Operationalizing Social Media Within Your Organization: An Interview with Art Hall

While most companies are still in the nascent stages of capturing and engaging their audiences through social media, recognizing the importance of the dialogue has become critical to successful branding efforts. While the unstructured customer data shared on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook provides stimulation for innovative ideas, the product, process improvements and insights presented can also help transform a company whose mission is to be more customer-centric, relevant and, more importantly, to stay attuned to customer needs. A number of major brands—Case-Mate, Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company and Intercontinental Hotels Group—actively engage their audiences on social networks. These brands began by developing an internal team of executives who understand the strategy, approach and importance of capturing customer feedback through these tools. But even early and successful adopters of social media have not necessarily achieved mainstream corporate acceptance. Many executives are still unsure if they should move forward with a social media strategy that includes audience engagement and executive involvement. The trepidation among executives is warranted—methodologies, process, talent and tools may be limited, maturing or non-existent—but the importance of engaging customers and promoting the brand with executives through social media cannot be ignored.