Performing Six Sigma on Social Media to further your corporate objectives

June 26, 2009 by Gregg Larson

One of the first questions that I am often asked is how do I get involved in the Social Media Revolution.  This is usually a result of somebody's boss telling them about "twitter" and that it's a free way to promote your business.  The reality is that it's also a free way to destroy your online reputation if you don't know how to engage in social media. Probably the most important thing to do is find out where people are talking about your company or your competition.  Don't be afraid of the negativity because there are many people who will complain on the internet, especially with anonymity.  However, with proper design of experiments and statistical analysis, there is valuable information that can come from these complaints, and provide your organization with the ability to empathize with those customers when you do decide to be vocal with social media, instead of just listening. Acting in this manner will increase the chances that you will grab your customers attention with social media. Each portal in the Social Media space has its own set of rules that guide the behavior of interaction on the site.  If you do not play by the rules, you will be "voted off the island".  When your organization decides to be vocal and accessible on the internet, you have one chance to get it right.  You may, of course, be entering into a hostile environment, depending on what people are saying about your company, the competition, or your industry.  The way that you manage your entrance to the social media experience is by using the tools of Six Sigma to understand how your customers talk about your company, not how you think they talk about your company.  With an entrance to such a hostile environment, especially if you fail, you need to minimize your risk by first performing a "Voice of the Customer" analysis on the social media information, develop product attributes and levels, design screening experiments to correctly collect data, and perform a statistical analysis to understand how your customers value the features of your product.

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