What is the Social Ecosystem

8/9/2019 What is the Social Ecosystem

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The Social Ecosystem (Version 0.7)

Copyright The Lab, http://thelabinboston.com Page 1

What is The Social Ecosystem?

The Social Ecosystem provides a structure within which all types of organizations live and interact.

This ecosystem is open and inclusive of both public and private organizations and remains

independent of geography and language.

In very simple terms The Social Ecosystem is a framework for a common language, a common set of

practices to help organizations of all types across all geographies to deal with the 80% of challenges

that are common across all types of organizations. The remaining 20% is where organizational and

marketplace differences come in, and where people should be focusing their time. There is no need to

constantly complicate this process and regularly re-invent the wheel.

Within The Social Ecosystem lives The Social Organization. Organizations ranging from small and

medium businesses to enterprises to local and federal governments (and so on) are all social

organizations.

The Social Ecosystem is channel-neutral and does not promote any specific tools or vendors. It will

stay open and independent.

This document is a master document with links to further documents, on my blog. Check these out to

learn more about The Social Ecosystem.


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Table of Contents

What is The Social Ecosystem? ................................................................................................................ 1

Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... 2

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 3

Key Components ................................................................................................................................. 3

Key Definitions .................................................................................................................................... 4

Attributes of the Social Ecosystem ........................................................................................................... 5

Attributes of the Social Organization ....................................................................................................... 7

Attributes of the Social Unit .................................................................................................................. 10

Attributes of Social Customers............................................................................................................... 12

Remember to Keep it Simple ................................................................................................................ 14

Great Overview, So what? ..................................................................................................................... 15

Best Practices ........................................................................................................................................ 16

Getting Started. A checklist ............................................................................................................... 16

The biggest barrier to success? Education .......................................................................................... 19

Developing your business case .......................................................................................................... 20

Developing Social Use Guidelines....................................................................................................... 22

A process for making public announcements ..................................................................................... 25


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Introduction

Organizations of all types have struggled to come to grips with terms like Government 2.0, Social

Business, Social Media, and a long list of others that are floating around book stores, universities, and

blogs.

I have spent a lot of time speaking with businesses and government agencies, exploring what is

working, what is failing, and seeking to understand where confusion and hype are preventing these

organizations from achieving full value from their efforts. The Social Ecosystem is the result of these

efforts and is meant to reduce confusion and offer guidance for organizations across the world.

Lofty goals? Perhaps, but the Social Ecosystem is not being defined in a vacuum, it will fully leverage

many ideas that are already available and will evolve, as needed, as we continue to learn more.

For this post I will discuss, at a high level, the major components of the Social Ecosystem as well as

some key definitions. Over time I plan to create a table of contents, a section for terms, and break

this down into a book-like format. Please be patient as it will take time and well all work through this

together.

Key Components The Social Ecosystem. The Social Ecosystem provides a structure within which all types of

organizations live and interact. This ecosystem is open and inclusive of both public and private

organizations and remains independent of geography and language.

The Social Organization. Organizations ranging from small and medium businesses toenterprises to local and federal governments (and so on) are all social organizations.

o I will begin by looking at the key behaviors and requirements from an Ecosystem perspective.o As we continue we will explore the internals of the Social Organization. I will add in concepts

like Social CRM, Enterprise 2.0, and Government 2.0. There will be no attempt to replace

these concepts, instead, they will be included as they fit very well within this model.

o In the long-term the Social Organization should be thought of as a standard, including variouslevels of compliance that address security, training, measurement, level of channel neutrality,

and more.


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The Social Unit. The smallest part of the Ecosystem includes teams and individuals. We willdiscuss concepts like social currency, the social value cycle (compliments of Paul Doyle ,CEO of

Proofspace), leadership and organizational structures.

The Social Ecosystem ischannel-neutral (thanks Steve Schildwachter) and does not promote any

specific tools or vendors. It will stay open and independent.

Key DefinitionsThese are a starting point and we will certainly add to these as we move forward.

Social CRM. My definition builds off of Paul Greenbergsstake in the ground.o Social CRM is a philosophy & a business strategy, supported by a technology platform,

business rules, workflow, processes & social characteristics, designed to engage the customer

in a collaborative conversation to give mutually beneficial value in a trusted & transparent

business environment. Its the companys response to the customers joint ownership of the

conversation

Enterprise 2.0. For this work I will useAndrew McAfees definition from May of 2006.o Enterprise 2.0 is the use of emergent social software platforms within companies, or between

companies and their partners or customers.

