The Hyper‐social Organization – Eclipse Your Competition by Leveraging Social Media

Citation

Sousa, K.J. (2012), "The Hyper‐social Organization – Eclipse Your Competition by Leveraging Social Media", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 165-166. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761211206438

Web 2.0? Human 1.0? Community? Tribes? In the early chapters of this book, the title and subject of this book could have been an introduction to anthropology. How do you discuss the subjects of social media and the hyper‐social organization? Is it about anthropology? How do people behave? What are the commonalities and differences among various groups of humans? Well, these all relate to the basic definition of anthropology.

The authors begin with a deliberate attempt to build a foundation, imploring that organizations must understand deeply rooted traits, also known as Human 1.0; believing that business structures require us to behave in ways that are unnatural, as consumers or employees. So, the authors define a hyper‐social organization as the empowerment of Human 1.0 behaviors to scale to levels exceeding historical references.

The writers provide a good foundation of why business organizations should transition to a “hyper‐organizational” mindset. Its foundation is based on the strategy that people identify themselves to groups (tribes) based on their interests and lifestyle. Then, this strategy is implemented by business organizations though the use of technology and a multi‐millennial concept. Ironically, the authors' 2009 Tribalization of Business Study survey found that only a relatively small number of businesses (20 percent) utilized the leaders of their tribes. Why? Business leaders, like individuals, tend to embrace what they can understand and avoid risk taking and the fear of the unknown. Furthermore, businesses focus on markets and consumers, not on the humans and their tribes.

It was very refreshing to read a book on the integration of technology in business organizations that encourages a focus on a well‐conceived business strategy and then a focus on how the technology enables the strategy or model. So many “techie” books and articles seem to focus on the “sizzle” nature of implementing technology, not the “roll‐up‐the‐sleeves” effort that needs to be analyzed and accomplished first. As important, the authors include several examples threaded throughout the book to avoid a “fast food” approach to building hyper‐social organization. More importantly, it is clear that implementing new social media initiatives under a camouflaged veil of stale marketing campaign techniques will be ineffective.

Some (or many) business leaders may be uncomfortable reading some sections of this book. The authors challenge many of the “old” traditional concepts of marketing, organizational, and business strategy. They are clear that organizations should abandon market segments and focus on tribes. Tribes gain advantages from groups of people that cannot be gained as individuals. Traditional market segmentation does not provide enough intelligence on the links between people and what they are likely to buy. The process of selling to customers by isolating them from their social groups ignores that people want the buying process to be a social process. Do you sense that the traditional market researchers will begin to shake nervously on this thought?

While reading this book, it is rather easy to consider the following thought … is social media or the transition to a hyper‐social organization a fad? The authors are obviously advocates of this new mindset and approach to marketing and communicating. At several points during the book, there are assessments about traditional management practices depicted as “past their prime.” Specifically, the authors do not believe that these traditional practices have limited positive value to transition to a hyper‐social organization. They assert that implementing traditional approaches will not need less management but more.

An important point: There is a “cost” to embracing the customer‐ and social media‐centric environment. For example, there was an interesting passage in Chapter 8 about the allocation of scarce organizational resources that exists in all businesses. The authors suggest that “marketing spending is no longer a scarce resource” in the new hyper‐social organization. The authors suggest that more can be done with the same amount of resources by transitioning to this hyper‐social approach. However, those same resources are called into question with the authors' question; “… in an increasingly complex marketplace in which new entrants, new products and new information are being created faster than ever, how will the ability to predict future events change?” This is an interesting question that is probably not yet clear with this new marketing and communication methodology.

The book does not focus solely on the organization but also the transformation and development of its employees. On the employee front, a business executive was quoted as saying that you do not need a marketing background to lead, design, and manage a hyper‐social organization. In fact, the executive conveyed that it might be better if you did not. The hierarchical structure and mindset of many organizations create impediments to transition to this new approach. Also, the conventional 9‐5 interaction with customers requires an expansion to a 24/7 approach to monitor and communicate with customers.

Businesses continue to challenge their management to develop and monitor organizational metrics. How do you measure a hyper‐social organization? The addition of this substantial discussion to the book is not only important but also thought provoking. The authors provided significant detail, including several scales and measures, on how to build an assessment tool and measurement process. Several figures in Chapters 11 and 12 help to provide some applied foundation to building this process. A substantial component of the assessment process is founded on their “Four Pillars of Hyper‐Sociality”; which is threaded throughout the book and well conceived. The ability to align the organization's talent is also framed by these “Pillars.”

In its effort to educate business leaders on the new Hyper‐Social business environment, much of the material is presented through the use of many applied examples using businesses. A great example was how USA Today converted from an old channel‐centric approach to a tribal‐based, social media methodology. It changed the company's mission to, “Capture the National Conversation,” with a focus on the delivery of news, to a relationship environment. Their first online section focused on travel content specifically with cruises. The significant and thoughtful feedback that they received built momentum to create a “full‐fledged” community. Not only a success with its readers, but with the advertisers. Sounds like focusing on the customer, the advertisers followed.

In Chapter 8, there is a great story about how Jet Blue encourages employees to integrate (very seamlessly and sincerely) its corporate values to embrace the social messiness without hurting their business organization. The airline did not embark on developing a traditional (and yes, heavy) book of rules, manuals and legalese. Instead, their process was simple: just encircle their interaction with the social media tribes with these five core values.

Overall, the book presents a significant amount of information about transforming a business to one of hyper‐sociality. It provides many thoughts, definitions, and concepts. The authors also integrate many examples from businesses such as Fed Ex, SAP, P&G, Dell, NASA, GE and Gore‐Tex. Readers will enjoy those stories. At times, the writing can drag with more details that tend to blur the information transfer. Social media is a phenomenon that has gained a great deal of visibility; a mixture of positive and negative. Some also believe that is radically changing how individuals communicate and gather information. However, it is an interesting subject that is captivating both business organizations, individuals and young people.