Social is not a technology, a tool, or a trend —
it’s a fundamentally new way for consumers to connect with the people and
things they care about. For companies, it is not just a marketing or PR
channel; it’s a new way of engaging with and learning from customers. It’s a
whole new way of doing business. This is the connected world in which we live,
work, shop, and play.
While most marketing leaders recognize that social
can enhance the customer experience, many organizations are not set up to
capitalize on this opportunity. To be successful in the connected world,
companies will need to undergo a companywide transformation to become a social
business. CMOs must lead their organizations into this new connected world
through more senior social leadership and companywide social integration. This
would require the CMO to:
(1) Build social
strategy into C-suite business planning
Enroll the CEO and powerful business unit leaders,
to make social a strategic priority. These senior leaders need to ask
themselves: “What about our business is naturally social?” and then charge
their teams with integrating social strategies early in their planning efforts.
(2) Become a
social CMO
Many marketing leaders don’t have the same comfort
level with digital and social media that they do with traditional media like
TV. CMOs can increase their familiarity by becoming personally engaged in
social media and encouraging the team to do the same. CMOs who personally participate
in social media will be better leaders of their brand and their organizations
because they will understand the medium and will be in constant contact with
consumer insights. It’s not much different than store visits and product
sampling.
(3) Appoint a
senior leader to champion social across the organization
Empower a high-ranking social champion with responsibility
for overseeing all social objectives and activities, from content generation to
paid media. To be successful these leaders need to be able to network and
influence across senior levels of the organization and have sufficient headcount
within their own team to drive outcomes. At several large companies, the CMO
has centralized social marketing under a single person who coordinates social activities
across the business and reports directly to the CMO.
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