David Armano (@armano), Senior Partner @ Dachis Group has explained the need to think beyond social media and start thinking about social business design in his post on his blog. Read it at your own convenience.

Today, I want to talk about being social and doing business. Now, how different is that? Let me scribble something and see whether this makes any sense to you and me.

Our country is unique in many ways. If one believes in some of the ancient texts, we have had our fair share of inventors and innovators in the early India; But, today we are becoming very good in replicating things. Some call it that we are a country of adopters and adapters. Don’t get me wrong here! I am not at all saying that we don’t innovate or can’t invent something anymore. Nano is the most recent example of our brain prowess. When you look at many thriving businesses around us, I am sure you will visualise where I am coming from.

When I roam around in the industry circles, almost everybody is busy talking about the power of web, using social media, writing blogs, having 1000s of followers on twitter and so on. Many have claimed to have mastered the art and science of social media management and donned the hat of a social media evangelists. Earlier this title fascinated me and I looked at every such claimant with an awe, but over a period of time these Gods have become too many to remember and respect. I am not in denial mode here, but somewhere I am genuinely feeling that in order to ape the western markets we are losing our ‘real’ social fabric.

India has always been a closely knit relationship driven economy. We always did (and still do) business with people who are part of our social web. Emotions take center stage in business decisions and rational takes a backseat. Many of the social media tools are high on emotions. Our status messages on various faces and books reflect our emotions. I must say that the western businesses are experiencing the never before realisation of the true power of emotions due to rise of social media. Research companies are busy devising ways to understand the consumer psyche based on their activities and moods on social media platforms.

Well, I can go on and on with this, but the question is that do we really need social media to do our business? If the answer is yes, do we need to devise our own ways to use the medium effectively or simply ape our foreign counterparts. And if the answer is no, I can’t seem to understand all the hype about social media. I am sure we need a different business strategy to deal with social media than what is being considered as of now. Do we? I am thinking…

Will be back with my thoughts soon. Meanwhile, share your views…

Take care.