Energize and Embrace the Groundswell!

I mentioned in my last review, that Groundswell can be termed as a "Social Media Bible" for many Social Media professionals. The next few chapters of Part 2 went deeper into how to energize and embrace the Groundswell and how to create an organizational environment where our employess can accept the change as well. Organizational behavior and cultual shift is an area of great interest for me, and a favouraite topic to discuss in my own presentations.

Let me start with one of the chapters in the second half of the book that dealt with energizing the Groundswell. Chapter 7 was an excellent chapter as the autors went into detail about the steps to harnessing the energy and momentum generated by a Groundswell. I particularly like the way they offer techniques for "energizing your enthusiasts" and a breakdown of complex information into helpful case studies including the following: Dell, ebags, Constant Contact and Lego. Another favouraite part of Groundswell, several of the case histories throughout the book included an "ROI Ratings and Reviews" section. I love a book that can break out a cost analysis and a profit analysis at the end of each example:


Dell


Constant Contact.

I might be a little biased toward this subject, but I thought an internal organization look at the Groundswell was covered nicely, "How Connecting with the Groundswell Transforms Your Company," and "The Groundswell inside your company," which gets the employees involved and participating in Groundswell thinking. I believe that anything you want to achieve externally, must be accepted and valued within the organization first. The employees are the greatest brand champions and should be used to organization's advantage. However, culture can be one of the toughest challenges. Even if you listen, plan and social outreach programs in place, a lack of buy-in or participation on behalf of organization's employees will prove counter-productive towards overall social success.
Groundswell outlines the best approach to getting the entire organization on board. A few of the helpful hints included:

• "First, start small" and pick your battles strategically
• "Second, educate your executives" by showing them the research
• "Third, get the right people to run your strategy" who usually are the people who are most passionate about relationships with customers
• "Fourth, get your agency and technology partners in synch" and make sure they understand the Groundswell
• "Fifth, plan for the next step and the long term" so you know exactly where the Groundswell thinking will take your company

I know that Groundswell was first published in 2008, and there's a reason why the book is a bestseller. If you pass this book because you think you should be reading newer titles(and yes, you can still read them too), you are missing an opportunity to hear excellent advice from two very savvy technology focused, social media professionals, who back-up everything they say with concrete examples. I think this book is well worth the read and is now on my recommended or "must read" list!

Energize!


Embrace!