Firms that have seen success with their social media strategies have largely
focused on building communities. To do this, executives must be willing to
cede a certain amount of control—it is impossible to police thought and opinion
communicated instantly across the globe. Instead, executives must build social
assets and communities, encouraging and facilitating conversations. Of course,
creating a community is not always easy, particularly if the conversation isn’t
a socially popular one. “Security software is not ‘Diesel Jeans’,” Ms. Linaker
says. Still, it can be done—provided that companies target the right people with
the right conversations. “We have worked very hard over the past 18 months to
create around what is essentially a rather boring topic, and now have an engaged
community of over half a million people across Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and of
course, Facebook.”