With a hat tip to Skip Reardon over at Six Disciplines, I recently read a Gallup poll that American’s confidence in government and big business is down, but when it comes to small businesses, confidence is actually up.

Today I read an article by Susan Campbell published on digium pointing out that very few CEO’s in the Fortune 100 are plugged into social media. Campbell cites a Computerworld article showing that only two of those CEO’s have Twitter accounts, only 19 have Facebook accounts, and none of them have personal external blogs.

Some might say “so what?” but Campbell quotes UberCEO.com editor (from the Computerworld piece) that these CEO’s are “missing a fabulous opportunity to connect with their target audience.”

Why all this matters:

If we look at projections and trends identified by Michael Fauscette in the 10 Characteristics of a Social Enterprise we find that social media is dramatically changing the way companies do business.

Process all this info and it’s no wonder that our confidence is down when it comes to larger businesses. People want to do business with people, not with megacorporations relying on the “top down” model of customer relations.

As Fauscette points out, “We’re all done dealing with customer service processes that are rigidly defined by an enterprise and ignore what a customer wants.”

Fauscette’s view is supported by the research:

–> The top echelon in larger corporations are not tapping into their customers’ social networks.

–> As a result, they aren’t in touch with what their customers really want.

–> Therefore, why trust big business?

Like it or not, social networking is now an integral part of the business landscape. In their excellent book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff say the question isn’t whether you should be using social networking, but how.

Real-time example:

Earlier today I spent time with the director of a large non-profit who is passionate about her organization, but not always crazy about the face-to-face networking required of her position. After we explored the benefits of being on Twitter, she activated an account in mere moments, and just a few moments later she already had local followers — people know who she is and want to follow what she’s up to!

Being on Twitter will make it easier for her to keep in touch with key people in the community. Face-to-face networking will still be necessary, but Tweeting will make the required face-time a lot easier.

Looking at the big picture, social networking is not the end-all solution. But it’s certainly become a necessary factor in the equation. And, as Li and Bernoff suggest, ignore it at your own risk.

Share This

Filed in Technology, Leadership, Customer Service, Workplace, Corporate Culture