The social hub of excellence is the operation center for brands to excel in social.
I have looked at couple of proposals for social media and community management in different settings; from local and multinational agencies servicing in Saudi Arabia. What was apparently not present for such offerings was the post (content calendar and ideas pre-brainstorming) stage. So what have I expected was…
I expected an extra mile into social channels strategy and integration.. What is to note here is ,today social media setup in any organization is a must. What happens is that the idea is not to jump into each and every platform; following the concept of “build it they will come” nor about locking/claiming the organization’s accounts in different networks and publish the brochures for people online, which will not work either.
The idea is to have an interlinked functions-operation center, where HR, Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, legal and PR work together to achieve and speak company’s DNA to the world. The objective is to create The Social Hub of Excellence where functions inside the organization talk and interact as one and achieve as one.
Marketing is about market insights, and acting to respond or anticipate in most cases. So what about social media marketing what is there, is it taking our marketing messages and posting them online for our community? Well this is obviously what’s happening, but there is more than that. As markets are developing to be digitally connected, organizations need to listen for insights, build brands online and activate CSR efforts and more. Deepening the engagement with people online is the only way organizations can harness this opportunity to filter everything that goes out from the community and analyze it to take actions. Focus groups, surveys and market research are more accessible and cheaper today than ever, as we can talk to consumers 1 to 1 or in small groups to understand more about their attitude, response and ideas on our product or services…it is faster, cheaper and more effective .
People sales, I am talking social because people are the target. Online is the medium. This is the only thing that is being over done by organizations today, by posting many sales offers and promotions, but it is not fully working as it needs to be integrated with other functions inside the organization to understand people, we need marketing insights, thus it’s better to have sales and marketing talk together in one room to be able to sell online/offline effectively. The term SMARKETING is rising and speaks more about this idea.
People care, maybe you do care too. But how does your organization listen to customers and care for their ideas, issues and complaints. Away from TQM (the total Quality Management) and different service quality certifications your organization may already have, this is completely different. Of course you need to offer the best service ever, but Interacting more and more with people and understanding their pain points help organizations use the collected data and process that with marketing and sales insights to have a better picture for people and their needs and aspirations.
People like to be happy all the time. How are you helping them become happier and enjoy the magic of happiness! In many occasions when I am happy with the food and the service in a restaurant I over tip the waiter, I feel good about it too. The next thing I know is I Instagram it and tweet about it. Was that free advertisement! Yes , it was and this is the ultimate satisfaction You could get as a business owner. But wait I have already recommended it to a list of my friends out there. So why not repeat this with as many people as we can, and then utilize their happiness to ask them for reviews and follow up on their activities to enrich their loyalty more and more. No incentives nor special offers just keep the good relation. Why I am stopping the idea of incentivizing them , because …check this story for a moment, I will feel bad if my friend recommends me a restaurant to dine in, then I find out that he was offered a 20% discount because of that. I won’t feel it is a genuine friend to friend recommendation, would you ?..Word of mouth will spread naturally and your press release won’t need to be overrated. Of course you need the PR guys at your organization to sit with the rest of the functions in the same room and discuss what, who, why and when this or that message should go out and to whomever by which channel..
People to people , while it is always tricky to look for new talents in the market, still there is a huge opportunity to make it easier through social channels. As the organization interacts with many people from different places and different backgrounds, it can look up for the required talents, at the same time can show up to the world the reality of the organization, staff and working environment dynamics… People would see more of you and what makes you different than others and what might be interesting for them to get excited to work for you..
This is what we meant by Social Hub of excellence…Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we have one single room for everybody to be in and contribute , discuss and action things around our organization’s image that is exposed to the world ? All the received input from customers (people) would be digested then diverted to the right team to handle… I am not sure about you but this is like business owners’ peace of mind and assurance that their business is doing OK.