Every Friday I post links to a few of the blog posts that I read during the week that I found interesting and insightful.

Included in this week’s round-up is discussion about actionable social media insights; the maturing of community management; advice for making a successful social media promotion; and culture change as a barrier to social media adoption.

Social Analytics: Deriving Insights for Increased Marketing and Sales Effectiveness

With historic analysis of customer experiences collected from all available channels (email, phone, and social), you can identify patterns and areas for service improvement. You may uncover pain points that are not being adequately addressed, which in turn impact customer loyalty.

Community Management Continues to Mature

Organizations are not sure how to integrate community management into existing workflows (because it has to create information sharing in different ways than it was set up to happen, if information sharing happens at all between departments).

5 Steps to a Successful Social Media Promotion

So, how can you get those new fans to stick around and actually buy from your brand? Rule No. 3: Don’t just give away iPads. “Unless I’m Apple,” said Chris Tuff, senior VP and director of earned and emerging media at Atlanta-based 22 Squared, “I’m attracting the fans that just want that iPad2 and aren’t necessarily going to be engaging with me for any long-term reasons.”

Culture Change Is The Barrier To Social Business Adoption

While I agree that culture change is more important than a business strategy, I also believe that culture change must be a business strategy. In my view, it needs to be the driving force for any and all business strategies, specifically for social business initiatives. They cannot be separate. Process and governance are certainly important. Technology is imperative and will help facilitate collaboration; but it’s behavior change that is the foundation for adoption.