Social Business Imperative, The: Adapting Your Business Model to the Always-Connected Customer

Book description

“The power of Clara’s book is that it highlights not only social media practices but fundamental business practices and how company leaders need to entirely rethink customer engagement models. The implications for every business—regardless of industry or geography—of today’s social, connected consumer cannot be overstated. This book provides a powerful vision and a compelling call to action for company leaders everywhere.”

—Ted Mathas, Chairman and CEO, New York Life

Social media is now the dominant online activity and drives more website traffic than online search. The implications for businesses are as profound as the rise of Google fifteen years ago. Delegating this opportunity to a social media team is not enough—today’s leaders must personally grasp the tectonic changes arising from today’s social, always-connected customer, and must re-architect business practices and models accordingly.

In The Social Business Imperative, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and renowned thought leader Clara Shih identifies powerful new opportunities created by social media across the entire customer lifecycle. The functional breadth of this book is critical for today’s leaders, who must deliver a consistent experience across every brand touchpoint, from marketing to sales to customer service, online to offline, because that is what the customer expects.

This guide is a must-read for all professionals—from boards of directors to front-line sales managers, and from chief marketing officers to recruiting, IT, and compliance directors—who need to understand the digital transformation taking place not only in their own department but in all departments. Only with this broader understanding can functional leaders effectively collaborate on delivering a cohesive customer experience spanning previous organizational silos.

