Purpose means that quality decisions are not situational. The advent of social mediums is creating a stir within business across all markets globally but has business defined its purpose?.
When you consider a primary purpose of any business is to serve its customers efficiently and effectively with value proposition they offer then one must consider the impending impact of social mediums on that purpose. But will business leaders react and jump into the medium without a clear purpose in mind?
Are social networks situational or do they represent strategic shifts of strategic importance?
Robert Young, of gigacom.com writes "I have written often about social networks as a platform for self-expression, and how such new media shifts the balance of control for production and distribution of content between corporations and consumers. Along with this, I've written about the many strategic implications of such shifts, particularly for traditional media companies, and the business model challenges that face any player attempting to monetize social media.
There is another critical aspect of social networking, however, that I have not yet addressed... and it's one that will serve as the anchor component for social networks as they begin to enter their next stage of evolutionary development. The component I'm referring to is the communications layer embedded within social networks."
"But it is equally important to realize that communications in and of itself, especially if it's a new form of communications like walls, does not necessarily act as the primary draw for new users. For instance, going back to the days of consumer online services, email was not a very effective draw to acquire new users. This was mainly due to the fact that most people had no idea what email was and how useful it could be.
So other benefits were emphasized, like unique content, to acquire new users. Yet once users discovered the benefits of email, it became the common ubiquitous activity among the community. As a result, it's critical to understand that what attracts people initially is often not what keeps people on your network interested and vested in the long run... a dynamic that is a critical guide for strategic planning."
"As the web portals of the last generation learned, communications anchors their traffic... Yahoo! would be a shadow of itself were it not for free email, IM, etc. Social networks, which are rapidly becoming the portals of the next generation, must place high strategic priority on their communications functionality if they wish to continue their pace of traffic growth, usage, and retention."
While communications is a critical factor for every business it is not the only factor to consider. As the business markets become more and more engaged with the medium of social networks it is of critical importance that they define the "purpose" of their involvement. Once a clear purpose is defined then, as our diagram illustrates, one can expect to map out effective strategies and actions to fulfills said purpose.
Strategies followed by actions can be measured to verify intent and whether said actions are fulfilling stated purposes. Situational reactions to the growth of the medium will only end in wasted time, energy and expense that doesn't deliver on business purposes.
What say you?
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