The most overused business phrase from 1995 through about 2005 was “increase shareholder value.” It appeared in more corporate mission statements, vision statements and annual reports than “be environmentally responsible” does today. The worst part wasn’t the monotony (litany?) of corporate speak during those years… it was that the strategy wasn’t really a strategy. It was a result.

The best companies didn’t focus on creating shareholder value. They focused on their customers, products, services… delivering what people wanted, in the way they wanted it, in exchange for fairly valued compensation. The right focus and smart execution drove success, which ultimately increased shareholder value. Regardless of its inclusion in any mission statement, I might add. Do you think employees can all rally around the idea of doing their very best so they can increase the value of stock owned by someone else? Or even their own stock, which generally is a tiny portion of their compensation or retirement? Doubtful. Employees rarely care about shareholders.

Today, companies are urged to be responsive, engaging, transparent and social. Employees tweet or manage facebook pages for themselves and for businesses. There are videos, photos, review sites… so many ways to share information. And the customers are out there… tweeting, facebooking, reviewing, too. The companies who are engaging, who are social, who are transparent (which is just to say, HONEST), build this army of fans or friends. When something negative is posted to the facebook wall, fans defend the brand. When a tweetstorm erupts over someone’s negative experience, the brand responds, the followers defend and retweet, and all is rosy and well in the social sphere. Until… a major crisis hits, and those fans want answers.

They have been trained through interaction to feel like part of the team. Fed a diet of transparency and access, they feel entitled to answers, honesty and truth in short (very short) order. And they are correct. Those fans you’ve been cultivating? They are your businesses’ social shareholders. They have an (emotional) stake in your company. They defend, but they also demand. Just like in the old days of increasing shareholder value, creating raving fans is still a result, not a strategy.

Serve the customers…. in the immortal words of Becky McCray at the recent Get Social conference in OKC, “Customer service is all you’ve got.” She didn’t mean just the basic idea of customer service (being nice, greeting them, sacking the groceries correctly, etc.); she meant truly serving them. Putting those customers first, in all ways. Then, right after you take care of those customers and create those loyal followers, friends and fans, go take care of your social shareholders. They deserve it, too.

My big takeaways from the conference?

The Context / Content stuff is going to come together for another post soon

What do you think? Do you believe in the idea of social shareholders?

Thanks to Blake Jackson… the inspiration for this post came from his opening discussion at Get Social.

Disclaimer >> I’m upset. This post will be a bit snarkier than usual. You’ve been warned. Few things upset me like lies, and here’s a whopper I found today:

I saw a message in my LinkedIn digest of activity about a Social Media seminar. It was posted in the Oklahoma Networking group, so I clicked to check it out…

Being the curious person that I am, I looked at the name and affiliation of the poster. Didn’t recognize the agency, and I’m familiar with most in the Tulsa/OKC area. So I clicked to check out her profile:

I am tired of all the spam out there. I know this post won’t change anything, but I also know that all of us doing nothing won’t work well, either. So I decided to keep digging…. I followed the tinyurl to this page:

Not content to just feast my eyes on the ugliness… I mean, really… it’s ugly. I clicked the Register link. Here’s what you see next:

Note that no where yet have we seen any promise of speakers/teachers we can check out, or actual content or any other thing that would validate this program. But hey… you say… it’s free, right? Not really. It is in the sense that you don’t pay anything for the seminar (except for the cost of that 90 minutes of my life). It’s NOT in the sense that the whole thing is a hook for their “Social Media University” (see tiny link to “University” at the bottom of the the landing page?) which costs $597.

The worst part is that a visit to the home site will tell you that this is a “we’ll do it for you” system. It’s not that they understand how to build connections any better than you do, it’s that they intend to set up an auto-profile, auto-manage your online presence and you’ll somehow make lots of money. They’ll only take another $297 per module (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) of your money. Up front, of course. Plus $597 per platform, per month. Guess who’s making all that money on social media?

The lead guy? Here’s his Twitter page as of today:

Um, yeah… expert connection wizard, to be sure. And the Shottiger Agency in New York? A Google search reveals exactly 1 (yes, uno) result… Lia Moores’s profile on LinkedIn. Created August 1st, 2009. Go ahead… try it… I know this kind of crap is everywhere out there, but I am so tired of being treated like I’m stupid. I love social media. I like learning about it, using it, sharing it, speaking about it, teaching others to use it and use it well… and set ups like the social media magic one are why everyone with knowledge in this space is afraid to be called an expert. If these are the “experts” I’ll happily stay a novice.

via adobemac on flikr.com. Used under CreativeCommons 2.0 license

I’d be ashamed of myself the only way I could explain no job were to sue the college I willingly gave years of my life and thousands of my dollars to because they somehow failed me. Really? I mean…. really!!??

Grad Sues College for $70,000 Because She Cant Find a Job – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News – FOXNews.com.

Even if the education was substandard, she wasn’t required to CONTINUE to give them her money and stay there to not learn. There is so much wrong with this entire picture that I’m nearly speechless… which is a rarity for me.

True, it’s a rough environment out there for job seekers, but the majority of folks out there are, in fact, still employed. Thank goodness. And I’m guessing there are jobs out there, even for her, just not the job she really wants. How many of you got your first job out of college and it was perfect? You walked in, sat down at your new (new to you, anyway) desk and said to yourself, “Yeah, man… all those dollars and time… definitely worth it for THIS job!”

I bet the internal conversation went more like, “OK… so the office smells, the chair’s hydraulics don’t work, this computer is a relic, and I have to make the coffee and deliver it to everyone else… but it’s in my field and it’s a start.” Why do people expect things to just come easily? Most worthwhile events and occasions have a serious effort quotient attached. I wish this girl the best… and perhaps the best thing that could happen would be for some serious reality to infect her world view. What do you think?