The Ocean Agency

We give interactive marketing advice to companies in Chicago and all over the country. Of course, the Ocean Agency is more than happy to help with interactive marketing strategy, social media guidelines, and with social business design. This is an example of where we get our inspiration from:

Today, Cisco has released findings from its latest study about how business use social media to colloberate and interact with customers.

What is so special about this study?

1) The process:

The study utilized qualitative and not just quantitative methods. By using in depth interviews by graduate students and professors from universities all over the world, the data is espcially robust and reliable.

2) The findings:

Companies need to integrate their new media efforts with internal IT professionals, and that internal social media use needs to be more effectively organized and regulated.

IT professionals? Regulation of social media efforts? What does this mean for your business?

1) You need to integrate social media into all aspects of your business.

No longer is social media merely a marketing, communications, or public relations tool it is an essential element in the structure and design of your business.

IT pepole, or at the very least, an employee who is comfortable with all the technological aspects of your business needs to put these social technologies in place.

Just as your IT person may have set up your wireless network, printer, or microsoft outlook, they need to install and regulate social media applications into your technological infrastructure.

2) You need social media guidelines and policies for you business:

Having a social strategy is more than having a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or micro-blogging sites. It’s about having a vision and the infrastructure to encourage employee collaboration both internally and externally on social channels. Take time to craft a social business manifesto, that includes an overall strategy, but also includes social media guidelines for employees and management.

As a business owner, how do you control what employees post on social networks? Well, you can’t. However, you can have clear guidelines that dictate what is effective, what is acceptable, and what is unacceptable.

While the importance of these concepts have absolutely been written about before, the qualitative design, validity, and caliber of the Cisco study illustrates the importance of social business in a profound way.

Here is another great write up of the study.

It’s time. Social media is no longer an add on, it is an integral part of your future business design.

How have you integrated social into your business infrastructure?