CSR: Use Social Media the Right Way for Corporate and Social Responsibility

The newest BusinessWeek article: Beware of Social Media Snake Oil, touts warnings for businesses to be weary of social media experts. This is one opportunity for any company to practice Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The trend is that experts are cropping up claiming to know the in's and out's of successfully managing social media. But don't spend $5,000 to fly out an expert just yet. The reason being that social media sites like facebook, twitter, and justmeans, for CSR, are relatively new phenomenon and what makes an expert an expert isn't all that clear. Success in business is usually measured in return on investment, but social media is inherently unpredictable.

The buzz surrounding a company's social media campaign could bring in revenue or it could just be fruitless hype. Hiring to build hype is a cost worth avoiding, but again the revenue potential is real as reported by Starbucks, Dell, Ford Motors, and most successful App Developers for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Social media maybe in its earliest phases but some common tips come up and they're worth going over.

The article provides a chart appropriately titled 'promises and pitfalls in social media.' So if you hear the tip: Be Transparent- make sure that you're providing openness that breeds trust and benefits the brand, but don't let out trade secrets. If you hear the tip: Listen to Your Customers- make sure you're gathering valuable feedback, but don't hire staff just to monitor your social media profiles. If you hear the tip: Free is the Future- make sure you're trying monetize the community you're working hard to build, but do not let revenue shrink because you're handing out your valuable goods. If you hear the tip: Embrace Personal Brands- make sure your employees build connections outside of corporate walls, but don't let productivity slump because of fruitless time on social media sites.

One use of social media that had a lot of buzz were collaboration tools to be shared among employees and across corporations. A Forrester Research study, however, finds that "Less than 15% of the [workforce] makes use of internal blogs, wikis, and other collaborate tools." "E-mail is still dominant," author Ted Schadler says. It's important not to get outcomes and buzz mixed up in the wrong way. Again, buzz doesn't equate into tangible, successful outcomes. But, successful outcomes always have built up a lot of buzz.

Once upon a time the only way to get the word out on a good product, service, or company was through conversations. Then came magazines and billboards. Then television. Now and indefinitely for the foreseeable future customers find their products online. More and more time is spent on social media. Opposite to the way advertising began, face-to-face interaction time is decreasing as people become more dependent on their computers for news, communication, and work. Social media is the future of CSR and the future of business; it's here- it would be a corporate irresponsibility not to utilize the best tools in the appropriate ways. Practice good Corporate Social Responsibility. In short: Do Good Work on Social Media.