The Social Capital Practice at Context Creative
The core idea of social capital theory is that social networks have value.
“Social capital refers to connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them.” Robert D. Putnam, Professor Harvard University, Author of Bowling Alone.
Is There Value in Getting Involved?
At Context Creative, our social capital practice is an invitation to action. Criticize, collaborate, pontificate but the time has come to choose your course.
In the early 1960s, Canadian educator, philosopher and scholar, Marshall McLuhan predicted that when electronic media replace visual (print) culture with aural/oral culture humankind will move from individualism and fragmentation to a collective identity with a “tribal base.”
In a 2006 survey of new media The Economist reported, “The era of mass media is giving way to one of personal and participatory media that will profoundly change both the media industry and society as a whole.”
McLuhan cautioned that at first new media would “look” like a predecessor. For example, books catalogued oral stories, television picked up radio formats and email has revitalized the art of the letter. Now new forms of social media – generated by virtually anyone, anywhere, produced and distributed at fractional costs – are growing at previously unobtainable rates. The value being created by companies leading the way with technologies that liberate and leverage their key constituencies is promising.
Is social capital the new brand value?
Over the last twenty-five years markets have accepted that the value of a company must take into account the value of its brand, in other words, the premium that acquirers are willing to pay over market trading value because of the reputation of the brand.
It has been estimated that the McDonald’s brand accounts for more than 70 percent of shareholder value, while the Coca-Cola brand accounts for 51 percent of the stock market value of the Coca-Cola Company.
But brand value works best when the corporations are in control of their brands, when the conversation is one-way.
How can brands prosper when everyone has a say?
Just when you think the Web has changed everything, it changes everything again. A few years ago Facebook started in a dorm room and today research shows that over 50% of Canadians have a Facebook account.
Blogs and podcasts continue to proliferate, while sites that let you upload photos, videos and sound files and let everyone else comment on them, grow like weeds. Web 2.0 – the collaborative Web, the Web of multi-directional conversations is in full bloom.
So where does a company fit in? It joins the conversation. It takes finesse and a realistic strategy and approach to become part of the new Web. With the right approach, we believe that corporations will build social capital that will be a distinctive contributing factor to corporate valuation. This will change the way business is practiced and influence the decisions that management makes and how investors choose to place their money.
This belief is the genesis of every engagement we undertake within the social capital practice. Whether starting with a simple blog, a podcast, a viral promotional contest or a complete overhaul of your company’s media strategy – we begin by developing an understanding of your culture, employees, suppliers, investors, customers and competitive environment.
Always pragmatic, our objective is to surpass expectations on the assignment, with the vision of mapping technology against your existing social networks to create long term enduring value.
