The following post is about a new book describing how industry leaders like Cisco, Adobe and others build successful social business programs. The book, “How Companies Succeed in Social Business,” was written by the TSIA’s former director of social media research. John Ragsdale, vice president of technology and social research at the TSIA, contributed to the book and published the following on his blog. It is adopted here with permission. 

Shawn Santos, who initiated social research at TSIA around 2009, was the driver and editor of “How Companies Succeed in Social Business.” Shawn reached out to experts among tech companies who have successful social business programs, as well as thought leaders in the social world. I’m happy to have contributed a chapter to the book: Chapter 7: The State of Enterprise Social Technical Support.

How Companies Succeed in Social Business 1

I know there are a lot of books out there on harnessing social media for business purposes. But the majority of those I’ve read are by self-proclaimed experts — with little or no real-world experience — pontificating about how you must embrace social or die. This is not one of those books. “How Companies Succeed in Social Business” is by real practitioners, with stories from the trenches about what works, what doesn’t work, and how to increase the success of your social programs. If you are looking for self-promoting pontification, this is not the book for you.

For my chapter, I shared TSIA research showing best practices and Pacesetter practices for online customer support communities, as well as leveraging social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter for customer support. Most of this data has not been released outside of TSIA membership, so I’m glad to be able to share some of our intellectual property with a larger audience. I made an effort to include as much data and analysis as possible — not just opinions.

The book is available via Amazon. 

ABOUT John Ragsdale

Avatar photoJohn Ragsdale is vice president of technology and social research for the Technology Services Industry Association. He writes a regular blog, Eye on Service, for the TSIA.