Leveraging Social Media to Communicate Corporate Social Responsibility

Recently, I had the opportunity to learn from leading industry peers at the Social Media and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) conference hosted by Just Means in London, England.

It was a full day of presentations by communications execs from organizations such as Unilever, Dell, Royal Dutch Shell, and SAP. CSR strategists from agencies like Futerra communications and retailers like Marks & Spencer described their journeys from stodgy brands your parents might remember to becoming leading brands in environmental advocacy. We also heard from one of the founders of Twestival, who organized real-life events from on-line Twitter communities in order to raise money for charitable causes.

One thing I learned is that the global CSR and social media community is tight knit and in constant communication, although we’re all still learning how to best leverage social media.

Here are some of my primary takeaways from the conference:
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The Convergence of Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Media

Photo via: Just Means Future of Sustainability Communications & Practice
 
This Friday, March 19, I’ll be networking with global peers at the Just Means Social Media and CSR conference in London. The conference is an opportunity to share stories and best practices as participants begin to fully grasp the power of the converging forces of social media and corporate social responsibility, which are totally in line with our “Better World” values here at Herman Miller.

In an era where anyone can be a global reporter, businesses have moved to increase their level of corporate transparency; the days of making a statement and hiding behind press releases are long gone. That this idea is catching on in the mainstream is reflected in the speaker roster: representatives from Unilever, Dell, Royal Dutch Shell, software giant SAP, and The Guardian newspaper. Others are on the agenda and participants include representatives ranging from corporate giants like Coca-Cola and Arcelor Mittal, to media agencies such as BSkyB, and international development organizations such as Care International UK.

For more information on the conference visit the Just Means website. And if you want to follow me at the event, I plan to tweet live from the event at @HermanMiller. Watch for hashtag #BetterWorld.