Government 2.0. My chosen definition comes from theAustralian Government 2.0 Google Group.

o Government 2.0 is not specifically about social networking or technology based approaches toanything. It represents a fundamental shift in the implementation of government toward an

open, collaborative, cooperative arrangement where there is (wherever possible) open

consultation, open data, shared knowledge, mutual acknowledgment of expertise, mutual

respect for shared values and an understanding of how to agree to disagree. Technology and

social tools are an important part of this change but are essentially an enabler in this process.

Social Media. The definition I will use is theone given by Brian Solis.o Social Media is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers

into publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism, one-to-many, to a many-to-many

model, rooted in conversations between authors, people, and peers.
http://www.proofspace.com/http://www.proofspace.com/http://www.proofspace.com/http://www.proofspace.com/http://admajoremblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/none-of-us-are-media-agnostic.htmlhttp://admajoremblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/none-of-us-are-media-agnostic.htmlhttp://admajoremblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/none-of-us-are-media-agnostic.htmlhttp://blogs.zdnet.com/crm/?p=829http://blogs.zdnet.com/crm/?p=829http://blogs.zdnet.com/crm/?p=829http://andrewmcafee.org/2006/05/enterprise_20_version_20/http://andrewmcafee.org/2006/05/enterprise_20_version_20/http://andrewmcafee.org/2006/05/enterprise_20_version_20/http://groups.google.com/group/gov20canberra?pli=1http://groups.google.com/group/gov20canberra?pli=1http://groups.google.com/group/gov20canberra?pli=1http://www.briansolis.com/2010/01/defining-social-media-the-saga-continues/http://www.briansolis.com/2010/01/defining-social-media-the-saga-continues/http://www.briansolis.com/2010/01/defining-social-media-the-saga-continues/http://www.briansolis.com/2010/01/defining-social-media-the-saga-continues/http://groups.google.com/group/gov20canberra?pli=1http://andrewmcafee.org/2006/05/enterprise_20_version_20/http://blogs.zdnet.com/crm/?p=829http://admajoremblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/none-of-us-are-media-agnostic.htmlhttp://admajoremblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/none-of-us-are-media-agnostic.htmlhttp://www.proofspace.com/http://www.proofspace.com/


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Attributes of the Social Ecosystem

The Social Ecosystem. The Social Ecosystem provides a structure within which all types of

organizations live and interact. This ecosystem is open and inclusive of both public and private

organizations and remains independent of geography and language.

You and I are in a great place. We are in a virtual room, looking at an empty whiteboard, a

whiteboard upon which we can share thoughts, fleshing out The Social Ecosystem for our benefit, and

for the benefit of all those that follow. Before we can get to the case studies, best practices, the

strategies,and the tactics, we need to spend time ensuring we share a common understanding. This

may feel academic but this common understanding, this common language, should make the rest of

the concepts easier to understand and much more powerful.

Lets take a moment and break down our definition.

provides a structure.The Social Ecosystem is not the primary reason for this writing. It is important, however, to define

and to understand. Within this structure the magic takes place.

inclusive of both public and private organizations

This point is critical to understand. The Social Ecosystem supports all kinds of organizations. All

types of Social Organizations, including individual proprietorships, small and medium businesses,

enterprises, local governments, federal agencies, and political campaigns fit within this structure.

Why is this important? Many of the policies, procedures, and tools that are used at companies like HP

and Best Buy will work just as well for the Department of Transportation in Massachusetts or a

Presidential political campaign. The goals differ but the paths to success overlap.

independent of geography and languageAt the tactical level there are clearly cultural differences in terms of norms. However, the Social

Ecosystem recognizes that Social Organizations must focus on delivering value across these

boundaries, across geographies and across languages.


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We are fortunate that translation tools like Google and Bing translate do a good job translating content

on the fly. While not perfect, these translations make it possible for value created in one place to

be transferred to another place with a reasonably high level of fidelity.

The Social Ecosystem has two other attributes we must cover:

Focuses on the delivery of value.While many people talk about content being king, content is never king, value is what matters.

Value can be in the form of products, services, content, or influence. The value is defined by

the Social Consumer, the market, dynamically. For example, one piece of content may be considered

useless by 90% of the Social Ecosystem, providing no value. However, 10% of Social Consumers find

the content relevant, to them it provides value, value.

We will explore this much further when we discuss social currency later in this series.

Is channel-neutral.Social Organizations are focused on delivering value throughout the Ecosystem. Reaching the Social

Consumer where they are at any given moment in the manner that is most convenient is all that

matters. For example, when theState Department wanted to provide information to citizens in

Ghana, prior a visit by President Obama, they chose SMS. Why? In Ghana approximately 3% of the

population has internet access, a problem common in many parts of the world. Mobile, which is in use

by roughly 80% of the population, provided a better channel.

