What is the best way for fledgling business cultures to adopt Social Media? It is no secret that the ROI of Social has been a hot topic within the confines of this blog, and in recent months I have come to a solid realization that SEO is one very clear (but not easy) way to recognize ROI within Social Media. But in order to achieve that success, the need exists for the business culture to embrace transparency to the external world.

A cultural shift for any business, no less a startup / younger business can be difficult. But then again, established businesses can be set in their ways like a crotchety old man too!

Jeff Bullas recently wrote 14 Ways A CEO Can Benefit From Social Media: A True Story, a great read and a fantastic blog by the way. But his point got me thinking to the point above, cultural shift and in this case, how a CEO can create a more social culture. Here is a 3 phase approach:

1)      Evolve your corporate portal into a full internal community- Let your own company be the guinea pig. Create a private community for your staff. This will drive a culture of productivity and transparency. The end result is more bang for your buck from your work force, a birds-eye view of your business, knowledge retention (the baby boomers are retiring and with that their knowledge is disappearing-capture it now!), employee ideas (it is also advised to listen to your employees and innovate internal process to their voice). Listening and interacting builds employee loyalty not to mention empowerment to “get involved”.  Don’t have a portal – skip it! They are so 2004. The business drivers of an internal community are:

1. Transparency – Create more efficient and transparent information flow between corporate and the entire staff.
2. Efficiency – Lower the overlap of work and quickly identify holes within processes. I have seen companies also organize and scale their business collaboratively through the use of a wiki.
3. Innovation – Harvesting great ideas, flushing them out together and applying them builds
4. A new level of scalable & repeatable business process

2)      Create a partner/constituent community – Once you have successfully engaged your own staff, you can then turn to your business partners to:

1. Derive Market Research- Listen to your business constituents – listen, learn, engage and stay relevant. Have the pulse of your industry in your back pocket to reference whenever you need to.
2. Enable Partner Education- A knowledgeable partner is more likely to stay a business partner.
3. Create A new generation of User Groups -Traditional user groups are evolving into social communities. Doing this helps fulfill multiple business objectives outlined in this list.
4. Transparent Dashboard – The dashboard will create a clear and concise overview of the relationship between your business and theirs.
5. Partner Insights – The interactions between partners can be invaluable insights. Especially when you have a birds-eye view of those conversations. It is also an add-on value for your partners to have these conversations that I have seen lead to serendipitous business opportunities for all parties involved. (Thanks to Jim Storer for that word)

3) Create a Customer driven community – I would be remiss if I did not suggest a ramp up phase where Twitter, Facebook and other demographically enlightened avenues are engaged as a pilot. Then create a social community for your customers. Some of the business drivers are:

1. Product Innovation- When you listen to your partners & customers and innovate to their voice-you will win their business over and over again. Not to mention create better products in the long run. This is a proven case study of success.
2. Business Intelligence & Competitive Analysis- Social Media allows you to open up channels to understand your business and competitors like never before. This intelligence has a value greater than any one sale or new lead.
3. Peer‐Based Support, Education & Innovation- Let your peers and customers sell, educate and innovate for you. Collaboration drives all three and will let you shave your customer service, marketing and new product development costs.
4. Thought leadership/Leads & Sales- Be the leader in your industry and you will develop serendipitous lead generation, new sales and new business opportunities that were not available before.
5. Brand Awareness & Affinity- When you engage, adapt, innovate and are an accessible organization (culture) your customers will come back to you over and over. New folks will take notice over your competitor that have a closed door policy. Same with your employees and business partners.

I hope this helps get the conversation started about cultural change and gives you a roadmap to drive that change. Oh, and peep this graphic- invaluable! Thanks to the fine chaps at Nixon for this!