The Hyper-Social Shift – Making Money on it

October 30, 2010

I’m going to focus this discussion on the “making money” impacts for medium sized businesses, the ideal client for our consulting practice and where I have the most insight.  Small business will see much of the same and will benefit if they adopt some of the same ideas. In most smaller companies, you may not see the need for process change and skills evolution. For large corporations, my discussion is probably a good primer and source of “the right questions”. The answers are much more complex, and outside the scope of this eBook. For you medium sized business owners still with me, here goes our path to making money on the Hyper-Social communications transformation. Francois Gossieaux and Ed Moran said in their book “The Hyper-Social Organization” that “…social media fundamentally changes the way you identify, develop, educate, and support those customers. Not realizing that distinction will result in companies not being able to achieve their business objectives”. They went on to reference Peter Drucker who said “Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two-and only two- basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business. Making money be creating customers has not changed at all since Peter Drucker made that clear statement of the purpose of business. What HAS CHANGED is that everything and every process from A to Z has changed and is continuing to change at warp speed around the new centerpiece of business – Hyper-Social Communications. There are three key areas you will have to change to “make money” in this new world.

• People
• Technology
• Processes

Changing these three critical parts of your business with open, honest communications empowered by technology, social media, mobile computing, and whatever is here next year will make the difference. It’s not about having a Facebook account for your business and generating a few hundred fans so you can blast out your message to them. It’s not about a boring blog you use to add content to your website for SEO. It is about harnessing the hyper-social communications movement to generate more customers, communicate with them to know what they want from you, and deliver it to them with consistency and speed never dreamed of. It’s the Industrial Revolution of the 21^st Century. Making money is about a massive change in thinking to put communications at the center of your business. To get your processes changed out with social media, mobile, video, and instant communications as a cornerstone of the new way you do business. Making money means training your people on new communications skills, hiring people that can embrace the new way, and changing executive thinking to understand and leverage how this shift can blast your business to aggressive growth and beat the pants off you competition.