While many people will throw around words like transparency and engagement, understand that these

words are unimportant at the Social Ecosystem level. Dont misunderstand, we will discuss these

concepts as we drill into the Social Organization and the Social Unit, just not now.
http://thejohnfmoore.com/2010/02/27/meeting-people-where-they-are-the-state-department-does-it-right/http://thejohnfmoore.com/2010/02/27/meeting-people-where-they-are-the-state-department-does-it-right/http://thejohnfmoore.com/2010/02/27/meeting-people-where-they-are-the-state-department-does-it-right/http://thejohnfmoore.com/2010/02/27/meeting-people-where-they-are-the-state-department-does-it-right/http://thejohnfmoore.com/2010/02/27/meeting-people-where-they-are-the-state-department-does-it-right/http://thejohnfmoore.com/2010/02/27/meeting-people-where-they-are-the-state-department-does-it-right/


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Attributes of the Social Organization

Before we explore the attributes of the Social Organization it is important to first answer why we need

a new model Why dont solutions like Social CRM, Government 2.0, Social Relationship

Management, Enterprise 2.0, Healthcare 2.0, Education 2.0, and others suffice?

While all of these strategic systems have much to offer they all fall short. The new view, the new

system, must recognize the commonalities across organization types, organization sizes, and across

geographies. There are too many silos forming within these so-called open systems that the

opportunity for us to build a common language, a core set of strategies, becomes impossible. For

example:

Social CRM looks externally and is a system focused on businesses, mostly enterprise-level. Enterprise 2.0 looks internally and is a system focused on businesses, mostly enterprise-level. Government 2.0 is not as well-defined but does look both internally and externally. It focuses on

the public sector only.

The Social Organization recognizes that:

A large percentage of the strategies, processes, policies, and tools are common acrossorganizational types, organizational sizes, and geographies.

That there is a great deal of lost productivity that results from organizations and industriesattempting to define what others have already defined.

Social Media has affected how customers in some sectors buy products/services and in some sectorshas already affected how the customer conversation is taking place.

In other sectors and geographies that Social Media has had no impact and may not have an impactfor many years.

Lets be honest. All organizations are social in the sense that they interact with customers to some

degree. Your town government delivers law enforcement services, restaurants sell food, my blog

delivers content. In the simplest of terms:

The Social Organization will use standard approaches that make it easy for customers/citizens to find

and buy products and services while enabling the organization to meet their goals.


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This easy to understand definition enables us to begin to define the attributes of the Social

Organization:

Social Organizations use standard approaches. They follow a well-defined framework forsuccessfully achieving their goals. We will define this framework as we go, but understand that 75-

80% of the framework applies across all types of organizations in The Social Ecosystem. The

remaining percentage takes into account the uniqueness of your organization.

Social Organizations focus on delivering value in an equitable way. We do not live in a utopianworld, we live in a world where services are delivered in a way where, ideally, customers feel they

have received value while allowing organizations to meet their goals (for businesses, making

money). For example:

o When a customer buys an iPhone they are not focused on the amount of profit made by Apple,they are only concerned with the value received for their money. If they feel they received the

value expected they are happy. If Apple, as the Social Organization in this example, is able to

meet its goals as well, both sides have won, equity is achieved.

While less clear from our simple definition, these are the other key attributes of the Social

Organization:

Social Organizations are focused strategically, not tactically. Social Organizations understand theneed for a goal-oriented strategy and use them to make sure that the greatest value is achieved.

While grass-root efforts can help raise initial awareness of social media tools, these efforts will not

meet broad organizational success unless they become part of the overall organizational strategy.

Social Organizations understand that they are part of The Social Ecosystem and deliver valueinternally and externally. Value is created everywhere in the organization and this value must

be delivered to the right people at the right time. This includes examples such as:

o Ensuring the right people in the organization are working with customers on sales andmarketing efforts.

o Bringing the right internal (and possibly external partner) resources together to solve customerreported issues.

o Ensuring that knowledge held by one member of the organization is delivered to other membersof the organization, and other organizations as well, when needed.

Analytical. The Social Organization uses metrics to decide if they are on track to meet their goalsand use this information to adjust strategies and tactics as needed.


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You may have noted that I once again left out the word transparent. The Social Organization does not

have to be transparent to engage with its market and to meet its goals. Even those that choose to be

transparent must choose the level of transparency required, the amount of transparency that is

acceptable, and balance as needed.


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Attributes of the Social Unit

As we continue to exploreThe Social Ecosystemit is time we discuss The Social Unit. The Social Unit

is the smallest part and represents both people as well as teams. The Social Unit is never the

strategic visionary but is responsible for executing the strategies defined by The Social Organization.

The two primary attributes of The Social Unit are:

A clear understanding of the goals of The Social Organization and how their actions impact theability of the organization to meet these goals.

