As organizations go through the process of introducing social media strategies and tactics into their overall communications mix, it appears they go through three distinct phases.

During the first phase, ‘getting into social media’ is often defined as establishing a presence on one or more platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.  This is of course a very limited and narrowly tactical approach, and it is not surprising that it often doesn’t generate any meaningful results.   No wonder almost all social media pundits advise against following this route.  Most point to a more strategic approach – phase two.

During the second phase, organizations recognize that in order for social media initiatives to be impactful, they need to first and foremost establish a listening ability, find out what’s being said about them, their industry and/or their competitors in the online space, define their audience(s), find out where those audiences congregate in the social media arena, and how they typically engage there.  On that basis, a more strategic perspective can be created, with specifically defined objectives, aligned to existing communications programs and goals.   It is during the second phase that key performance indicator (KPI) definitions and return of investment (ROI) questions in relation to social media come into play.

However, it is only during the third phase of social media adaption that companies begin to fully reap the benefits of social media.  During this phase organizations begin to recognize that they need to transform their organizational DNA in order to capitalize on the true potential of the ‘conversation age’.  It’s the open leadership concept as outlined in Charlene Li’s most recent book that addresses this phase in organizations’ migration towards a much more transparent, relationship-oriented culture, where information is more freely shared.

Isn’t it actually striking that with this organizational transition we appear to be moving towards a simpler, flatter, more direct communications structure where information is relayed in a way that is very similar to the communications dynamics as they take place in a village or a tribe?  But along with these similarities there are also major differences of course, as today’s communication is global, instantaneous, and web-based.