Going far beyond her global best-seller The Facebook Era, Clara offers unprecedented insights into why and how traditional organizations must re-imagine their existing business processes to capture “the digital last mile” across social media, mobile messaging apps, the Internet of Everything, and the collaborative economy. Drawing on her immense experience helping Fortune 500 companies operationalize digital transformation to drive measurable uplift in sales and loyalty, Shih also presents powerful new case studies spanning multiple industries and companies from Wells Fargo to Warby Parker.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. About This E-Book
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Praise for The Social Business Imperative
  6. Dedication Page
  7. Contents
  8. Foreword
  9. List of Case Studies and Guest Author Sidebars
  10. Acknowledgments
  11. About the Author
  12. Introduction
    1. Customers—The Center of Social Business
    2. An Organizational Transformation Imperative
    3. How This Book Is Organized
      1. Part I: New Business Models
      2. Part II: Business Functions Reimagined
      3. Part III: Enterprise Execution Playbook
    4. My Personal Journey: From Engineer to Author to Entrepreneur
  13. Part I: New Business Models
    1. 1. The Social, Always-Connected Consumer
      1. Constant Connectivity
        1. The Age of the Empowered Customer
        2. The Social, Mobile, and Digital Last Mile
      2. The Social Business Imperative
        1. We’ve Always Been Social
        2. Social Media State of the Union
        3. Social Business Comes of Age
      3. The Omnichannel Mandate
      4. New Business Models, New Business Practices
    2. 2. The Internet of Everything and Big Data Explosion
      1. What IoT Means for Businesses
      2. IoT Realities and Possibilities
        1. Wearable Devices
        2. Connected Cars
        3. Connected Homes
      3. The Big Data Explosion and Predictive Applications
        1. Predictive Insights from Social Business
      4. Summary
    3. 3. Trust, Convenience, and Millennials: The Collaborative Economy
      1. Social Networks Meet the Collaborative Economy
      2. Millennial Attitudes Transforming Business
        1. Not Just Millennials
      3. Lessons from Collaborative Marketplaces
        1. Challenges and Criticisms of the Collaborative Economy
      4. Summary
  14. Part II: Business Functions Reimagined
    1. 4. The Management Team and Board Mandate
      1. A Lesson from History
        1. A CEO’s Vision for Social Business
      2. Social CEOs Leading by Example
      3. The Social Business Agenda for Boards of Directors
      4. Viewing Social Media Offensively Versus Defensively
        1. Addressing Social Media Risk
        2. Unlocking Social Business Opportunities
      5. Summary
    2. 5. From Transactional to Trusted Advisor: The Social Sales Professional
      1. Do We Need Salespeople?
        1. The Obsolete Sales Rep
        2. Customer Experience Is the Product
      2. The Age of the Social Sales Professional
        1. A New Class of Elite Professionals
      3. Becoming a Social Sales Professional
        1. STEP #1. Be Findable
        2. STEP #2. Grow Your Network
        3. STEP #3. Research, Listen, and Act on Important Signals
        4. STEP #4. Educate and Engage
      4. How Field Leaders Operationalize Social Selling
      5. Summary
    3. 6. Social Marketing: From Campaigns to Experiences
      1. Five Marketing Pillars of Social Business
        1. PILLAR #1. Excellent Content
        2. PILLAR #2. Content Distribution Through Employees, Customers, and Influencers
        3. PILLAR #3. Mobile-First Mindset
        4. PILLAR #4. Data Mastery
        5. PILLAR #5. Integrated Multichannel Campaigns
      2. Four Steps to Successful Social Marketing
        1. STEP #1. Establish a Brand Presence
        2. STEP #2. Build Your Follower Base (Grow Your Network)
        3. STEP #3. Listen (“Hear”)
        4. STEP #4. Educate and Engage (“Say”)
      3. Summary
    4. 7. Mobile Messaging and Social Commerce: Going from ‘Likes’ to ‘Buys’
      1. A History of Fits and Starts
      2. Mobile Messaging Apps as Payment and Transaction Platforms
        1. WeChat: The Everything Platform
        2. Here Comes Facebook Messenger
      3. ‘Buy’ Buttons
      4. Summary
    5. 8. Social Customer Service
      1. A Big Opportunity
      2. How Customer Service Has Changed
        1. RULE #1. Customers Want an Immediate Response
        2. RULE #2. Transparency and Accountability
        3. RULE #3. Authentic Human Interaction
        4. RULE #4. No More Departmental Boundaries
        5. RULE #5. Social Return on Delight
      3. Four Steps to Effective Social Customer Care
        1. STEP #1. Establish a Social Care Presence
        2. STEP #2. Listen for Feedback
        3. STEP #3. Respond and Resolve
        4. STEP #4. Track Trends and Metrics
      4. Summary
    6. 9. Social Recruiting: How Recruiting Is Becoming Like Marketing
      1. The New Rules of Recruiting
        1. RULE #1. Prospective Candidates Are Researching Your Company
        2. RULE #2. Passive Candidates May Be Your Best Next Hires
        3. RULE #3. Candidates Expect Hiring Managers to Play a Bigger Role in Recruiting
        4. RULE #4. Digital Marketing and Data Tactics Are Changing the Game
      2. Four Steps to Social Recruiting
        1. STEP #1. Be Findable
        2. STEP #2. Target, Identify, and Reach Out
        3. STEP #3. Stay in Touch
        4. STEP #4. Listen and Act on Job Change Signals
      3. Once You’ve Hired Them . . .
      4. Summary
  15. Part III: Enterprise Execution Playbook
    1. 10. How to Operationalize Social Business
      1. Common Pitfalls and Solutions
      2. Social Business Initiatives
        1. Transformation Starts at the Top and Bottom
        2. Social Centers of Excellence
      3. Social Business Measurement
      4. Summary
    2. 11. Legal, Governance, and Compliance Frameworks
      1. Key Areas of Social Media Risk
      2. Considerations for Highly Regulated Industries
        1. Financial Services on Social Media
        2. Pharmaceutical Companies on Social Media
        3. Healthcare Providers on Social Media
      3. The Risk Mitigation Playbook
        1. STEP #1. Identify Key Risks and Establish Procedures to Address Them
        2. STEP #2. Implement Social Media Policies and Procedures
        3. STEP #3. Develop Ongoing Employee Training, Empowerment, and Safeguards
        4. STEP #4. Implement IT Systems
      4. Summary
    3. 12. The Changing IT and Information Security Landscape
      1. The Age of the Chief Innovation Officer
      2. Consumerization of IT
      3. Social Media Policies and Training
      4. Summary
  16. Closing Remarks
  17. Index

Product information

  • Title: Social Business Imperative, The: Adapting Your Business Model to the Always-Connected Customer
  • Author(s): Clara Shih
  • Release date: April 2016
  • Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
  • ISBN: 9780134263441