In the majority of organizations teams and people often have no clear understanding about how their

efforts impact The Social Organizations efforts to meet their goals. The Social Unit:

1.1. Has a clear understanding of the organizations goals.2. Understands the metrics that they are impacting by their efforts and how these

metrics impact meeting the defined goals.

3. Has visibility into the metrics they impact and leeway to change their tactics to meettheir goals.

Explicit contracts with other Social UnitsTo achieve organizational goals teams must work together. Obviously, this happens in organizations

of all types and sizes. However, the majority of the time working relationships occur reactively or

without a clear understanding of how they are impacting goals of the organization. Social Contracts

make the relationship explicit.

We will dig deeply into Social Contracts as we move forward. However, before we get there,

understand that Social Units are the core building blocks of The Social Ecosystem and that we will also

explore topics like:

How should goals be communicated? The importance of collaboration between Social Units. Level of freedom given to Social Units to use approved channels. Reward systems and the need to focus on individual and company goals.
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Flexibility to adapt tactics to meet goals. The importance of developing great communication skills (verbal and written).


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Attributes of Social Customers

The Social Customer has been discussed in great detail across countless blogs and web sites. In my

opinion, no one has done a better job of providing a more complete definition than that provided by

Jacob Morgans Chess Media Group, with Attensity, at the end of June, 2010. With Jacobs permission

I am including a Slideshare from Attensity along with a link to a free white paperthat was created as

part of this effort by Jacob, his team, and Attensity.

Before watching this Slideshare I want to note:

This work is outstanding. This work is focused primarily on the private sector. However, the definition of the Social

Customer, as part ofThe Social Ecosystem, must work across sectors, geographies, languages.

We get to that common definition after you view the Slideshare.

Now, check out the SlideShare athttp://www.slideshare.net/Attensity360/the-social-customer

I know what youre thinking. Wow, awesome information For the purpose of The Social

Ecosystem:

The Social Customer is the receiver of value (services, products, etc..). The Social Customer could be

an individual, a Social Unit, or an entire Social Organization.

This simple definition covers citizens voting in an election as well as customers buying groceries at a

supermarket. It also covers the consumer buying the iPhone at Best Buy, Best Buy buying the iPhone

from Apple, Apple Buying parts from a Factory. B2B, B2C, Local Governments, Politicians, Federal

Agencies are all Social Customers as are each person living on this planet.

The Social Customer also has varying levels of access to basic freedoms, wealth, and technology. For

example, in the United States 78% of citizens have access to the internet while in Ghana only 3%

have internet access. In Ghana, 80% of citizens have access to SMS services, however; SMS is their

primary social channel. What common attributes exist then?

The Social Customer is influenced by friends and people like themselves. As noted in thepresentation:

o 78% trust recommendations from social graph (E. Qualman)
http://www.chessmediagroup.com/resource/the-social-customer/http://www.chessmediagroup.com/resource/the-social-customer/http://www.chessmediagroup.com/resource/the-social-customer/http://thejohnfmoore.com/the-social-ecosystem/http://thejohnfmoore.com/the-social-ecosystem/http://thejohnfmoore.com/the-social-ecosystem/http://www.slideshare.net/Attensity360/the-social-customerhttp://www.slideshare.net/Attensity360/the-social-customerhttp://www.slideshare.net/Attensity360/the-social-customerhttp://www.slideshare.net/Attensity360/the-social-customerhttp://thejohnfmoore.com/the-social-ecosystem/http://www.chessmediagroup.com/resource/the-social-customer/


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o 90% of B2B buyers trust peer reviews & 70% trust online reviewsFor a second, step back and review again the Slideshare above. This definition of the Social Customer

is superb but is the Social Customer in the ideal form. A growing number of Social Customers meet

this ideal but most share only some of those attributes, slowly evolving towards this ideal. Your job,as part of The Social Ecosystem, is to understand how far your Social Customers are along this path.

Your strategies and tactics must match where your Social Customers are today and continue to evolve

with them. Are you up for this challenge?


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Remember to Keep it Simple

Alan Silberberg, Founder and Chief Idea Dude ofSilberberg Innovationsand a true pioneer in the

government 2.0 movement, was kind enough to share his thinking on why it is important to keep it

simple. This is one of the key concepts of The Social Ecosystem, of course, and I appreciate him

taking time out of a very busy schedule to weigh in. Note that I am an advisor for Silberberg

Innovations but this role is in unrelated to Alans thinking on this matter.

Here are Alans thoughts on the subject.

We all talk. You talk all day long. Think about it. Social media is an extension of our conversations.

Now you can talk to more than one person at the same time. You can throw jargon around: be

technical, argumentative, creative, scary, wrong, right; but we tend to lose that simple concept when

we start diving deep into our own respective industries. In the Government 2.0 space, the tendency to

get both technically heavy in terms of language and the coinciding tendency towards secrecy have

collided to create sometimes an air of walled thinking.

