Cracking social media at scale is such a crucial piece of the puzzle to get right when it comes to social business transformation. Enterprise Social CRM platform Sprinklr recently published an eBook on scaling social business, and I’ve been doing my fair share of thinking in particular about how the organisational model adapts to social at scale.
An essential element in driving social business transformation at scale is that of the Social Business Champion.
What is a Social Business Champion?
Social Business Champions are the agents of change who are driving social business initiatives in leading organisations around the world. They are the people who see things a little differently, and know there is a more social approach to operating business as usual. They are social media strategist, community manager, internal communicator and social analyst rolled into one. They are the ones who make social media a part of their job because they’ve started doing it – not because it’s in their job description.
The Social Business Champion’s role in driving organisational change
The model above displays a common route to scaling a social business, outlining the journey it takes to move social media from being siloed in one department to spread across many. A good social business champion is instrumental in moving this process along, and acts as the bridge between the different departments activating social media.
Qualities of a Social Business Champion
The Social Business Champion has a pivotal role in transforming the organisation from doing social media to being a social business. They are the ones who take the first steps towards scaling social media, and are the first to break the social media silo. This means that a social business champion needs to have a great deal of courage, as the ability to take risks – often at their own expense – is what drives social business forward. They also need to possess some pretty strong persuasive powers and be compelling enough for others to put their trust in them.
The importance of senior support
But even the most engaging, persuasive, courageous Social Business Champion will still need to get senior stakeholder support at some stage. In order for social business to scale, the organisational model needs to adapt as we create new divisions and new ways of working. Senior stakeholders need to put trust in new approaches to give social business a chance of succeeding, which makes the role and special qualities of the Social Business Champion even more important.
