Charlene Li & Brian Solis 
The Seven Success Factors of Social Business Strategy [PDF ebook] 

1 The Evolution of Social Business 1
Creating a Coherent Social Business Strategy 3
Introducing the Seven Success Factors of Social Business
Strategy 5
How to Use This Book 7
2 Laying Foundations: Goals, Vision, and Executive Support 9
Success Factor #1: Defi ne the Overall Business Goals 9
Identifying Which Goals Matter 10
Exercise: Connect Social Goals to Organizational Goals 12
Tying Social Strategy to Business Goals: The Metric Holy Grail
12
What Happens When Business Goals Aren’t Clear? 15
Success Factor #2: Establish the Long-Term Vision 16
Creating a Vision Statement 18
Exercise: Writing a Vision Statement 19
Success Factor #3: Ensure Executive Support 21
Garnering Executive Engagement 22
Best Practices: Getting Executives Onboard 23
3 Setting the Strategy Roadmap: Identify and Prioritize
Initiatives 27
Success Factor #4: Defi ne the Strategy Roadmap 27
Identify Initiatives 29
Learn: Glean insights from social engagement 30
Dialog: Deepen relationships with conversations 33
Support: Assist people and create a great experience in the
process 36
Advocate: Enable the best fans to speak on behalf of the
organization 38
Innovate: Tap the energy and ideas of others 39
Prioritize Initiatives Against Capabilities and Value 41
Create a Long-Term Roadmap 43
4 Aligning the Organization: Establishing Governance 47
Success Factor #5: Establish Governance and Guidelines 47
Defi ning the Co E 49
Forming a Steering Committee 52
Evolving the Co E into Multiple Hub and Spoke 53
Defi ning Guidelines and Process 53
Beware the Center of Excellence Pitfalls 57
5 Aligning Resources and Technology 59
Success Factor #6: Secure Staff, Resources, and Funding 59
Staffing 60
Education and Best Practice Sharing 61
Funding and the Use of Pilot Programs 63
Success Factor #7: Invest in Technology Platforms That Map to
Strategy 64
Plan to Evolve Your Monitoring Platform 65
To Scale, Invest in a Social Media Management System 66
Conclusion 69
Notes 71
Acknowledgments 73
About the Authors 75

Charlene Li is founder of the Altimeter Group and the author of The New York Times bestseller Open Leadership. She is also the coauthor of the critically acclaimed, bestselling book Groundswell, which was named one of the best business books in 2008. She is one of the foremost experts on social media and technologies and a consultant and independent thought leader on leadership, strategy, social technologies, interactive media, and marketing. Formerly, Charlene was vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research and a consultant with Monitor Group. She was named one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company in 2010 and one of the most influential women in technology 2009. Charlene is a frequently-quoted expert and has appeared on 60 Minutes, The PBS News Hour, ABC News, and CNN. She is also frequently quoted by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, Businessweek, USAToday, Reuters, and The Associated Press. She is a much-sought-after public speaker and appeared at the World Business Forum in Radio City Music Hall in October 2010. Charlene is a graduate of Harvard Business School and received a magna cum laude degree from Harvard College. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Alumni Association, as well as The Poynter Institute.
Brian Solis is a Principal Analyst at Altimeter Group. Brian works with businesses on new media strategies and frameworks to build bridges between companies and customers, employees, and other important stakeholders. Additionally, he specializes in change management to help businesses (and the leadership team) introduce new media resources, systems and processes, and management layers to effectively embrace and excel around the connected customer. As a result, CRM Magazine named Brian as an influential leader of 2010. Brian is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. He is the author of Engage, an award-winning reference guide for businesses to build, cultivate, and measure success in the social web, and he has been featured in the New York Times, The Guardian, and the Wall Street Journal, among others. A digital analyst, business strategist, and futurist, Brian has studied and influenced the effects of emerging media on business, marketing, and culture. He is an avid speaker, keynoting conferences and corporate events around the world. His blog, Brian Solis.com, is among the world’s leading business and marketing online resources, ranking among the top 1% of all blogs tracked by Technorati. Brian is also ranked as one of the leading voices in the Ad Age Power 150 index of worldwide marketing bloggers. He actively contributes to Fast Company, Businessweek, Ad Age, Harvard Business Review, and Mashable. Prior to joining Altimeter Group, Brian led interactive and social programs for Fortune 500 companies, notable celebrities, and Web 2.0 startups since 1999 as Principal of Future Works.