But as many have argued this just closes down the best ideas, and keeps innovation from reaching

some of its higher levels. Several have been people engaged in Twitter dialogs and conference

rumblings about getting rid of version nomenclature. I have, while advocating the semantic web (Gov

3.0) in fact been deep in this. Simultaneously I have been loosely advocating for fewer hashtags on

Twitter. if only to free up space for discussion.

Having written, spoken and even created a conference around the concept of keeping it simple

through language, I look at the progression the Gov 2.0 movement is bringing by way of social media

and the 24 hour real-time web. On one hand it is supremely easy to get to a laser focus between

experts. On the other it is the greatest opportunity to reach mass numbers of people, by talking. This

is why the concept of The Social Ecosystem is so important as it embraces the concept of keeping it

simple. Master the simple language version and it wont matter what number it is.
http://www.google.com/profiles/rokxelhttp://www.google.com/profiles/rokxelhttp://www.silberberginnovations.com/http://www.silberberginnovations.com/http://www.silberberginnovations.com/http://www.silberberginnovations.com/http://www.google.com/profiles/rokxel


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Great Overview, So what?

Through the opening posts in this series we have explored concepts like The Social Organization,

Social Units, Social Customers. While useful, so what?

My belief is that 75-80% of what organizations are trying to do with social media is common. Yes,

common. 80% of the strategies, the tactics, and clearly the tools, used by the State Department are

common with Best Buy. The same is true of your local coffee shop and your local town government.

The remaining percentage, that 20-25%, is market and organization specific.

With that in mind The Social Ecosystem will help with the following:

Building a common language that all organizations can use. Building a common framework, processes and templates, to enable any organization to use common

sense approaches to meet their goals.

Most organizations in the world today are struggling to understand if it is time to go social. Most

proponents are struggling to make a case, lacking answers to such simple questions as how it will help

their organization to meet their goals. In my next post on The Social Ecosystem we will begin by

discussing the business case, how to put it together, how to define real ROI, how to sell the concept.


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Best Practices

Getting Started. A checklist

Last November I built a short series to help organizations with their2010 Social Media Plan. The

series was well received and I think we all learned a lot in the process of writing and commenting back

and forth.

Sometimes, however, it really helps to boil things down to a simple checklist, keeping it simple to

execute and simple to understand. I was really excited when I sawAndrew Wilson, Web and New

Media at Federal Government HHS SAMHSA, post a really good checklist forgetting started with

Social Media. I immediately reached out to Andrew to see if I could build off of his checklist to give

something to help people within The Social Ecosystem and he was nice enough to agree (Thanks

Andrew).

Before we construct the checklist it is important to keep in mind that you must always define your

goals up front. No checklist is perfect on its own. While it is a great guideline, it is only that, it needs

to be modified to meet the goals you have set forth.

The target audience for this checklist is individuals, groups, or organizations that have no real social

media presence and who are seeking to get started. This is a great starting point for this audience

because it focuses on no cost tools and minimal time investment while seeking to maximize your

return. Now, it is true that you get what you pay for and that, as you progress within The Social

Ecosystem you will outgrow this checklist and the tools we discuss. However, since we are including

measurement and goal setting you will be able to decide when you are growing out of this framework

and need to move into the Advanced Checklist

Goal Setting

What are you trying to do? Are you just trying to learn about the platforms or is this part of an

individual or organization effort.

What does success look like a month from now? What does failure look like a month from now?o At the beginning focus on simple measures like # of retweets, number of followers, number of

fans. Do not focus on lead generation in month one, you will fail.
http://thejohnfmoore.com/2009/11/05/your-2010-social-media-plan-pull-up-a-chair/http://thejohnfmoore.com/2009/11/05/your-2010-social-media-plan-pull-up-a-chair/http://thejohnfmoore.com/2009/11/05/your-2010-social-media-plan-pull-up-a-chair/http://www.twitter.com/AndrewPWilsonhttp://www.twitter.com/AndrewPWilsonhttp://www.twitter.com/AndrewPWilsonhttp://www.slideshare.net/AndrewPWilson/social-media-quick-starthttp://www.slideshare.net/AndrewPWilson/social-media-quick-starthttp://www.slideshare.net/AndrewPWilson/social-media-quick-starthttp://www.slideshare.net/AndrewPWilson/social-media-quick-starthttp://www.slideshare.net/AndrewPWilson/social-media-quick-starthttp://www.slideshare.net/AndrewPWilson/social-media-quick-starthttp://www.twitter.com/AndrewPWilsonhttp://thejohnfmoore.com/2009/11/05/your-2010-social-media-plan-pull-up-a-chair/


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Check out theSocial Media Guidelines put together on Mass.govas the State of Massachusetts hasdone a nice job providing toolkits for various social media accounts, for security, and for legal

guidance.

