As CSR/sustainability players are catching on, one truth is to be reminded: social media is an attitude, not a technology, as showed on the slide below extracted from SustainAbility’s interesting research on stakeholder engagement through web 2.0 (click here to download the slide deck).

One of the many mistakes organizations can often make with social media is the mistake of getting on social media and learning the technology and the tools/platforms offered (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc.), but not learning the best practices of what is called social media behavior.

Social media is about conversations and relationship building. Revolving around trust, social media requires openness, transparency, accountability, and two-way engagement with an ability to listen first….. and this is even more important in our field as all of these elements are fundamental principles of CSR/sustainability strategies themselves!!

Before getting on the social media bandwagon, it is therefore important to “be and live social”. As David Armano noted in HBR’s Conversation blog:

“Social media’s not a product you foist on others, or some rigid business process that, if implemented, yields results. You shouldn’t treat social media like a temporary advertising campaign. Social media is more organic than that. It’s a way of thinking and approaching business that requires passion and commitment and, above all, willingness to participate in social spaces honestly and freely and by the rules of the social network itself. When someone ridicules your organization in the social space, unfiltered in real time, how do you react? If you are trying to control rather than participate in the discussion, then you’re not living social. When your own employees talk about your organization on a social network what do you do?”

What do you think? How do you help your organization or your client be and live social?

(Full disclosure: David Armano now works at Edelman, the PR firm that also employs me.)

• On one hand, Cone’s new media study in the US underlined that new media users overwhelmingly believe companies or brands should not only have a presence in new media (95%) but also interact with their consumers and other stakeholders in this space (89%), with 40% of them believing their searching, sharing and discussing of information about corporate social responsibility efforts can have a significant effect on company business practices.

• On the other hand, a report by financial communications consultancy Lundquist spotted out the failure of major companies around the world to engage with stakeholders online, via their corporate websites, online CSR reports or social media.

What companies are afraid of totally makes the case for social media involvement!

Many CSR pioneers and leaders have very early understood the value of engaging consumers and broader stakeholders via digital channels in order to enhance reputation, build loyalty and even crowd source business innovation. My Starbucks Idea or Timberland’s CSR reporting are striking examples of successful online stakeholder engagement through continuous CSR improvement and two-way dialogue.

However, overall, digital communications are (unfortunately) not leveraged to their full potential, why so? While it is true that not everyone should engage in social media, there are still many reasons why companies are reluctant (not to say scared) to engage in social media, especially when it comes to CSR & sustainability. These same reasons that are making a stronger case for online engagement.

• Getting into social media is like “opening the Pandora box”

“What if people say very bad things about our CSR initiatives? Criticise us with bad spill over effect on our brand image?” This is probably the first answer that comes up anytime social media is discussed. Actually, before getting out there, in the (intimidating) openness and transparency of the online, companies should listen first. Listen to what is said about their brand, about the issues they face, and about the programs they have put in place. Only by knowing what the issues and stakeholders’ expectations are a company can change and develop meaningful CSR or Sustainability strategies with true benefits, for the business and the society as a whole.

• Getting into social media means “loosing control of the brand”

Message control is an illusion. Your stakeholders (employees, consumers, activities) are already talking about you and what you are doing, whenever you are talking to them or not. So you might as well join the conversations where they are (Facebook, Twitter, blogs…wherever) and participate as equals, inform the debate with credibility.

So yes, stakeholder engagement is the next frontier in CSR and Sustainability. But as for any topic that raises doubts, fear … it all comes down to educating people about what social media and CSR really are, that a company can get on the social engagement bandwagon at its own pace, etc. Have you ever tried to suggest social engagement strategies to your clients? Was it successful? How did you educate them about the rationale and benefits of such engagement? Did you overcome resistance?

To be followed then…!

Image credit: Martin Barraud, Getty Images

]]> http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2009/11/01/social-media-the-next-frontier-in-csr-stakeholder-engagement/feed/ 2 http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2009/10/15/733/ http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2009/10/15/733/#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:18:20 +0000 admin http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/?p=733 Today is Blog Action Day, which this year is about climate change. This campaign, as some other ones, got a lot of people excited, including me, about the potential for using digital and social media to confront climate change, and most specifically ultimately influence the climate change debate.

With the negotiation of a new climate treaty coming up in December, the web and social media have quickly appeared as the “new” way to organize climate action, both online and offline:

• By trying to move away from feelings of despair, indifference, or fear, as people can get empowered to make a difference, and to be part of something BIG. To become agents of change.

• By focusing on leveraging horizontal conversations, i.e. peer-to-peer conversations (family, friend, someone ‘like me’) that are the most trusted sources of information, rather than just from top to bottom (via elites), in order to raise awareness and trigger engagement.

• In few words… by attempting to make COP 15 a collective referendum on our future, with everybody being part of the debate … and the solution.

