Duffbert's Random Musings

1 - To get things going... from a Gartner report dated August 2010: Look Beyond Marketing for Competitive Advantage With Social Media

Social media is having a significant impact on marketing, sales, and customer support interactions — providing additional channels to interact with customers and changing the nature of the customer relationship. Executives looking for competitive advantage should not stop there; they need to explore how social media can be used to improve other critical processes adjacent to marketing activities.

Wise enterprises will examine the potential of social media to improve other critical processes and relationships that involve employees, alumni and business partners.

By 2015, the 20% of enterprises that employ social media beyond marketing will lead their industries in revenue growth.

Organizations tend to design critical business processes with an "inside-out" mind-set that focuses on what happens within the confines of the enterprise. In today's hyper-connected world, businesses cannot afford to take such a narrow view of the enterprise. Business function leaders should examine how they currently reach out to interact with other internal business functions, business partners, customers or prospects and, in some cases, even the social Web. An "outside-in" perspective is needed to balance the inside-out viewpoint.

2 - I've not tried this but found the results of a Google search interesting.

IBM Smarter Collaboration TCO/ROI Calculator

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You need to register to use it.

3 - Comcast with comcast cares, dell selling product on twitter and similar other type things are posted.

4 - While I am still reading it and haven't reviewed it, I would highly recommend "Wikibrands," a book that, so far, does an excellent job of tying revenue, social networking, and more, together. Keith's example, above, is but a small part of the book. Yes, Dell, Comcast, Zappos, and those are examined, but in the light of a comprehensive plan. If you want a mini review, it is:

"This book should be mandatory for anyone in any organization that thinks they have a good social media plan or want to have a good social media plan. And everyone in between. Those that have 'marketing' or 'advertising' in their title; if you read this and cannot find immediate value, you should not be in that position."

Wikibrands:
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