Corporate Eye

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Corporate social responsibility

Which Social Media Platform is Right For Your Business?

Is it Twitter? Facebook? What about MySpace or Plaxo? It’s hard to say that one, (if only one and if any ONE) is right to use for your business. Why? Because every business is different and every business owner is different. Deciding what works well with your business is relative, again, to the business.

Social media marketing is a hot topic these days for most all businesses. Showcasing your wares and services is pretty exciting on some sites, and if it is properly strategized, can go beyond what seems like “work” and can be a lot of fun. A lot of blogger journalists are finding that having a voice in the blog-o-sphere empowers them and can make an impact with readers.  Corporate businesses often hire bloggers to write in a marketing style voice that will attract readers to their site(s) by providing rich, relevant content.

Social sites help businesses and individuals get “discovered.” A lot of the conversations and groups that exist on these platforms are useless or in pursuit of spam action, however, quality leads are the goal of the serious user. Many of the platforms also have a somewhat detailed registration and maintenance landing page, often discouraging spammers from signing up. But, ignoring the spam clutter and useless requests, there are users and companies who take the sites very seriously and work hard to build solid networks.  

Twitter is by far one of my favorite networking sites and can be a powerful networking tool. It’s designed as a micro-blogging tool to give quick, dense updates on news and developments within your niche area, on anything. How can businesses benefit from the Twitter site? One idea is to post links to good, quality content on your site or other sites to share with your followers. If you provide good content and good links, half of your marketing job is done. Take great care to provide good links and good information since most of Twitter readers are limited on time (who isn’t?) and really don’t want to waste their time.

At one time, I really thought that Facebook was for social networking for friends and light acquaintances only. How wrong was I? Since I’ve been on Facebook, I’ve made some very good connections and am poised to present to a local business organization as a result of it. More than just “hi, how are you”, Facebook is a powerful platform for finding those that niche with you. In other words, you can network and build networks of people and companies who embrace the same things that you do, have the same business goals that you do and are in pursuit of the same types of business developments that you are.

LinkedIn is another professional platform tool that your business can use to really expand and make an impact in the online world. Connections are the term that LinkedIn uses to qualify their members, and members can request to be in a network or to request to have someone of interest join their network. LinkedIn has a process design that is quite sophisticated and removes most of the spam that can clog up a site. They require members to take the time to flesh out their profiles and to be a thorough as possible in order to make good connections. Herein is the key. Good connections are essential to the LinkedIn member’s success, and with careful implementation, can be quite profitable for the member.

So which platform is right for your business? How do you know if it’s right for your business? Mack Collier at SearchEngineGuide.com wrote this post about deciding just that. I didn’t really agree with everything that he had to say, but that is my point. Without the platforms to voice opinions and ideas, there would be many boring blog reads! However, knowing where and in which direction you’d like to take the media contacts is important in determining in which direction you will go.

The goal of any writer is to provide information to the reader. If you are an individual business owner or building a business, you would undoubtedly benefit from these three and from the numerous many more. If you are a corporate entity or manage one, again, they could all benefit you. There really is no magic or special formula when it comes to social media networking. It works when it worked right and it doesn’t work when it’s not worked right. Period. Use social media platforms in your business, no matter what the business is and what the platform is. A lot of people may not agree with me on this, but customers, readers, contributors or whatever they’re pegged do not classify themselves as one or the other. Treat them as buyers and act like they’re buyers. When you do this, you reap the rewards of having addressed buyers. Why should there be any less?

Which platform does your business use? Is one really better than the other or more effective than the other? What do you think?

ExxonMobil: reflecting on industry issues

You’ll have seen the news over the weekend that ExxonMobil have called for a carbon tax to tackle global warming … interesting, isn’t it?

So what changes have they made on the website to reflect this change of heart?

ExxonMobil

Impressively, there are not one but two items about this on the site home page – a press release, and a direct link to the speech transcript in the focus area at the top of the page. This demonstrates the importance of this news, both to the company itself, and to the wider community.

We believe that corporate websites should be reflecting the issues that are facing us at the moment:

  • demonstrating that the company is considering the issues
  • and mirroring the issues, refracted through the different stakeholder areas, to communicate with the people affected by those issues.

This speech (and speedy update of the website) demonstrates that ExxonMobil are deeply considering the best way forward in the current global warming crisis. Whether or not you agree with their strategy, it can’t be denied that they are thinking about it, and are prepared to change their minds in the light of new information.

And from our point of view, the high profile placement of this on the corporate website – and the speed with which it was done – is exactly right, indicating the importance that ExxonMobil place on this issue, and keeping all stakeholders informed.

Philip Morris

Another corporate website that has expertly handled a significant change in the industry is the Philip Morris site. We all know about the difficulties the tobacco industry has faced over the last few decades, yet the Philip Morris site faces these difficulties squarely. Their home page is almost completely devoted to information about health issues, stopping smoking, persuading children not to smoke, and the Settlement Agreement.

