Social Media Has Grown Up - But Have We Noticed?

Social Media Has Grown Up - But Have We Noticed?

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Social media has changed society and its changed business. Just think, the Arab spring, the ALS Ice Bucket challenge and turn on the TV News and it will be about who has tweeted. You may not like the freedoms that social media gives us in society, but the genie is out of the bottle.

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In business, social has transformed the way we work. We are able to look people up before we meet them and make judgements about what you are like. Will it be an insightful meeting or will it be dull and I should I just cancel it at the last moment?

In the last 5 years most businesses, have approached social media from a tactical point of view. Each department, Sales, Human Resources (HR), Customer Experience (CX), Marketing etc have had their own siloed team and the order of the day has been to tactically post, chasing likes and followers.  

But something has changed. All the world is on social media. The research from Hootsuite and We are Social Media https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2019-q4-global-digital-statshot shows there are 3.75 Billion people in the world active on social media. From a B2B Enterprise prospective, that is pretty much everybody you are going to need to sell to. 

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In the last 5 years, Social media has grown up from a tactical play thing to a global phenomenon. That growth means that as well as changing society globally, it’s changed commerce and business leaders like us are waking up and not viewing social media tactically, but, strategically.  

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In fact, Social Media has become a boardroom issue.

As we start a new decade, the actions we take in the next few years will govern if we are going to remain relevant to this social media empowered customer. Leadership is about understanding the opportunity and leading with it within our organisation. What got us here, won’t get us there and this will require your business to change. Change in our people, change in our process and change in our leadership.

What will that mean for our business? While social transformation in sales, often called social selling or digital selling, often grabs the headlines, Social impacts across the whole of the enterprise. Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Human Resources. Empowering, the employees to communicate internally and externally, as well as providing a business case to increase revenue and reduce costs.

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While, 2030 seems a long way away, our businesses will only survive if we connect with our prospects, clients, employees, future employees and suppliers. And they are all on, and are active on, social media. It’s time to grasp the social media thistle. 

Love to hear your thoughts on this!

Andy Capaloff

Charles River, State Street Alpha, Aladdin, OMS Systems, Business Analyst & QA Analyst, Portfolio Compliance, Trading, Portfolio Management, Jira, Systems Upgrades & Implementations, System Interfaces

4y

Until now, some people with the proverbial established Rolodex (you can still buy them, lol!) can still be successful in Sales. But newer business models mean that those who are able to do this really are a dying breed. Certainly, it's not the way to establish new business now. And the trends of the last 10 years will simply morph and speed up. We'd all better be ready! Good read, Tim

Craig Wasilchak

CEO | LinkedIn Top Voice | Top Entrepreneurship Voice | Top Commercial Real Estate Voice | Top Elite Founding Member | Branding & Social Media Strategist | EO Member | SEO Content Creator |

4y

Linkedin Just Hit 675,000,000 Members.  Yes, the world has truly changed Timothy (Tim) Hughes 提姆·休斯 The LinkedIn Platform will be dominating the way we do B2B business going forward...  Great article🏆

Julia M Hughes CIPD

**Totally tenacious Recruiter who doesn't give up until she's found the best person to work for you.** / Refreshing Recruitment at Realistic Rates

4y

There's a fine line between reaching out to a new contact on LinkedIn and pouncing on them, isn't there. People don't want to be sold to even in this space. Great article Timothy (Tim) Hughes 提姆·休斯

Stephen Sumner

Knowing 'What Not To Do' Is A Highly Underrated Skill | Helping Retail & Other Sectors Find Their Growth Mojo

4y

Social has to be seen to be ‘strategic’. Fact! Nice article Timothy (Tim) Hughes 提姆·休斯

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