But are we getting this right?

Copenhagen is undeniably driving a lot of innovations and experiments. However, Blog Action Day today got me thinking about all I have seen, read or written about so far.

• Are we all singing the same song?

UNEP, Hopenhagen, TckTckTck, 350.org, Energy Action Coalition, and many others (including movies such as Home or Age of Stupid) – All organizations have been working to catalyze and inspire web-connected communities to take action for the climate, in some very creative ways.

However, what can we hear among this ‘noise’? Is there any single and consistent message we can get out of it? Urgency? Building the world for the future generations? or Hope? or Green = Good for the economy?

Aren’t we in the end increasing citizens’ eco-fatigue? Are citizens tired of being exposed to so many messages, or being exposed to such cacophony?

• Are we pushing the right buttons ? Are we telling the right story ?

Are we efficiently helping people connect the dots and clearly understand why December 2009 will be so critical to their future, and how climate change relates to them as individuals, i.e. to what they care the most, to what they are concerned about the most? Are we putting climate change in the right context, i.e. an issue for the world or an issue for your health? For your job? Etc..

• Are we using the right levers?

In the age of the social media, it is key to engage in a decentralized and democratic way, by giving the voice to the people. However, are we also mobilizing key influencers of all stripes, both online and offline (i.e. influential business leaders, and entrepreneurs, etc?)

In the end, the key question is are we getting COP15 and the climate change issue mainstream? Are all these social media strategies creating a cultural shift? Long-lasting engagement? Are we still trying to raise awareness or are we ready for action?

I am asking more questions that providing answers in this post as I believe this is a discussion we should all have today. So what are your thoughts?

The other day I was reading that 113 billion searches were made worldwide on Google last July, far outstripping its rivals Yahoo, Bing and Baidu, the growing Chinese search engine. Quite an impressive record number!

Search engines have clearly become an integral part of our lives. We turn to them whenever we want to know something about anything, that could be a brand, an organization, a product, a cause or an idea, and whether we are a student, a prospective employee, a consumer, an NGO, a journalist, a business partner… or just a curious citizen.

Search Engines are King…and Companies’ New Homepages

Today, instead of turning to official company or brand web sites, we turn directly to Google through search, meaning that an organization’s homepage is no longer www.organizationname.com, but is google.com, and even twitter.com with its real-time search interface which is indexed on Google.

The results that comes out of search have therefore an increasing capacity to impact the reputation and brand image of companies, as the search results not only aggregate content from the organizations’ website and news, but also various content from blogs, micro-blogging platforms, video-sharing websites, etc…

Whether they like it or not, organizations are getting “naked” online, and this  of course includes  their social and environmental impacts, such as greenwashing practices or corporate misconducts that cannot be hidden from the public.

Google Suggest: Greenwashing & Corporate Misconducts Can Be Spotted As The Search Query Is Being Made

In July, Google  started rolling out ‘Google Suggest‘ into its main engine, by removing it from the ‘Google Labs’. Now, anytime you are doing a search, Suggest essentially feeds you suggestions in real-time as you type, based on the most popular keywords (and not those that bring most of the results) associated with your query.

After playing with the tool few minutes, several company names I was searching were associated with words such as “greenwashing”, “pollution”, “pesticide”, etc.

Below, are few (and easy) examples, demonstrating what type of information Google Suggest can potentially reveal to potential consumers or recruits/employees:

• I am a young consumer and I am looking for a sweater… In my search, I will start by typing the name of an apparel brand and then, as I will start writing “sweater”… there are great chances that “sweatshop” will come first and “sweater” second.

• I am a young graduate and I am looking for a job abroad, and more specifically in emerging markets … when searching certain brand/company names in association with geographical locations, i.e. China, India, Brazil, etc., environmental and social misconducts can easily come up as ’suggestions’

• Etc..

I believe this shows one simple fact: As companies’ social and environmental impacts are increasingly influencing stakeholders’ opinions and decisions, companies have no choice but finally taking CSR & Sustainability seriously, i.e. not considering this as a ‘nice to have’ or ‘add-on’ but something that is an integral part of their strategy aimed at maintaining their license to operate, both online and offline! Do you agree?

]]> http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2009/09/12/search-sustainability-why-google-is-something-to-take-very-seriously/feed/ 3 http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2009/07/24/weekend-links-2/ http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2009/07/24/weekend-links-2/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:13:50 +0000 admin http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/?p=271 Wow..already a week has passed. 

My weekend links are the weekly roundup of what I came across this week on the web – blogosphere, twittosphere, and online media – and that are representative of what’s going in the CSR and Sustainability space. In few words, some online conversations that caught my attention!

Link no.1: A China link to start. A ‘reference’ blog on everything related to civil society in China that point us to a new study on a number of issues related to the development of China’s civil society. Good read.

