Social Business Imperative

I just finished reading Social Business Imperative by Clara Shih, CEO and co-founder of my company Hearsay Systems.

It would be a really interesting read for people wanting to grow a business in this digital age. It talks about why social media has become imperative for business, how it impacts areas from sales, marketing, customer services all the way to recruiting and IT. It also includes use cases of how social media sites were successfully used by companies, as well as tips of how to effectively social media.

As a daily user for a variety of social media sites, I evaluate my experience from an end-user perspective. From this book, It’s great to see social media from the company’s angle and also learn about struggles why some companies are so slow and hesitant in adopting social media.

While there are certainly struggles, there’s no excuse to avoid the social channel any more. More than 1.8 billion use Facebook monthly, and more than 300 million people use Twitter monthly. People expect the companies they are dealing with have some presence there, too, that takes their questions and feedback.

A few years ago, I was very unsatisfied with a shipping company’s service, and tweeted to its Twitter handle. No response. Kind of what I expected. I didn’t know if anyone was really taking care of that account, or it was created just to make the company have a “modern” feel. If it were now, I would be very frustrated, because I expect them to do much better now. Yes, even just a few years apart, people’s expectations for companies on social media are totally different.

There’s still time to hop onto the social media speedy train, and be mindful, it will run faster and faster. Read this book to give your some ideas on how to ride it well.