58 July - August 2015 | Responsible Business 59Responsible Business | July - August 2015

Customers and workers have always had the power to share their experi-ences with friends and peers. But surely with this direct interaction with customers, it increased brand awareness more than ever before.

Enhancing Brand EquityOne of the best initiatives I encoun-tered amoungst social media CSR pro-jects that draw a straight line between a company’s strategy and corporate social responsibility is the Purple Lens initiative by Byblos Bank. It is a pro-gram that provides emerging Lebanese photographers with the right tools and suitable environment that allow them to develop their talent in the right place. The program aims to reach out to those talented photographers and help them stand out. With this sort of engage-ment, it encouraged talented people in Lebanon by supporting their crafts. This way, Byblos Bank proved to set the best example for CSR initiative using social media engagement that created more awareness, better inter-action with the community of purpose and therefore more brand equity. Byb-los Bank used Facebook as a primary channel to share with the commu-nity of purpose photographers’ talents along with the bank’s different CSR initiatives.

Gaining a Competitive AdvantageAt a fundamental level, customers have always been able to vote with their wallets. But they weren’t con-nected to a global network with the potential to amplify their opinions

and experience to hurricane strength.

Customers are connecting and shar-ing information at a far faster rate than the companies that serve them. There’s no question that when it comes to social media, companies in Lebanon are lagging behind. And to think that this customer revolution won’t affect your business is a naïve thought. Indeed, it will affect every business.

Businesses in Lebanon are now in-creasingly adopting customer-fo-cused processes through social media to gain competitive advantage. But for building a business around cus-tomers, companies need to start listen-ing to them, to better understand their needs and expectations. They need to engage in regular dialogue and con-versations – on social networks. They need to start embedding social media into their business and processes be-ing in marketing, communication, HR, customer service and CSR.

Research has shown strong evidence

that Social Media engagement cor-relates with financial performance. To pull this off, organizations need to establish a more transparent busi-ness environment both externally and internally. They need to become a so-cial and responsible business, which if all adopted, the expected ROI are:- higher productivity- better communication and collabo-ration- improved innovation- competitive positioning- increased resilience to disruption- higher revenue and profit- increased brand equity

Lebanese businesses that will suc-cessfully transform into a Social Business will potentially take ad-vantage of great benefits, among them the ability to deepen customer relationships, increase workforce effectiveness and drive product/ser-vice innovation. This sort of trans-formation and adaptation to social business will turn the competitive environment to its own benefit, but it will take time.

Most companies have long practiced some form of corporate social and environmental responsibility with the broad goal of valuing the diversity in the workplace and striving to be a responsible corpo-rate citizen to all of stakeholders in the communi-

ties. Needless to say the actions of a company color the perceptions, behavior, and well-being of its cus-tomers, prospects, and the community at large; thus affecting its own health as well as its competitive environment.

Corporations Should Engage in Regular DialogueSocial media has changed the power structure of the society

By Patrick Attallah, Founder & CEO of social4ce - Beirut

We all know that the competitive en-vironment has perpetually changed. Customers are connecting, forming networked (online) communities that allow them to rapidly share informa-tion, communicate and interact be-tween them and have more choices and more amplified voices than ever before. As Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder & CEO has said few years ago: “If you make customers unhap-py in the physical world, they might each tell six friends. If you make cus-tomers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.”

By changing the way consumers cre-ate, access, and share information, social media has changed the power structure of the society. Companies will have to be more responsive to

customer needs and demands if they want to survive. It’s known that cus-tomers’ expectations are increasing year after year. In a way or another, companies are adapting to custom-ers’ needs by learning their tone and approach when seeking resolution over social media. Needless to say social media paved the way for cus-tomers to voice their likes, dislikes, thoughts and opinions, in order to feel like they are being heard. This sort of interaction has formed what we call today, “power of engagement”.

The most efficient way to build this trustworthy connection with custom-ers is by tying social media and CSR, leveraging the good work they’re al-ready doing, and building a network of supporters over time that aligns

with company’s values and actions. Adding to that, it’s critical to be trans-parent when it comes to the compa-ny’s CSR program, especially when harnessing social networking plat-forms or showcasing some support to a cause or a good deed, or what-ever helps in improving communi-ties. Last but not least, authenticity is needed to build this everlasting trust.

In this case, businesses have to shift from marketing products to cultivat-ing customers’ demands to lead this alignment between businesses and customers into a success.

At the same time, customer power is not necessarily new. Custom-ers have always had the power to choose what they wanted to buy.

Responding to Stakeholders Key for Business SustainabilityExpert Perspective