a new engine that enables
whether the person responsible a company to provide the next-
for handling the issue did in fact generation customer experience
handle it. If that person doesn’t, the by receiving social media content
tracking mechanism escalates the from many channels; using analytics
issue, bringing it to the attention of software to monitor trends, and
someone else. helping managers decide what to do
about those trends. The platform is
4. Text analytics: Text analytics tightly integrated with a company’s
solutions mine documents and other existing CRM system, which enables
forms of “un- structured” data. They a company to feed the data and
analyze linguistic structure and apply interactions from all the social
statistical and machine-learning media chatter into the traditional
techniques to discern entities (names, ‘‘marketing funnel’’ through which
dates, places, terms) and their people move from prospects to
attributes as well as relationships, customers. And perhaps most
concepts, and even sentiments. They importantly, the platform combines
extract these “features” to databases and connects all relevant software
for further analysis and automate and data seamlessly, which enables
classification and processing of source companies to understand customers
documents. more completely and put their best
foot forward in all interactions
5. Measurement and analysis: with them.
This component enables a firm to
gauge the impact of social media
conversations on its business as well
18

19. Conclusion
Strictly speaking, social media is not Combined, the preceding
a new phenomenon; people have characteristics can either be a boon to
been providing recommendations companies that embrace social media
and opinions to friends and contacts and its growth-generating potential,
for millennia via channels through or spell serious trouble for those that
which a two-way conversation can are unwilling or unable to recognize
take place. In modern history, such social media’s growing influence and
channels have included face-to-face power. Indeed, the massive presence
discussions, letters, the telephone and, of social media interactions is creating
more recently, e-mail. So what is a whole new ball game for the world
new today? of commerce and connection. They are
materially impactful, unavoidable and
We see a number of characteristics so ubiquitous that no business can
that distinguish today’s “digital social afford to simply ignore them.
media” interactions from other types
of social conversations. It enables Companies that already have “joined
one-to-many or many-to-many the conversation” and made social
conversations and features content media a priority understand how
created and posted by consumers of fundamentally social media affects
that content. Social media is also myriad areas of their business. These
very easy to use, highly accessible organizations are well ahead of the
and highly scalable, and it operates in curve and have made substantial
real time. Finally, and perhaps most changes in their strategies, business
important for companies seeking to processes, technologies, and talent
protect and enhance their reputations, bases that enable them to capitalize
social media is entirely public on the opportunities provided by social
and transparent. media while mitigating the risks. Other
companies can learn much from their
experiences.
19

20. About Accenture About Accenture CRM Solutions About Social Media
Accenture is a global management Accenture’s Customer Relationship www.facebook.com/accenture
consulting, technology services and Management service line helps managementconsulting
outsourcing company, with more than organizations achieve high http://twitter.com/#!/accenture
223,000 people serving clients in performance by transforming their www.youtube.com/accenture
more than 120 countries. Combining marketing, sales and customer service www.linkedin.com/company/
unparalleled experience, comprehen- functions to support accelerated accenture
sive capabilities across all industries growth, increased profitability and
and business functions, and extensive greater operating efficiency. Our
research on the world’s most success- research, insight and innovation, The Social Media Management
ful companies, Accenture collaborates global reach and delivery experience Handbook
with clients to help them become have made us a worldwide leader, These insights are based on
high-performance businesses and serving thousands of clients every The Social Media Management
governments. The company generated year, including most Fortune® 100 Handbook: Everything You Need to
net revenues of US$21.6 billion for the companies, across virtually all Know to Get Social Media Working
fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2010. Its industries. in Your Business, published by
home page is www.accenture.com John Wiley & Sons in January, 2011.
For more information, visit
www.socialmediamanagement
handbook.accenture.com.
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