The Hub Commentary_

As a marketeer and IT professional, I’m not sure I see the connection between IT and social media unless the infrastructure is set up inside a business.  I say this as someone who has spent a great deal of time in recent months both studying and deploying inbound marketing via social media technologies.  As a business service management practice it relates in driving growth for the business, internally the technologies are useful in driving collaboration and efficiency, but only if there is value to the business for the objective of the practice.

I don’t see it as ITs role to set policy on the use or management of external sources for social media content.  I am fortunate to work for an organization that sees the benefit of the external conversation, has minimal policies and trusts employees to use good common sense in their external social conversations.  External social media is about creating the relationship with your customers, prospects, providing good information – it’s not about Tweeting for the sake of it or Facebook just to have a page.  There needs to be a business driver, otherwise it is a personal action.

The opening comments of it gets in the way of work and is a nuisance is perplexing to me.  It isn’t an IT concern to control or manage the external world.  It is company policy that should define what employees do via external channels.  That said, these external channels are inbound marketing, awareness, and leads generation.  This is the problem with IT, they do not control all technology and need to seek how to best leverage, evolve, exploit and support new uses of technology to drive business growth versus being the usual, eternal obstacle.

Social media is not something for IT to govern.  Until it makes a connection back to the organization, IT is not involved.  Once the connection back to the organization occurs, then there needs to be a business requirement and policy enforced – most of all support to leverage that relationship as best as possible to drive business growth as possible.  The external conversation is not for IT to manage or govern, that is a company policy.  Times have changed and building a relationship with your customers is relevant and expected.  So I disagree with ITs role in social media until it links back to the organization and the mechanics of that link.

So as the article slightly mentions, it is service to your customers and it is marketing to your prospective customers and thus business growth.  Drive business growth and create competitive advantage with better customer service with new technologies, ideas and avenues rather than being the usual obstacle.  So I challenge you not to find fault with social media, but…..

How do you use social media to grow your business?

Michele

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