It's time for companies transform with groundswell!

The future of business has veered in a direction that explores customer and employee centricity, driven in part by technology, combined with the centralization of digitized human expressions and expectations. Executives need to see how social fits in to the overall vision and goals of the organization in order to lead a top down charge that changes how employees and customers connect and collaborate. There must be a purpose coupled with tangible results.

Companies had to take a mental step back from their usual approach and allow the customer to become the center of their organizations. Sound easy? It isn't. In the Chapter 10 of Groundswell – How connecting with the Groundswell transforms your company. There are three essential points of this transformation.

• Take this mental shift step by step – Things won’t happen over night. Your organization needs to understand that this will take time.
• Each step naturally leads to the next important step – You will need to create a plan and a vision about where you want to take your organization.

• Gain Executive support – Create a plan on how you will sell your Groundswell approach to management  They need to buy in and support you through all of the essential steps.

             

Burberry may have been established over 150 years ago, but there’s no doubt that their use of social media has been exciting to watch in recent times. One of the most prestigious fashion brands in the world, Burberry has climbed completely on board with social media and embraced groundswell blurring the boundary between its online environment and physical stores. I think Burberry is a really good example of how to incorporate the three elements of groundswell into their transformation.

- They take small steps that have big impact.

Burberry’s ‘Art of Trench’ campaign is an ambitious project that allows people to upload images of themselves wearing one of the brand’s trench coats. With the Art of the Trench campaign, Burberry was one of the first brands to truly embrace the full potential of user-generated content as a powerful marketing tool. Within the first six months after the November 2009 launch, there were seven million views, and the site is still going strong today.

That’s a great testament to the power of transforming your fans into a loyal community of supporters who are eager to speak and create on behalf of your brand. Think about how you can cultivate your own brand advocates.

- They have a vision and a plan.

In this video, Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts explains she has taken action to explain how Social Media will transform her business. And we can the future outlook of where she wants to take with the company with groundswell. What Ahrendts and her team have accomplished made Apple sit up and take notice, and can serve as a social media case study for any company looking to engage an audience online. They have the vision of what kind of conversation they want have with their customers. 

- They built leaders into the plan.

Under the leadership of ex-Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts, the 157-year-old brand has walked the runway straight to digital stardom, ranking number one in 2011 and 2012 in Luxury Lab’s Digital IQ Index for Fashion, which evaluates the digital competence of 64 brands based on their site, digital marketing, social media and mobile initiatives.

Let create brilliant digital campaigns and experiences for consumers as the beginning for Burberry. In order to continue and build on their success, Bailey – now the boss of Burberry, continuing focus on digital. 

Digital kisses is Burberry's new online buzz after new CEO on the position, by transforming the lip print left on their phone screen into a digital kiss signature. The sealed digital letters can then be sent via e-mail, Google+, Facebook and Twitter to loved ones.Going through transformation with groundswell has helped them to become one of the most popular and admired brands in the world.