Link no.2: Another China link to continue. This is this week’ s China CSR newsletter, here. Just to show you how product quality and corporate responses to quality and safety issues are today at the top of public perceptions and CSR expectations in China, because of strong concerns and distrust on the consumers’ side (following many scandals, i.e. tainted milk), strong government activism on these issues, and media aggressivly reporting complaints involving MNCs, etc.

Link no.3 & no.4: Bloggers are further exploring the alignment and links between social media and sustainability, here linking to another blogpost here for a snapshot of “the 12 faces of social media for green marketers and sellers of sustainability”. Good read.

Link no.5: Following the recent/current buzz around the GoodGuide and Wal-Mart’s green index, an recent conversation with Daniel Goleman published here. He is the author of Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything. With no surprise, it is not easy buying green.

Finally this week, some great talks this week at TEDGlobal, in Oxford (UK). Will check the videos out as soon as they will be released.

Link no.1: An interesting blogpost around the issues of supply chain, CSR and reputation management, it is here. The rule no.1 when it comes to CSR is and will always remain: Walk the talk. Once it is done, you can then talk the walk and engage key audiences around a strong value proposition, around your brand and organization.

Link no.2: Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia starts a personal blog on climate change, here on PM Connect. Already very online and web 2.0 (you can follow him on Twitter here), Kevin Rudd goes further, and focuses on issues a paramount importance at both national and international levels. Through his blog, Kevin Rudd may be able to provide the political leadership that we are desperatly needing for COP15 in December (see my previous post here).

Link no.3: We are not facing an economic recession, but an economic reset. We are now in a world that’s been “reset” by a trio of global crises: the sharp worldwide recession, accelerating climate change, and a collapse of trust in business. And this situation is calling for new solutions: a renewed approach to stakeholder relations with regards to the social contract between them and companies. This is what will be at the core of BSR’s annual conference this year, “Reset economy. Reset world”.

Link no.4 and 5 and 6: Few links for Wal-Mart this week, as the very charismatic CEO Lee Scott  announced the future launch of the Sustainability Index, to measure the sustainability of every product Wal-Mart sells. A promising announcement for the world’s largest retailer with potential huge impacts! You can read more about it here, here or here.

Most interestingly, the company has been leveraging multiple social media channels to positively engage consumers and netizens this week. Wal-Mart was even a trending topic on Twitter on Thursday!

The way the Sustainability Index was announced shows how sustainability reporting has evolved away from the traditional annual reporting to something that is now being integrated into mainstream and new communications channels, and that becomes an implicit attribute of products, and companies/brands as a whole. Now is the time for interactive, on demand transparency, real time reporting and engagement with tailored communications for each key audience. In few words, it is : right information, right time, right way.

These two prizes are another proof that this campaign will remain as THE campaign, not only as a revolution into political communications but mostly as a groundbreaking, forward-looking push to challenge communications conventions.

A campaign that we need to learn from for any kind of communications in order to break through to target audiences in a powerful, authentic and engaging manner, especially in the fields of CSR & Sustainability communications that are still (sadly) associated with greenwashing, “looking good” PR or spin.

:: What CSR & Sustainability comms lessons can we learn from the Obama campaign?

It is something that I had in mind for few months now. I have finally found some time to put a presentation deck together, to share with you all some of the key takeaways from the presidential campaign that I find extremely relevant to CSR & Sustainability in today’s turbulent times.

Watch the official video of the Obama campaign presented at Cannes below:

:: What is it?

Developed by a “For Benefit” startup and with the contribution of a team of experts (i.e scientists, consumers researchers, technologists from diverse organizations such as the MIT or the University of California), this website rates consumer products based on their health, environmental and social impacts.

More than 70,000 food, household and personal care products and even toys are ranked on the website, from the shower gel you use everyday to the latest toy you were planning to get for your kids at Christmas. At home on your PC or in the stores on your mobile, you can get the information that is most important to you about any kind of product your are planning to buy.

:: Bluring lines between brand reputation and corporate reputation

Very interestingly, I noticed that GoodGuide not only provides product-related information (ingredients, toxicity with carcinogens for instance) but also analyzes data on company’s performance (i.e. climate change policies, labour concerns, etc.).

This demonstrates that brand reputation and corporate reputation are now inextricably linked. How you operate as a company is as important as what you do and what kind of product or service you sell. Product and service quality are still important, but now the definition of what constitutes “quality” also includes social and environmental-related corporate performance.

Therefore GoodGuide is raising issues and challenges not just for marketers, but also has important implications for corporate behavior and corporate communications. I am especially thinking about the risk of greenwashing, for instance if a company is commercializing an eco-friendly product while other products in the same catergory and the company’s operations as a whole are not up to the same standards.

