Almost every day there is another way that social media encroaches upon our businesses. It could be a new technology designed to help us reach new customers or something to help us target buyers more accurately. It could be a new device, some software or a must-have community building platform.
Similarly, in our so-called “personal lives”, we are seeing a blurring of the boundaries – between home and work, work and play, friends, colleagues, connections and family.
But while many of us have been weaving social media into the fabric of our lives, most businesses are at the very beginning of this process. Their efforts are ad hoc, barely repeatable and hardly defined. There is confusion, miscommunication – and even misinformation.
So what then would be a model that enterprises – large scale businesses – could look to? I thought I’d try my hand at putting a “social business maturity model” together. Running vertically are the five stages of enterprise maturity. Each of these stages have key process areas which provide milestones and evidence capabilities that mark the transition to a new level of maturity. It’s a draft, but I’d love your input and suggestions. How can we make it better? What would you add or change?
I like it … particularly as a model for evolution of a business’s approach to social media … and of becoming a ‘social business’.
I’ve printed it out and will use it as a filter as I work on a couple of current client projects – at very different ends of the continuum … and come back with input.
Thanks for kicking off the conversation with such a model … from a consulting perspective it certainly provides a great framework for ‘ideal’ practice.
Thanks Cat – glad you find it useful. Let me know if you have improvements along the way!