Integrating Social Media Into Essential Business Functions

11 Comments 27 January 2010

I do work with businesses to develop social media strategies, just as I work with nonprofit corporations. Yesterday, I gave a presentation at Nefesh B’Nefesh on the topic of Integrating Social Media Into Essential Business Functions. It was a lot of fun to think about using social media to support other business functions besides marketing.

Guess what? Social media is not just a platform for marketing and sales.

In fact, the idea for this presentation was formed when I began to investigate collaborative internal communication technologies for working on team projects. Then I started to wonder: what other business functions are supported by social media? Do social technologies actually increase efficiency in business functions? What would be the ROI of using them?

In a previous life, I was a small business consultant – thus, this presentation was created to answer these questions.

I looked at human resources, training, internal communication, product development, customer service, and sales/marketing. I purposely omitted a few areas (accounting, IT), but please chime in with your ideas for integrating social media platforms and technologies into all areas of business. At the end of the presentation, I offer the examples of Best Buy and The American Red Cross, two companies that have embraced social media.

I’m now beginning to to think about a similar presentation for nonprofit organizations. What are the essential organizational function areas that would benefit from social media integration? I’m thinking (out loud here) about member/client/organizational recruitment, program development, membership engagement, internal communication, human resources, and of course…fundraising. Do you already integrate social media into certain function areas at your nonprofit? Are you exploring this now? What are the ROI metrics? I’d love to hear your thoughts, and experiences.

Integrating Social Media Into Business Functions from Community Organizer 2.0

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markclayson

Thanks i will use full information

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markclayson

Thanks i will use full information

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Ilene Rosenblum

I’d be very interested in hearing about social media integration for non-profit institutions. I work on behalf of non-profit institutions, and I feel that you need a employ a very different social media strategy than if you are a business selling a product.

@ilenerosenblum.

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Debra Askanase Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Hi Ilene-
Nice to see you here. I agree with you 100% that nonprofit institutions will integrate social media completely differently than corporate institutions. They also have very different needs. I do hope to create the “part two” to this presentation, this time focusing on integrating social media with nonprofit organizational functions – it will be a really interesting slideshow to create. Any and all ideas are welcome!

[Reply]
Ilene Rosenblum

I’d be very interested in hearing about social media integration for non-profit institutions. I work on behalf of non-profit institutions, and I feel that you need a employ a very different social media strategy than if you are a business selling a product.

@ilenerosenblum.

[Reply]
Debra Askanase Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Hi Ilene-
Nice to see you here. I agree with you 100% that nonprofit institutions will integrate social media completely differently than corporate institutions. They also have very different needs. I do hope to create the “part two” to this presentation, this time focusing on integrating social media with nonprofit organizational functions – it will be a really interesting slideshow to create. Any and all ideas are welcome!

[Reply]
Robin Hamman

Hi Debra,

This is a really useful post, and set of slides. For a while now I’ve been thinking that the only way to really measure the ROI of social media investment is to integrate social media into real, business critical processes. This is far from mainstream, at least at present, so it’s nice to hear this sentiment echoed in your post.

I thought I’d share a recent post with you, inspired by an event where I listened as a room full of marketing and PR people argue about how and what to measure when it comes to social media ROI without any of them actually mentioning “business critical processes done more effectively or efficiently”. To be honest, I was a bit gobsmacked. Anyway, post here: http://www.headshift.com/blog/2010/02/to-measure-roi-youve-got-to-do.php

Best Wishes, and keep up the good posts.
Robin.

[Reply]
Robin Hamman

Hi Debra,

This is a really useful post, and set of slides. For a while now I’ve been thinking that the only way to really measure the ROI of social media investment is to integrate social media into real, business critical processes. This is far from mainstream, at least at present, so it’s nice to hear this sentiment echoed in your post.

I thought I’d share a recent post with you, inspired by an event where I listened as a room full of marketing and PR people argue about how and what to measure when it comes to social media ROI without any of them actually mentioning “business critical processes done more effectively or efficiently”. To be honest, I was a bit gobsmacked. Anyway, post here: http://www.headshift.com/blog/2010/02/to-measure-roi-youve-got-to-do.php

Best Wishes, and keep up the good posts.
Robin.

[Reply]