The impact of social in an international organization
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 4:01 am
Do companies have the courage to transform into a real social business organization? What role does C-level play in this? What can corporates learn from start-ups? Where does social media stop and the real contribution to corporate goals begin? And who will lead this change? On October 1, the event #CHANGE took place, organized by Social Inc. The theme was the transition from social media to social business.
Social is just starting now
“Haven’t we seen everything in the field of social?” With this question, Sonja Loth , director of Social Inc., opened the event. To answer it herself right away: no, we are far from done with social, when it comes to social business. We have only just begun with the change that was partly initiated by social media and that is only now beginning to seep into business processes.
Who takes responsibility for social business?
Where social was initially mainly a marcom matter, it is now becoming something that affects the entire organization. The big question is who will lead that change. Will it be the marketers, the CEOs or the management? Who wants, can and will take that responsibility?
According to Sonja, marketers have a good chance of playing the role of leader in this change process, because they are used to connecting with customers and the outside world.
What does the boardroom think about social business?
Sonja Loth_Social Inc. about social businessSocial Inc. asked a number of CEOs in a periodic survey about their expectations of social business. They expect that it will take five to seven years before social has penetrated all business processes and the entire organization. Chairman Ronnie Overgoor then gives the floor to Frank van den Berk , manager social media at Friesland Campina.
Frank starts his story by referring to his own change . He came from ABN-AMRO romania mobile phone number list to Friesland Campina, which only became active on social media two years ago. Until then, Friesland Campina mainly thought of marketing in terms of TV commercials, to reach the 1 billion consumers who use their products worldwide. Friesland Campina was broadcasting in that and had to get used to the idea that you can also talk to your customers.
But who do you speak on behalf of, when you have such a large palette of local brands? On behalf of a company, on behalf of a brand? And what are you going to talk about? Now food & retail is a topic that people talk about most online. And that made just getting started with social media a little easier: a Facebook page was created and Friesland Campina asked consumers for photos for that page.
Dare to experiment and start a test garden
That turned out to work and was the impetus for a series of 'test gardens' with which Friesland Campina pursues two goals: firstly, discovering what works and what doesn't, and secondly, showing the rest of the organisation how consumers all over the world talk about their brand and work.
In this way, Friesland Campina kills two birds with one stone and involves the outside world in the inside world and vice versa. Customers want to know what and who is behind that brand and that company. You can show that with social media. There are now live chat sessions with consumers, conversations are held on Facebook, Twitter is mainly a service channel and YouTube is used for storytelling.
All in all, a huge and successful change compared to two years ago. A change that also provides commercial surprises. For example, a Facebook-only campaign in Mexico was so successful (63% engagement score, average in the market 2.5%) that even Facebook Headquarters wondered what was going on.
Social is just starting now
“Haven’t we seen everything in the field of social?” With this question, Sonja Loth , director of Social Inc., opened the event. To answer it herself right away: no, we are far from done with social, when it comes to social business. We have only just begun with the change that was partly initiated by social media and that is only now beginning to seep into business processes.
Who takes responsibility for social business?
Where social was initially mainly a marcom matter, it is now becoming something that affects the entire organization. The big question is who will lead that change. Will it be the marketers, the CEOs or the management? Who wants, can and will take that responsibility?
According to Sonja, marketers have a good chance of playing the role of leader in this change process, because they are used to connecting with customers and the outside world.
What does the boardroom think about social business?
Sonja Loth_Social Inc. about social businessSocial Inc. asked a number of CEOs in a periodic survey about their expectations of social business. They expect that it will take five to seven years before social has penetrated all business processes and the entire organization. Chairman Ronnie Overgoor then gives the floor to Frank van den Berk , manager social media at Friesland Campina.
Frank starts his story by referring to his own change . He came from ABN-AMRO romania mobile phone number list to Friesland Campina, which only became active on social media two years ago. Until then, Friesland Campina mainly thought of marketing in terms of TV commercials, to reach the 1 billion consumers who use their products worldwide. Friesland Campina was broadcasting in that and had to get used to the idea that you can also talk to your customers.
But who do you speak on behalf of, when you have such a large palette of local brands? On behalf of a company, on behalf of a brand? And what are you going to talk about? Now food & retail is a topic that people talk about most online. And that made just getting started with social media a little easier: a Facebook page was created and Friesland Campina asked consumers for photos for that page.
Dare to experiment and start a test garden
That turned out to work and was the impetus for a series of 'test gardens' with which Friesland Campina pursues two goals: firstly, discovering what works and what doesn't, and secondly, showing the rest of the organisation how consumers all over the world talk about their brand and work.
In this way, Friesland Campina kills two birds with one stone and involves the outside world in the inside world and vice versa. Customers want to know what and who is behind that brand and that company. You can show that with social media. There are now live chat sessions with consumers, conversations are held on Facebook, Twitter is mainly a service channel and YouTube is used for storytelling.
All in all, a huge and successful change compared to two years ago. A change that also provides commercial surprises. For example, a Facebook-only campaign in Mexico was so successful (63% engagement score, average in the market 2.5%) that even Facebook Headquarters wondered what was going on.