The Social Employee: How Great Companies Make Social Media Work

CHAPTER 14Building Communities of Shared Interest

The famous business thinker Peter F. Drucker once declared, “The purpose of a business is to create a customer.” This simple yet powerful statement has rightfully stood the test of time. It’s hard to argue with such a tenet; without customers, what good are a brand’s products and services? We all depend on customers to provide meaning and value to our work, even if we can sometimes lose sight of this fact when we’re “huddled in the trenches,” so to speak.

As we have argued throughout this book, the rules for acquiring and retaining customers in the new era of social business have changed. With the proliferation of social media tools, the customer’s voice has never been stronger—driving a brand’s ...