Sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter

The changes to business process brought about by social media and other emerging media is both large and significant. It requires people with the life experience to respond appropriately, connect with others in the organization to put out immediate fires, innovate processes, and change existing legacy business processes. This requires executive management teams to empower success, both in terms of strategic understanding and proper budget resources.

Here are six considerations for social media success:

Social media requires life experience to satisfy customers -- To be an effective social media leader, one needs to be able to listen, effectively acknowledge the customer issue, comprehend all of the potential business ramifications, understand the organization's structure to get to people who can solve the issue, and do this quickly. This requires life experience, business knowledge, and a customer service orientation.

Social media requires organizational knowledge to be effective -- It can take considerable time for someone to learn an organization's structure and build credible relationships with the right people for that person to be effective. It also requires an understanding about what the potential roadblocks are to creating immediate solutions for the customer.

Social media needs people who understand former process -- Generation X grew up in the offline world of the Baby Boomers, are only a few years older than Generation Y, and have been learning Internet, mobile, and social media. They are in the unique position of understanding clearly how mediums are shifting.

Social media teams must be empowered to take action -- Command and control culture that requires multiple levels of decision makers won't cut it in social media. To enable people to make proper quick decisions they need to have the proper skills and judgment. There is no substitute for life experience in this arena to reduce the risks of a social media blow up.

Social media should be integrated into the organization -- There is a history of technology not being integrated well into an existing organizational structure, and as a result, the potential business impacts going unrealized. Many organizations still have many social networking sites blocked; this can't continue if an organization is to realize the full potential of the medium.

Social media done poorly is worse than doing nothing at all -- A few years ago a particular computer company with a reputation for effective social media contacted me after a problem with hinges on my laptop. The company did not enable the social media people to solve the problem. The social media team wasted my time and other customers' time, but was not authorized to fix the problems. The effect was frustration and a waste of customer's time without problem resolution, which was worse than being ignored.

Don't hire a social media intern to do an experienced leaders role! It won't get the job done, and won't satisfy customers, improve business results, or integrate social media into the organization fully.

+ + + + + + +
About the Author: David Dalka is a business strategy leadership consultant and keynote speaker. He tweets at @dalka.