Businesses And Customers Using Social Media For Social Good

Big business social media strategies are forcing corporations to expand their ideas beyond concerns of profit alone. But as you might expect, it's not that this move is happening just out of the goodness of their hearts. Rather, the nature of social media itself is creating a change in how businesses as well as people view the world. When any business policy doesn't result in benefits for the general public, this soon becomes obvious as people bring the information to light in their social networks. This means that corporations are now learning to use social media for social good rather than just for their own self interests.

One small example of the way corporate social media can be influenced by online pressure was demonstrated in 2009 when some authors of erotica and gay literature noticed that their rankings had disappeared from www.amazon.com, which could seriously lower their sales. The news spread through Twitter like wildfire, prompting outrage against Amazon for what seemed like an arbitrary policy that damaged a specific group. Amazon was forced to admit a database error, and rushed to correct it. This was a narrow instance of using social media for social good; using Twitter to mobilize pressure against Amazon for the good of the affected authors. But there are many other examples.

This is the first important change. Social media today is teaching corporations exactly what their customers' value and woe to those businesses if they try to give the customers something else. Because, secondly, social media is also making it possible for people to discover very quickly when a company is trying to be a bit shifty or if their track record isn't all it should be. But this also means that businesses themselves have a way of using their corporate social media for the greater good of society, and can also use the new methods to publicize when they are cleaning up their act in some way.

Corporations are now developing social media policies that allow them to give their customers what they want, and not just within the narrow confines of their business relationship. Using social media for social good has become something corporations and their customers can do in partnership, as they learn to recognize each other's values. As corporations work for good changes in the world, they can gain the respect of potential customers, and the two parties may discover that their relationship will become profitable in ways they had never imagined before.

Related topics about social media for social good
Social Networking And Return On Investment
Big business social media efforts may produce great results, yet never be fully measurable. How does one quantify good will? If customers enjoy their conversations with a company and begin to feel a certain brand loyalty, can the value of that be calculated? Social networking can produce those things and other positive results, without any accountant ever being able to measure them. It may be that businesses will just have to accept that "increased good will and loyalty," even if unquantifiable, are perfectly acceptable returns on their social media investment.

The Many Sources For News About Social Media
Business people may work with a social media consulting company like LiveWorld, attend breakfasts and conferences, or read major tech websites to learn the latest news about social media. It doesn't matter whether the media experts are buttoned-down types in suits and ties, or a throwback to the barefoot hippie sitting at a computer in the basement. Corporations want to hear from them, no matter who they are.

A Cautionary Tale About Social Media Websites
As an example of bad tactics on social media websites, take a few instances of the behavior of some marketers on Twitter. They induce many people to "follow" them, and then reward followers with an endless barrage of self-promoting announcements, like Twitter is a forum for non-stop press releases. Not once do they actually engage their followers as people, but obviously regard them as a captive audience to preach about their company.