Making new technology more relevant to businesses.

• Author: Ladd, Scott
• Position: SOCIAL NETWORKS

What does it take to be a "Zen Master" of social media tools? For many financial executives, that's certainly a formidable challenge as the practice of corporate communication--internal and external--evolves. But Scott Klososky, a former CEO and author of Enterprise Social Technology and other business books, believes such mastery can help chief financial officers and others acclimate to this brave new world.

Klososky says that executives shouldn't think of social tools as vehicles for sales and marketing alone. There can be valuable back-office uses and a means of engaging a workforce internally, as well. With that thought in mind, he offers four steps in the area of social technology that should be mandatory for business organizations.

1 Build "rivers of information." Social tools provide the ability to aggregate relevant information for a business executive (or doctor, baseball player or basket weaver, for that matter), as well as allowing them to filter out information that is of no practical use. Teaching employees how to differentiate information sources is a valuable exercise and can help the business.

2 Develop a powerful Web-delivered organizational voice, whether the message is delivered through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, podcasts or even texting. Developing a singular corporate voice can improve communication with constituent internal audiences. Be careful not to over-deliver...