“Social media is the use of technology to COMMUNICATE and COLLABORATE with people across the globe to build an engaged and sustainable COMMUNITY rich in CULTURE.”
Defining social media continues to be a challenge for practitioners to convey to new audiences. Above is my definition, derived through countless discussions and explorations of our practice. Wikipedia has a different definition which indicates that there are disagreements in just what is social media. But, this definition works for the the type of clientele, the type of communities we’re building here at Oceanit, for our clients, through our volunteer work, and for our personal lives. This is the second of a 4-part series highlighting each of the 4 Cs of social media. Read more about communication.
In the first post, the most important thing to remember in communication is that it’s not how you as an organization want to communicate, but how your targeted audience, specifically social network participants want to communicate with your organization. By keeping this in mind, you’ll be more accessible and gain better insight from your customers.
Radical Collaboration
As design thinking coach, I have been trained in a process that encourages radical collaboration. Radical collaboration is more than the words’ definitions, it’s creating an environment that leverages participant’s differences. As the Stanford University’s d.school puts it:
“We help each other even if it’s inconvenient. We ask for inspiration when stuck. We play. And we defer judgment long enough to build on each other’s ideas.”
Collaboration with your customers through social networks is, to me, where the magic of social media occurs. For the first time, consumers are able to dialogue directly with brands and companies in as much real-time as possible. No longer are consumers shouting at television screens or magazines only to be heard by family and friends who holler back to pipe down. Consumers have found their voices, have you as an organization tuned in?
How to Collaborate with Social Network Users
If you’ve been engaged in dialogue with social network users (and not broadcast marketing on social channels), then collaboration is the next step. Leverage those conversations to ask for feedback on your product and services. I understand this is risky territory for organizations, but the conversations will be occurring anyways, wouldn’t you want to be a facilitator?
As the Chief Evangelist of Alltop, collaboration was something we not only relied on, but enjoyed. Our readers not only provided suggestions for new topics, but curated a list of news sources. We understood our limits, we couldn’t possibly know about every topic, so we sought out the practitioners and experts to provide us with leads and insights. This type of collaboration continues with our community even after 3 years.
One thing to note, if you cannot collaborate internally, it won’t work externally. So, implement within first. Just remember, there are 4 C’s to social media: communication, collaboration, community, and culture. Keep it simple and in byte sizes, after all this is just a taste of social media.
