Common wisdom says that being a large company in a regulated industry somewhat forfeits your ability to conduct business in a social manner. There are just too many rules; it’s just too risky. Right? There is some truth to this belief, but we think there are several ways to engage. Think of social engagement in phases, balanced by the risk and reward of each.
Dachis Group recently finished an engagement with a client that operates in a regulated industry. We conducted a thorough analysis of their social media landscape and recommended several ways to move towards becoming a more social business.
This post is an excerpt; for more information and to download the entire case study, read the entire post on The Collaboratory.
To be perfectly honest, I read through this case study and there was nothing very illuminating there. I work in a regulated industry and we’re listening and responding on a regular basis via social networks. There are simply more steps involved than this overview implies, including understanding workflow, streamlining approval processes and establishing context for legal teams who may or may not understand the social dynamics of the web. Plus, I don’t see how this process varies at all from processes in non-regulated industries: listen first, illuminate what’s being said for others in the organization, respond, repeat…
Maybe I’m missing something, but I know first-hand there are many more concerns like defining a scope of conversation to exclude things you absolutely cannot talk about, or at least define a way to explain to consumers WHY you can’t address specific concerns(because it’s prohibited by law). I think there needs to be more explanation here around knowledge of the specific regulations, what the spirit of those regulations are (most are put forth as a means of protecting consumers — whether they do that or not is subject for debate). Explaining why you can’t comment on a particular topic is still participating in the discussion and it helps consumers understand the company’s position.
I understand the need for client confidentiality, but the case study here is very broad, rather than deep, and does little to address the unique aspects of integrating social media into a regulated company, but again… maybe I missed something.
Hi Shannon – thanks for the comment. I’m comfortable with the level of detail in the case study that provides value while protecting our client’s confidentiality as well as the insight paid for during the engagement, contained in some of the details you correctly identify as missing from the public document.