Granted, this isn’t a site that needs to include investor relations, say, as that is handled by the parent company, Altria, but nevertheless, Philip Morris are working hard to provide positive messages about their product and their approach to the industry issues.

Yet, on visiting some corporate websites, you might get the impression that the major issues affecting – say – the economic climate are imaginary, or at least that the company is not willing to discuss them. Why not? You know that the visitors to your website will be thinking about them, and wondering how you are affected …

Should Corporate Sites Air Their Business? American International Group (AIG) did, and it Worked!

Are the websites the appropriate place to be casual or direct with customers? Or, should that be done in a direct letter to the customer?

Just how much information should corporations release about their financial dealings (and otherwise) to customers?

The Function of Corporate Communications

A corporate web presence is usually created to keep a line of communication open between the company’s customers or investors and the company’s executives. This can be as lengthy as several paragraphs or as short as one-liners (as in Tweets) or emails. In many cases, a company’s blog or website is the first place people will turn to in order to get a better idea about the company and their practices. Corporations can also use blogs to really gain strength in the marketplace and develop a strong presence in the minds of consumers.

Corporate blogs also serve to keep the public informed and abreast of what’s going on in a particular area of the company, or, about news developments and/or discoveries. Although blogs are generally positive in nature, there are instances where the blog may discuss issues that are uneasy or embarrassing to deal with. When, and if this happens, there must be some type of mechanism in place to deal with the situation and create the best possible outcome for the company, no matter what.

That Will Be $1 Please

American International Group (AIG) has been under heavy, heavy fire in recent months about their financial activity and their dire need to be bailed out of a particularly unpleasant and unpopular financial crisis. The mega-large U.S.-based insurance brokerage group was bailed out by the government to the tune of $150 billion not too terribly long ago. They have also been under heavy scrutiny for their various financial actions and activities and have tried to offer explanations for their activities via their website. Taking a look at the press release where AIG discuss the company’s finances, I noticed that AIG seems to try to answer the accusations and scrutiny by explaining (in detail) why they’ve decided to take action and what they expect to have happen as a result. This is ultimate corporate responsibility and excellent media relations because it shows that the company is not ignoring the pink elephant in the room, nor are they offering a myriad of excuses. They have responsibly faced what has happened and have addressed it directly. Whether using the website to discuss certain issues was a (opinion) mistake or not, AIG did quite well in facing the issues and answering to the public about their actions. 

The news press release that announced that Mr. Liddy and other executives of AIG will not receive a salary (or a significantly reduced one) for the years of 2008 and 2009 shows not only an immense understanding of the company’s financial obligation, but also shows that the executive team understand and are sensitive to the company’s needs and the public’s perception of them as leaders. Did it work? Was that a good idea? Will it be effective and profitable for the company? No one has any way of really knowing how the entire situation will turn out. But, because the company’s top executive has decided to receive only a $1 salary for 2008 and 2009, and the company’s top managing executives are going to forego their annual bonuses, they are showing that the bailout will not be for naught. Discussing it affirms their intentions and shows everyone they’re serious.

But, On the Website?

Was AIG’s website the proper place to make such an announcement about the company’s decisions? Why wouldn’t it be? Actually, the site was the perfect place to make that type of announcement. Corporate media relations announcements are not meant only for journaling the company’s highs, profits, sales or growth. Well-presented corporate media relations announcements can help a company excel in the marketplace, whether things are favorable…or not. It is not the job, function or duty of a blog to only paint rosy pictures of the company. To do that could possibly backfire and cause other potential problems. And, in order to avoid said problems, companies should allow their communications to be transparent. However tact should be used in choosing the right words and tone for the media.

After reading about the salary decrease, you may perhaps find yourself thinking about just how serious a move that was for AIG and how serious they must be in getting the company back on track. So really, the website is the best place to make such an announcement. It is the best place to air the company’s “not-so-good” news. It is the best place to reach out to customers, outside media, investors and other interested parties. Hence, for AIG, discussing it on their website, in the open  and upfront is going to be the best place to get their message out and convey their seriousness in the process.

CSR Doesn’t Pay — A Response

This post is a response to David Vogel’s article “CSR Doesn’t Pay” , published on forbes.com on 16th October 2008.

Before writing it I checked out who David Vogel is. He holds the Solomon P. Lee Distinguished Professorship in Business Ethics at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.

Wow, not someone who I’d readily cross swords with. However, he has his views and I have mine. We disagree. And here is why…..

What Is CSR?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is all about ensuring businesses do not forget the social cost of their pursuit of financial profits.

A horrendous, but thankfully rare example would be that of Chevron in the Amazon Rainforest where the company extracted oil for the massive North American petrol market.

They left behind them a poisoned ecosystem, drenched with chemicals and thoroughly unusable. Their methods would not have been tolerated in their target market but the company’s primary concern was, it appears, the cost of the operation not the health of those involved or the legacy it left behind.

CSR is about taking responsibility for your actions. Instead of recognising the need to clear up this mess and take action Chevron has consistently ducked the issue and tried to get others to shoulder the burden.