Setup

To minimize daily execution time you want your social media channels and monitoring setup at the

beginning. I urge you to set up the following channels and, if possible, use the same account name,

logos, and profile descriptions throughout. Each channel is simply a way for you to interact with your

audience, your customers, your citizens, and they expect a consistent experience.

Create an account on Twitter. Andrew notes The Government Social Media SubcouncilWiki haslinks to many good guidance docs, including EPAs Twitter guidance which can be found at

http://govsocmed.pbworks.com/EPA-Social-Media-Guidance-Documents

Create an account and page on Facebook. If you are a B2C Organization or a Local Governmentthis is a must have in my opinion. Others can skip this.

Create a YouTube account. Check out the greatYoutube toolkit put together by Mass.gov. If yourorganization is not yet ready to deliver content on YouTube skip this setup. Most organizations at

this stage are not ready so do not feel bad if you fall into this category.

Create a Slideshare account. Andrews post does a great job of leveraging Slideshare for sharing aWord document. You can leverage Slideshare for PowerPoints and other content as well.

Create a Foursquare and Gowalla account. If you are a B2C Organization or a Local Governmentthis is a must have in my opinion. Others can skip this.

Andrew nails it when he discusses setting up free monitoring solutions. Simply copying what he has

already proposed for completeness:

Google Reader: Set up a Google Reader account for your organization(http://www.google.com/reader). This will be used as the hub to monitor social media activity

Twitter Search: Search on three terms relevant to your organization & add to Google Reader(http://search.twitter.com/).

o These terms could be the name of your organization, its acronym, issues relevant to yourmission or issues that are of particular relevance or importance. Multiple word searches should
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use quotes. Click the Feed for this Query icon at the top right to add each of these to your

Google Reader account.

Google Alerts: Search on three terms relevant to your organization & add to Google Reader(http://www.google.com/alerts).Thesecould be the same words as for the Twitter search but it

alternate terms can be used. Relevant settings should be: Type: Everything this will catch news,

blogs, video, etc.Deliver to: Feed

Personally, I still rely on Google Reader as I have set up feeds for dozens of my favorite blogs and

scan this at least twice daily.

Execution

Minimize execution time, that is part of the focus of this checklist. Andrew proposed a 20 minute daily

process which is perfect for starting out. As you begin to see results you will want to double this,

spending 20 minutes just before, or just after, lunch and 20 minutes at the end of the day.

Monitor (10 min): As Andrew suggests, Read through feed items in Google Reader. If you dontget through everything, mark the remainder as read. Watch for and note individuals that are

getting significant attention or appear to be either strong advocates or critics of your organization

or work.

Post (5 min): As Andrew notes post at least once daily on the accounts you have set up (mostlikely just Twitter).

o If you found an article in Google Reader that is relevant to your audience share it.o If your organization is already blogging and has posted something new, share it.o DO NOT tell your audience what you had for lunch everyday either. In time you want

to personalize your efforts but when starting out focus on adding value in terms of sharing

great content.

Engage (5 min): I agree completely with Andrew when he notes Find ways to interact and beginbuilding community. Example could Retweeting (RT) other accounts, finding new accounts to

follow, thanking new followers, thanking people for mentioning your organization or your work.

o If you find other news sources that you should monitor add them back to your Google Readerfeed.

Measurement
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At the beginning of this process we discussed the need to define your goals, define what success and

failure looks like. Every month, take 30 minutes to review:

Are you executing as planned? If you are going over the suggested time, or not executing daily,than you are failing. Correct this immediately.

Review what success and failure is supposed to look like, in terms of real numbers, at this point.Set your targets for next month.

o For the first three months only focus on simple measures, only focus on following the checklistabove.

Every three months step back and have a longer review session and ask yourself:

Is this effort worthwhile? In the majority of cases the answer will be Yes. However, the answeris not YES for every individual and every organization so answer this question.

Are you ready to become truly strategic in your approach? In the beginning of this process youare not truly strategic in the sense that you have not yet mapped your efforts to higher level

individual or organizational goals.

Some will never need to go beyond this level of investment. However, through goal setting and

measurement/review you will be able to make an informed decision if, and when, it is time to take this

to another level.

