Ben McConnell published an excellent post today on the "roots of word of mouth". This got me to thinking about a planning meeting I was in recently with a client that has been pushing forward with social media for over a year now with nice small wins along the way. The purpose of the meeting was take a step back and look more deeply at how it could build on its initial experience.
A question posed to me and my colleague there was about how they were doing relative to other notable enterprise software companies. We responded that the companies that stand out the most with regard to how they have embraced social media, like IBM, Sun, Dell, SalesForce.com and others, have had success because they've changed their DNA to encourage an openness by employees across the company to use social media to connect directly with customers.
Since social media is a word of mouth lubricant, what McConnell discusses in his post today is very much related to the discussion I had with our clients:
Companies with great word of mouth tend to operate by a simple, yet
inspiring purpose and well-defined values. They have created a cultural
constitution, and every employee is sworn to abide by it, so help them
God and the HR department. They understand that a
purpose-driven company
helps clarify decision-making while inspiring longer-term unity. They
know that abiding by community-driven values compels employees to think
of customers first, company second. They see the benefits of inspired,
evangelistic customers and how company culture is the feeder river for
streams of word of mouth.
This shift in culture -- or DNA -- is something that recently discussed with our client, Ed Brice, and Lois and will be sharing with you through a podcast later this week.
In the meantime, have you looked at these roots in your company?