The core of the CSR agenda is to get companies to understand the ramifications of their actions and plan for them ahead of time, not try and ignore them or sweep them into dusty corners when things go wrong.

What CSR Is Not

There are three very important things that CSR is not.

It is not about philanthropy. The general giving of wealth to help needy, social or community programmes should be applauded to the rafters. However, it has nothing to do with responsibility.

Neither is it about the export of values. For example, the western garment industry relies in part on the nimble fingers of children to do the most delicate works of stitching and embroidery. Theirs is a different cultural, social and economic situation to the West’s; the two should not be homogenised.

Finally, CSR is not and never has been about making money. It is about treating the people who work for a company and the community within which it operates with respect.

Money only comes into it because businesses have, by definition, to be able to cover their costs. So CSR should not, without good cause, result in a company making a loss. That is different to CSR making a profit.

What Did Professor Vogel Say?

The Market For Virtue Frontcover

Professor Vogel starts the Forbes article brightly, stating that there’s a lot of buzz about CSR and how it will make a company more profitable. This, he wishes to say, is hogwash and most of the rest of the CSR community will agree with him.

However his rationale for wishing to destroy this myth is jaw dropping:

There is a “‘market for virtue,” but it is a very limited one. Nor is it growing.

I was so taken aback I had to read this several times just to make sure I had read it correctly. Still unconvinced that I’d understood the argument correctly, I went and leafed through a list of his publications.

Included in these from 2006, is “The Market for Virtue: The Potential and Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility”. An extract from this book states:

There are important limits to the market for virtue. The main constraint on the market’s ability to increase the supply of corporate virtue is the market itself … There is a place in the market economy for responsible firms. But there is also a large place for their less responsible competitors.

So no, I hadn’t misunderstood. Professor Vogel considers CSR to be a commodity, something to be valued and traded. Having taken this in and fully digested it, I wasn’t too surprised to find the Forbes article continued:

Part of the reason why CSR does not necessarily pay is that only a handful or consumers know or care about the environmental or social records of more than a handful of firms. “Ethical” products are a niche market: Virtually all goods and services continue to be purchased on the basis of price, convenience and quality.

What’s Wrong With This?

For starters, I’m rather shocked that Professor Vogel has chosen to make CSR synonymous with “virtue”, a word loaded with overtones of morality and righteousness.

No one is suggesting that businesses should replace spiritual organisations as the ultimate paragons of virtue. To say that they are, when the only purpose is to knock the suggestions down, seems self serving and base.

Then there’s the market. Professor Vogel states in the article:

The market has many virtues, but reconciling corporate goals and public purposes is unfortunately not among them.

Good. In that case let’s be clear. CSR is not a “niche market” … it’s not about making profits or being financially valued. In fact, it’s the very antithesis of this.

It is a public purpose. It is something which is necessary for the greater good of all mankind. It’s about ensuring the pursuit of financial value doesn’t get put before caring for our fellow humans and our environment.

The Future Of CSR

Responsibility

In the quote above Professor Vogel states that consumers don’t know or care about the intricacies of CSR. They don’t know or care about the intricacies of financial reporting either, but that doesn’t stop it being important.

The truth is that this commoditisation of CSR has come about because businessmen are desperate to try and stave off regulation in this area. They’re trying to fit something into the market which doesn’t belong there.

If Professor Vogel is a leading CSR academic then he needs to be listened to. If the market cannot take on board CSR then the only option is far reaching and robust legislation.

Professor Vogel’s alternative, to allow some companies to be more irresponsible than others, is like saying we can have some politicians who are more corrupt or some businessmen who are more fraudulent. This is unthinkable.

At the bottom line there is no room in the advancement of human decency and respect for any talk of money. On the other hand, to suggest there should be a market in selling human misery sounds awfully like an argument which leads to slavery to me.

Picture Credit: “Haas Business School” by toolfan.hess from Flickr under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Creating a CSR Buzz in Your Pocket

One facet of the sustainability movement is that of corporate social responsibility, or CSR. This is the principle that businesses should recognise the wider social impact they have upon their and their suppliers’ workers and communities.

Many still misunderstand what is meant by this, believing it to be philanthropy rebranded. They limit their CSR activities to supporting grass roots causes, or donating a percentage of their annual income to a Charity of The Year.

Now a new report from makeITfair demonstrates how a simple business CSR policy, applied to the relevant employees, can profoundly affect the world, giving everyone a CSR buzz in their pocket – literally. [Read more…] about Creating a CSR Buzz in Your Pocket

Free Patents Release Business From Gollum’s Precious

Gollum: a dirty and warped creature whose bulging eyes, skinny fingers and obsessive behaviour are now synonymous with unfettered desire and greed.

It’s tempting for many of those who argue against Capitalism and the Market State to liken big business to a swarm of Gollums, all scrabbling around in the dark, clutching their own peculiar Precious.

However such a view may be confounded by a growing initiative launched by the World Business Council For Sustainable Development (WBCSD): the Eco Patent Commons. [Read more…] about Free Patents Release Business From Gollum’s Precious