“The power of Clara’s book is that it highlights not only social media practices but fundamental business practices and how company leaders need to entirely rethink customer engagement models. The implications for every business—regardless of industry or geography—of today’s social, connected consumer cannot be overstated. This book provides a powerful vision and a compelling call to action for company leaders everywhere.”

—Ted Mathas, Chairman and CEO, New York Life 

Social media is now the dominant online activity and drives more website traffic than online search. The implications for businesses are as profound as the rise of Google fifteen years ago. Delegating this opportunity to a social media team is not enough—today’s leaders must personally grasp the tectonic changes arising from today’s social, always-connected customer, and must re-architect business practices and models accordingly.

In The Social Business Imperative, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and renowned thought leader Clara Shih identifies powerful new opportunities created by social media across the entire customer lifecycle. The functional breadth of this book is critical for today’s leaders, who must deliver a consistent experience across every brand touchpoint, from marketing to sales to customer service, online to offline, because that is what the customer expects.

This guide is a must-read for all professionals—from boards of directors to front-line sales managers, and from chief marketing officers to recruiting, IT, and compliance directors—who need to understand the digital transformation taking place not only in their own department but in all departments. Only with this broader understanding can functional leaders effectively collaborate on delivering a cohesive customer experience spanning previous organizational silos.

Going far beyond her global best-seller The Facebook Era, Clara offers unprecedented insights into why and how traditional organizations must re-imagine their existing business processes to capture “the digital last mile” across social media, mobile messaging apps, the Internet of Everything, and the collaborative economy. Drawing on her immense experience helping Fortune 500 companies operationalize digital transformation to drive measurable uplift in sales and loyalty, Shih also presents powerful new case studies spanning multiple industries and companies from Wells Fargo to Warby Parker.

PART I. THE NEW NORMAL