The biggest barrier to success? Education

The biggest barrier to organizations being successful withinThe Social Ecosystemis simply the need

for education. The lack of awareness, the lack of knowledge, is holding back many organizations. In

chatting with organizations across the public and private sector I am constantly encountering

confusion. People know the problems they are encountering. These are real, these are personal,

and people struggle with them daily. However:

Organizations often do not understand that solutions exist for these problems. Organizations often have the wrong information about the solutions that exist. As examples:
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o The recent report stating thatFacebook has cost Britain billions. The article goes so far as tostate Despite the negative effects on the economy in the midst of a fragile recovery, many

workers polled were in denial about the ill-effects of social media on their efficiency. The

assumption, of course, is that all time spent on social networks, or within social communities,

is unproductive, lost time. Even if this were the case, which it is not, this kind of thinking

should also go towards banning bathroom breaks, the possession or personal cell phones at

the office, and, for those that are easily distracted,windows. I digress

o However, people often go too far the other way. There are no silver bullets, social businessstrategies, tactics, and tools cannot be used to solve every problem.

Alright, what are some good ways to educate people on the benefits of using social business

strategies?

Find case studies that are relevant to the goals of the organization. While I have manycasestudies and interviewsthere are clearly others out there. The case studies should be for similar

organizations trying to meet similar goals. Anything else will lead to confusion.

If your competition is using these strategies and techniques, point out what they are doing and tryto quantify how that is differentiating them in the market, the value they are achieving.

Create a business case. Yes, a business case. People in leadership positions will take youseriously if you have done your homework. Put together a business case (my template is here)

and present it professionally.

Sharebooks on the topic, pointing to information from those who have done this for a while.Understand, however, that there are some people that will not be convinced, regardless of the

strength of your case. When this does happen you have a couple of choices. You can either accept

that things will not change or you can move onto something new. Either way, if you try to make the

case, providing the education, you have made a great start.

Developing your business case

In order to do a good job, achieving true success over a long time, you must always start with a clear

understanding of your goals. Yes, I will continue saying that until everyone I talk to repeats start

with the goal in mind. Please repeat after me. Start with the goal in mind.
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Jess Weiss, Project & Social Media Coordinator for Mass.gov, touches upon the why in a good post she

wrote not long ago. She says it well when noting It all goes back to that original question: why.

Not every social media platform or social community works in every situation. By asking why we

take that first step towards creating a communications strategy.

The Social Organization should always start off their efforts with a business case. A business case that

clearly explains the why. A business case that explains the cost and the expected return on the

investment. To help you in this effort I am including a business case.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Briefly explain what your project is for, what are the goals. Include a summary of:

How much will this project cost in both time and money? How much money will this project earn or save the organization? How long will it take to see a return on this investment? For example, the return on investment

(ROI) over three years will be 82% with a payback period of 18 months.

ALTERNATIVES

Are there other ways to meet this goal? Most people want to know that you have considered other

options.

Explain the other options. Include the do nothing option. There is always the option to do nothing. Explain why action is

required.

Why did the other options fall short? What is the cost of the other options and the ROI you would see from the rejected options?BENEFITS

Dig deeper now, beyond the executive summary, about what this will benefit The Social Organization.

Look at internal and external benefits. Define real numbers and avoid, as much as possible, weak terms like transparency

and engagement. You are asking for money, make your case.

Explain how you will measure, how you will confirm, that you are on track.
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COSTS

Provide all cost associated with this effort. Include:

Software Consulting services Maintainance fees TrainingIn the Executive Summary you explained the total costs. It is your goal to explain where this one

number came from, including all the miscellaneous pieces of the project that brought you to this one

cost number.

ROI

Yes, ROI. I know many people argue that you cannot measure the ROI of social business,

government 2.0, and social media strategies and tactics. They are wrong. If you are asking for

money you had better understand the return you expect to see from this investment. Some people

point to KPIs vs. ROI. KPIs are the levers that control your business engine. If you do not yet

understand how these levers impact your business goals, figure that out now.

ASSUMPTIONS

Be clear about what you are assuming, who you have discussed these assumptions with, and what

you have done to confirm that your assumptions are correct..

PROJECT DETAILS

Provide as much information about the project as possible, fleshing out the executive summary.

Remember, the budget holders in The Social Organization, along with other leaders, are responsible

for maximizing the impact of their investments. Explain how your efforts, the project you are

proposing, will help them carry out this mission. Partner with them and you can make your project a

reality.

Developing Social Use Guidelines


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Rules. Guidelines. It does not matter if you are in the 38% of companies blocking social media

(in the United States), are leaving social media access wide open, or are looking to strategically

leverageThe Social Ecosystem. Guidelines about what is, and is not, acceptable, are critical to the

success of your Social Organization.

There are hundreds of great examples of real-world Social Usage Guidelines available across the web.

This post is providing you with a template that you can use to create a set of guidelines for your

organization, your Social Organization.

Note that any set of organizational guidelines need to be regularly enforced. I would recommend that

Social Organizations review these with new employees and give regular, quarterly is best, training

sessions for all employees. The use of social media is too much a part of how people live to simply

train once and expect people to remember your rules.

