Every Company Is A Media Company

Why Every Company Is a Media Company

By Vanessa DiMauro

What do you get when a VP of Influencer Relations from SAP, the founder of Silicon-Valley Watcher and former Financial Times Journalist and a Social Media strategist come together?

The answer is lively discussions and debate about the impact of social media upon business. Don Bulmer, Tom Foremski and I have recently formed a lyceum of sorts and meet regularly to discuss this very topic.  In addition to thoroughly engaging and timely discussion, we are also forming a framework for understanding social media in a business context. We believe that social strategy is and needs to become about more than just marketing, and will be woven into the very fabric of the enterprise as a strategic platform.

We are actively exploring the idea that every company is a media company. Initially, I had a negative, knee-jerk reaction that this didn’t concept sound right. How can every company be a media company? Why would every company need or want to be a media company?

When this idea was first introduced by Tom Foremski, my mind quickly went to a mis-interpretation of the concept.. every company is a media company meaning that each should be mini-publisher, every organization now needing to be burdened with complex publishing cycles. I recoiled from the thesis...

Everyone knows that enterprise success is predicated on competitive advantage, best products and services, excellent customer service, and right pricing. Being a media company is the last thing strategic executives need to have on their minds to excel in today’s global economy!

Corporate Communications in a Social World

By Don Bulmer

Every company is (now) indeed a media company.  Over the past two years, many communication leaders have had to rethink the design of their programs, mission, organizational structures and purpose - to better enable their companies to lead in a hypercompetitive and increasingly social business environment.

Without a doubt, social media has creeped its way into the core of business operations and strategy at companies of all size and industry orientation - around the word. 

Business leaders are starting to take stock of how people (consumers, employees, partners and influencers) are using social technologies to inform, shape and share opinions about their companies.  In fact, many companies are actively incorporating ‘social strategy’ and ‘social thinking’ into the core of their innovation process (research and development), service and support operations, sales and partner programs, and of course employee engagement efforts.

Principles of Influence in a Social World

By Don Bulmer

“People don't change behavior or positions based on what they know. They change based on what they feel.” – Oprah Winfrey.

This is an extremely powerful and clarifying statement from one of the most successful and influential ‘social’ leaders of our time.  What makes Oprah Winfrey so influential, anyway?  In my view, she is successful because she has a pulse on the issues and concerns of millions of people within her core audience.  She is a master at channeling and telling stories based on both her own experiences and those of everyday people.  She comes across as accessible. She is a masterful communicator and understands the importance of authenticity. 

Regardless of your view on Oprah’s politics or opinions…it is hard to deny the great and transformative power of her influence.

There are many things that Oprah’s statement and viewpoint inspire in me – particularly in a business sense.  If you agree with the premise that we live and work in a world that is increasingly becoming more ‘social’ then you will also understand that new rules are being written in business for companies to be successful and compete in this new environment.

Welcome - When Every Company Is A Media Company...

By Tom Foremski

Five years ago, when I first began writing and talking about this idea, that every company is a media company, few people understood what this was about. Today, it's a message that is better understood -- but only among a few leading practioners in media, communications, and marketing -- it's still far from being understood by the mainstream.

Yet today, it's a very important concept because the evolution of media, and the powerful media technologies of the Internet,  has transformed the entire media industry and is now transforming nearly every business.