Hey, ServiceNow Community: Up Your Social Engagement! ;-)

[MichaelDortch]

"Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door," the misquoted, misattributed aphorism claims. Leave aside for now the fact that mousetraps as we know them didn't appear on the scene until seven years after Ralph Waldo Emerson, the supposed speaker of this supposed quote, had died. What's really wrong with the declaration is that it completely ignores a basic fact about innovation — and the need for and value of marketing and outreach.

It's not enough to build something good. You've also then got to tell people you've done so.

What's all this got to do with you or ServiceNow? A lot, actually.

The people behind the ServiceNow family of solutions have proven time and again that they know how to deliver powerfully effective, innovations. And the ServiceNow community is incredibly vibrant and involved, thanks largely to folks very much like and perhaps even including you. But outside of our own admittedly rapidly growing "circle of friends," a lot fewer people know about ServiceNow than should. And that's just wrong.

From my admittedly selfish perspective as a ServiceNow marketing person, it's also frustrating. It grinds my gears (only metaphorically, as I in fact have no internal gears) whenever I hear or learn that companies with lesser offerings and communities are better known than ServiceNow. And given the reach and vibrancy of our online community, I just don't get it.

The only explanation I find it almost tolerable to accept is that too many members of our community don't fully understand the need and value of more and better outreach. Or that every little bit helps. After all, it's not how many followers you have, but who they are. And whom they know.

But the point here isn't why ServiceNow isn't a bigger presence across the social networking universe. The point is to change that fact. And that's where you come in.

Your having read this far indicates that you have more than a passing interest in ServiceNow. With just a bit of additional effort, you can use that interest to foment more among those in your online social circles.

If you aren't doing so already, follow ServiceNow and your favorite ServiceNow people on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, and elsewhere. When you see things you like or find interesting — say, announcements of new customer wins, or upcoming or recent Webinars, or new research featuring ServiceNow — share them. And do the same when you read or hear about stuff relevant to but not necessarily directly from ServiceNow or ServiceNow people. The odds are good that if you think it's interesting, others with whom you connect via social networks will, too. And even if they've seen it, they haven't necessarily seen what you think about it, something always worth adding to your posts.

(There are multiple applications that ease and speed such sharing across multiple networks, with prices starting at free. Examples include Composer, HootSuite, Nimble, and Polarbear. Some are more mature than others, and each offers its own mix of features. But it's likely that at least one will match enough of your preferences to be worth at least a test drive, if not regular use.)

We at ServiceNow are already working on ways to step up our own social networking outreach and effectiveness. (Your ideas and suggestions welcome, of course.) But the best social movements start with the people most directly involved — which in this case would be you, your colleagues, and your contacts. So help to spread the word and share the love more broadly (perhaps starting with this very post). Toss a few more pebbles into the social networking pond. You never know how far those ripples may reach.