:: Hypertransparency

GoodGuide’s core mission is to provide the world’s largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental and social impacts of products and companies. It is another example that brands have lost control. Enabled with the transparency and immediacy of the web, brasnds are dealing with empowered consumers.

And no brand can now ignore this: “Increasingly discerning, well-informed consumer consumers are moving outside the purchasing funnel—changing the way they research and buy your products, resulting from the explosion of product choices and digital channels. Two-thirds of the touch points during the active-evaluation phase of a product or service involve consumer-driven activities such as Internet reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family” (McKinsey Quarterly, The Consumer Decision Journey, June 2009)

:: What to do then? Some general principles to protect corporate reputation and enhance brand equity

• Never presume that you can hide or distort information about your company or products – there will always be someone to find it out and expose your potential misconduct to a greater audience. Same goes for greenwashing or ‘fake’ CSR

• Consumers expect transparency from the companies they buy from, so be transparent and be ready to constantly question your practices.

• Be ready to rethink your marketing & communications model. Now marketing is about directly connecting with your consumers through dialogue, openess, relationships, shared experience & engagement.

You can also follow GoodGuide on Twitter

PS: Goodguide.com is a member of bcorporation.net, a consortium of nearly 200 for-profit companies that, according to its Web site, uses “the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.” The B stands for ‘benefit’, a new kind of hybrid between for-profit and nonprofit that we are seeing more and more of today.

To achieve this objective a new website, Hopenhagen, offers people the possibility to send Twitter-like messages about “What gives them hope for a better planet” in order to pressure world leaders to adopt a meaningful climate treaty in Copenhagen.

This initiative sounds pretty cool, especially as it tries to draw on how Obama created a meaningful/successful movement & grassroots campaign around the ideas of Hope and Change.

Few samples from Hopenhagen: ‘Willingness to change gives me hope’, ‘Sunshine gives me hope’, ‘Love gives me hope’, etc..

Is this powerful and meaningful? Here I see two key issues:

• The Hopenhagen campaign does not really help people connect the dots and clearly understand why December 2009 will be so critical for their future. Why fighting climate change is our biggest challenge ever? Fighting climate change as a global extraction is a very hard sell, it is still seen as very ‘far away’ or ‘incontrollable’ by many people. We need to help these people see how fighting climate change relates to their own lives and those of  their children. We need to connect climate change to what matters to people today and tomorrow. It could be health, job creation, their children’s future, etc.

• Also a key question: what will be needed the most in December, hope or leadership? During his campaign, Obama did not only represent change or hope, he represented the leadership American was desperately needing in very troubled economic times, as much as President Franklin Roosevelt was a leader through the Great Recession.

We will all need great leadership at Copenhagen in December to create a ‘climate of change’. From the EU or the US and of course from China and the other BRIC countries.

Any thoughts? By the way, here is my Hopenhagen post: Leadership gives me hope (that some kind of positive result will come out of COP15).

What a very timely talk he has given there as the Twitterized protests were just starting up in Iran. (Actually, he later gave a short interview to the TED team about it, that is now posted on TED’s blog).

Beyond these political implications, I immediately thought about how social media has changed ‘CSR‘, and how it has changed it for the better (even if there is still a long way to go).

With the rise of new social media technologies, power has clearly passed to the people forcing the emergence of a new approach to CSR: CSR 2.0 (or now 4.0).  Especially with citizens-consumers that are now extremely informed and aware, talking to eachother on online communities almost instantaneously about what you do whenever you decide to talk about it or not, and with an audience of millions on the web.

The 2.0 has really put the ’social’ back into CSR, by this I mean the stakeholders. And this is a great thing. Now CSR is finally about stakeholder engagement and about meaningful conversations and change. Because if done otherwise, huge reputational risks are at stake.

Rather than being a big scary thing, CSR 2.0 has to be seen as a great opportunity to join forces with the new empowered stakeholders and rebuild the ’social contract’, especially now that the recession has resulted in a dramatic decline of trust in business worldwide.

A very good paper written by Mikkel H. Sørensen & Nicolai Peitersen from Antics.com lists the 10 changes to the CSR landscape that we are and that we will be seeing because of social media. Here are the eight ones I clearly agree with:

1. Inclusiveness – Involving stakeholders directly from beginning to end

2. Innovation – Winners turn market pressure into stakeholder led innovation

3. Sincerity – Be real

4. Co-ownership – A truly embedded value-based culture happens through involvement

5. Dynamics – Standards being replaced by 24/7 engagement

6. Quality – CSR as immersive business strategy

7. Trust your values – Move first, move alone

8. Proximity – Local impact is global

And to conclude on why Shirky and CSR 2.0, I would highly recommend this book: Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky, which makes sense of the way people are using internet, how it creates new group dynamics, and how it puts the people back at the center stage.

It is basic, but so useful to understand why locally-relevant and stakeholder-inclusive CSR strategies are so important today.