Also note, only 20% of companies worldwide have a policy for their employees (according to

Manpower, see below). Do not make this mistake.

Without further ado, here is our template.

OVERVIEW

You should make it clear, at the top of your guidelines, that the document applies to both internal and

external usage of social media strategies and tool. Helping people understand that different expected

behaviors on both sides of their home/work life is critical for establishing guidelines that make sense

to everyone.

Clearly note that this guideline document is supplemental to other existing employee guidelines such

as the employee handbook.
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LICENSING

Clearly state ownership rules for content created by your employees. I favor the use of Creative

Commons, as used on my blog, but what you use is dependent upon your market, your business, your

legal team. Whatever model is used simply make it clear in the licensing section.

Note that you may also have exceptions in place worth noting. For example, perhaps research

information follows one licensing model while marketing information follows another. The rules are up

to you, of course, just make them clear.

If you are interested in learning more about Creative Commons check outtheir web site.

DEFINITIONS

Take the time to clearly define the terms being used by your organization. TheState Departments

Social Guidelinesprovides a good example.

GUIDELINES

While the guidelines you define will reflect your Social Organization there are some basics that I feel

you should add. These include:

There should be different expectations and guidelines established around the use of personal andorganizational accounts.

o Provide guidance on how to indicate if the account is private or organization owned.o Make it clear that personal accounts reflect personal opinions, not the opinions of the

organization.

Be clear about what happens if your employees fail to follow the guidelines. No one wins if youare unclear.

Note that employee goals and objectives, or equivalent, will go into more detail about how thesetools fit into their job function and that achieving defined goals remains the number one priority.

Provide guidance on the use of appropriate language Provide guidance on the types of information that can, and cannot be, shared. Provide guidance on how to respond to various request types (e.g. customer service or sales

requests).
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Remind employees to listen first, respond second. Be clear that comments made are always on the record when responding through the

organizations accounts.

Be clear about ownership. If you respond to customer through a social channel thecustomer considers you the owner of their questions. Dont fail them.

A process for making public announcements

Ric Cantrellis the Chief Deputy of the Senate in Utah. Utah State Senators are part-time with a six-

week working session and a monthly committment of two days. The twenty nine Senators are

supported by a staff of five where everyone, including Ric, wear multiple hats. The Utah State senate

can be best compared to a start-up where the ability to get the right information in/out quickly and

accurately is critical.

This small team is always looking for efficiencies and the press release was one of the first areas they

were able to save time and money while improving the quality and quantity of the information they

delivered. Instead of spending four+ hours on the press release process they now follow a multi-step

process (see the picture to the left) that only takes them thirty minutes (16% of the original time).

While press releases are still needed sometimes, they have been replaced by more personal and direct

means for most updates. The new process, written in marker on a board in Rics office, is flexible,

easily modified (have an eraser?), and balances traditional and new media channels. While this exact

process may not match your needs the approach, and the thinking that went into it, should.

Room setup. You cant beat face to face communication. Journalist and other interested partiesstill come in for announcements.

E-mail external. Notify the journalist and interested parties that an announcement is coming soon. E-mail internal. How often do you forget to share information with your organization? There is

nothing worse than learning news about your organization from external sources.

Personal notify. Are there key people you want to update personally? Text messages X2. Send text messages, internally and externally. Some people prefer SMS to

email.
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Blog announcement and live stream embed. Let the rest of the world know of the comingannouncement.

o Ric includes a live feed to the announcement so that people who can listen to theannouncement without being in the room.

Twitter with live stream URL. Notify your social media connections on Twitter. Facebook with live stream URL. Notify your social media connections on Facebook. Podcast. A digital recorder tapes the entire meeting. Not everyone can, or will, watch the video

feed.

Blog update. Update the masses after the meeting with the information you want to get out fromthe meeting.

YouTube. The meeting video is uploaded to YouTube. Photo albums. Any great photos to share? Upload to Facebook and Flickr. Follow-up with reporters. Any clarification required? Follow-up with others. Ongoing 2.0 conversation response. What are people saying, what are people asking, on Twitter,

Facebook,and other social media channels.

Press release? If needed, rarely now, an old-fashioned press release is still done.Again, this process is stream-lined for political press announcements but the concepts, and the

approach, should benefit any Social Organization. The approach followed in Utah has a few benefits:

While there is a human resource cost there is almost zero cost for tools. The audience for the message is able to receive the message unfiltered. Those that want to read

the information through newspapers or other means can, of course, but others can choose to see

it through video or audio-only means directly from the horses mouth.

The conversation continues. No longer is the message only pushed out. The audience for themessage can engage, ask questions and get answers on multiple channels. The conversation

continues on the blog, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

What is the Social Ecosystem

Documents

Transcript of What is the Social Ecosystem