Social Media, Social Data, Social Commerce, Social Intelligence, Social Next Thing !!!

We have seen impact of social media platforms like Twitter in popular uprisings in Northern Africa and Middle east. Recently I have seen how effectively  a dominant local player in food & beverages business countering an extremely negative report through Facebook rather than  going full offensive through media or legal route. These are clear indication of increasing maturity level of adoption of social media platform  for commercial and non commercial purpose. So ones who do not have proper social media strategy may miss the boat. Now the question is how effectively new entrant could adopt social media strategy.  For me, there are two aspects to it.

• First is adoption of social media platform. It should start with well defined end objective rather than "me too" strategy. It could be things like improving customer connect , improving brand awareness , etc. Next step is identifying the target customer segment for example based on  geography, age group, etc. Then devise strategy for the same. It could be sharing thought leadership by IT Services companies using blogging platform, Pushing news items in terms of short message (predominantly )one way communication by media players using twitter, Building a community to listen & talk to end customer base using facebook or similar kinda  platform by retail majors . 

• Second is making sense of social data. This has  many flavors to it. Basic one or rather level one of maturity  is identifying the impact of things like marketing campaigns, new product launches, brand perception , etc. Next level could be things like identifying people who are really influencing the community around them and using that data to devise the strategies to make them satisfied.  For me, nirvana state would be integration of traditional customer data ,which is generated within enterprise  apps, and social data ,which is captured from  social community initiatives and also listening to external social platforms. This kinda integration will provide a 360 degree view into customer. This will  aid in creating individual specific offerings which has greater chances of success.

I believe there are tons of opportunity in this space as things are still evolving and have great scope of innovation.