10 must-reads for a CIO who is creating a social media strategy

Consumerisation is changing your business. Smart CIOs will already be thinking of ways to deal with the influx of consumer-purchased IT, finding ways to connect such devices securely and to let workers collaborate effectively.

Much of this connectivity will be facilitated through a mix of mobile technology and social media networking. Social media retains a core hold on internal users and external consumers. CIOs need to grasp the opportunity and help the business respond. Here are 10 must-read articles to help IT leaders who are aiming to create a social media strategy.

1. Facebook and Twitter: Social media pushes CIOs and marketing closer – Silicon

While social media provides a means for the chief marketing officer (CMO) to engage with potential customers, it is the CIO who will be expected to provide the technical knowledge to make such digital marketing strategies a business reality

2. How to invest in social media…wisely – Forbes

Could all the valuation discussions distract from the true impact these technologies have for your company when you start using them? Don’t let the buzz around the technology take precedence over more important fundamentals.

3. CIOs struggle with social media’s security risks – Govtech

But while social media can be used to warn citizens of an approaching tornado, another storm is brewing around government’s use of social media and the potential security risks.

4. CIOs say IT should not block social media sites – TechRepublic

A new report shows 6.8% of internet visits in businesses go to Facebook. Still, TechRepublic’s CIO Jury says IT shouldn’t block social media. Learn why.

5. CIOs: Stop ignoring social media – Forbes

CIOs and IT leaders need to promote social media or risk becoming marginalised.

6. Do CIOs really get social media? – Gartner

Everybody agrees about the value of this external information, but when it comes to taking responsibility of helping the business extract value, CIOs seem to fingerpoint in a different direction, be it communication, marketing, or customer service.

7. The CIO and social media – Andrew Abboud

I suspect many people’s aversion to social media generally and Twitter more specifically is related to time and information overload. I suffered from this early on in my use of Twitter and am now much more disciplined, just as I am with email.

8. Social Media: A workplace learning tool – CIO Insight

Social-media sites are considered by most enterprises only in terms of their potential as a marketing tool. It’s obvious that Twitter, Facebook and other social networking outlets are channels through which your enterprise can deliver information and engage customers with an unprecedented level of reach and creativity.

9. Creating a next-generation social media policy – i-cio

Over the last year there has been a radical change in corporate attitudes to social media. Organisations with previously tight controls – if not outright bans – on the workplace use of such tools as Facebook, Twitter, Yammer and even LinkedIn have responded to pressure from marketing, HR, R&D and other business units to explore the potential of social media for collaboration, sentiment analysis, advertising, recruitment and more.

10. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube: But where’s the social CIO? – Silicon

The media consensus would have us believe that we are on the cusp of an information revolution, where everyone across the world is using Facebook to poke their peers and Twitter to tweet their views. As ever, an element of caution is required. Change is occurring but the revolution is patchy at best.

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