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I know it’s a few days early, but for all you community nerds I’ve got an early Christmas present. That’s right, it’s a damn tasty job opening:
This position reports to my old boss, and as a boss he’s as good as they come. If you’re looking for a new gig, are awesome, and want to work for an insanely awesome company, check out the link above!
And don’t forget these Community Guy resources for landing that perfect community job!
The team at Ant’s Eye View has been working on something we’re really excited to share. Last week, we formally unveiled The Social Engagement Journey. Before I explain, let me share some background.
Over the years, social media has become a significant conversation in marketing circles. The focus of that conversation has been about a theoretically linear progression companies make through social media. The way social media works, many experts have said, is that you start with a certain set of tools and tactics and continue to grow activity until you have all the tools and programs in place that you “should”. But our team never really felt quite comfortable with this idea.
Every company is different, with a different set of business objectives and therefore their needs are different. The idea of a linear progression and a final completion of program design that yields success is a bit then. Best Buy is a great example of this: they have some great social media programs, but their business overall is still continuing to have problems. In no small part, that’s very likely due to root problems with in-store user experience design. Customer Engagement is about helping a business change their core operating principles as a way to meet (and exceed) business objectives.
Our team has observed and worked with a number of Fortune 1000 companies as they transformed into more customer-centric organizations by integrating and operationalizing social media. Through this, we have noticed that rather than a linear progression of tool and program implementation, transformation to a customer-centric organization is about evolution. We’ve seen that there are 5 common stages of transformation companies move through on their journey to a nirvana state: The Fully Engaged Enterprise.
Stage 1 of the journey is traditional command and control. One-way communication with customers is the norm, and the various functional units in a company operate relatively independently.
Stage 2 usually involves 1-2 individuals or teams who begin experimenting with social engagement. These mavericks can appear in any part of the organization but are often in marketing or support groups. There may be multiple mavericks in a company, but they are not yet connected to each other. Teams in this stage emphasize direct customer engagement, likely breaking or bending internal rules to make it happen.
Stage 3 is when companies begin getting serious about social. A formal team may be empowered to help operationalize social engagement, or there are informal internal communities that drive progress. At this stage, companies emphasize training, policies, measurement frameworks and common engagement platforms.
Stage 4 usually means social engagement is delivering real business results. Executive support is broad, and engagement efforts are built into forecasts and annual plans. Customer listening is the norm, and multiple individuals within business units and functional groups are empowered to engage directly with customers and prospects.
Most companies would feel very satisfied reaching Stage 4, but we believe there is a higher stage of engagement.
Stage 5 is probably nirvana given that many of the tools to achieve this stage don’t exist yet for enterprise-level companies, but we call it the Fully Engaged Enterprise. In it, companies experience breakthrough business results based on deep customer engagement. Customers say things like “You know what I need before I do” and “my life is better because of you,” or “I trust you.” That said, there’s a lot of foundation work to do in Stages 1-4, regardless of technology.
For more information on the Social Engagement Journey, head over to the Ant’s Eye View blog:
My friends Lee and Sachi LeFever have published a new video, Social Media and the Workplace Explained, and it’s a great watch. If you don’t know Lee and Sachi, they’re the proprietors of Common Craft, the video-based concept explanation service. Their full catalog is fantastic, and this latest one is no exception. I had the pleasure of offering feedback as Lee worked on the video. Thanks, Lee!
Check it out below!
It is with extreme pride that I announce Social Media Marketing – The Next Generation of Business Engagement, a book that Dave Evans and I wrote together this year. After tech editing Dave’s first book, Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day, Dave asked me to co-author the second book and I gladly accepted.
This new book takes a deeper look at how to apply social media principles to change your business. It was a ton of fun to write, and Dave was a great partner and co-author. The book is getting a great launch reception, and we’re hoping it does as well as the first, which is still selling at a fast clip.
Want more info about the book? Check out the book support site or the Facebook page.
So? What are you waiting for? Head over to Amazon and pick up a copy!
Let me first start this post out by saying that I have loved the Web since the very first time I pulled up a Web site. Literally the very first one. I don’t remember the site (although it’s likely it had a stone background image), but I do remember the rush of ideas, emotions, and potential that flooded over me the first time I pulled up that site.
In the last year or so, I’ve been decidedly harsh in my critique about where the internet has gone in recent memory. In particular, I was incredibly disappointed in this last election, not because of the results (that’s another topic, and if you read my twitter stream you’d probably be surprised why). Actually the reason was that in all the conversation that’s happened around US politics in the last two years, I feel like we’ve largely seen Social Media used as a marketing tool meant to skew reality, not as an ability to create transparency and deeper thought and discussion.
So yeah, I’ve been pretty down on the Internet lately.
But last night I was reminded why I <3 the internet: social community that works. I am learning (or trying to learn) photography. I’m getting there, slowly but surely. But after acquiring a new (and really cool) lens via Craiglist, I was having some problems figuring out why the autofocus never seems to work quite right. I’m less concerned about the physical quality of the lens, it was in great shape. No, I knew I was likely doing something wrong.
So I exported an example image, uploaded it to my new favorite photography community, and asked for help. Hours later a kind soul had responded, giving me some direction in how to address the problem. Why? Because he wanted to help.
This is the information utopia I saw so long ago, and it’s pretty fantastic.
Jake McKee is the Chief Idea Officer and Ant Wrangler at Ant's Eye View, a customer experience strategy practice focused on helping clients escalate their customer experience. With a rich background in customer collaboration, online communities, and fan groups, and Web development, community management, and product development, Jake helps organizations understand how to act like groups of people, rather than soulless money making machines.
