The data is clear: social business propels results. Fifty seven percent of companies who invest in social business outperform their peers. They see real business value, whether it’s a 25% increase in business or a 20% drop in the time it takes to manage projects.

Social business is no longer “nice to do,” it’s a necessity to survive today’s volatile business climate. According to Forrester Research, spending on social business software is expected to grow at a rate of 61 percent through 2016.

So what does a social business look like?

A social business isn’t just a company that has a Facebook page and a Twitter handle. A social business is one that embraces and cultivates a spirit of collaboration and community throughout its organization—both internally and externally.

There are three distinct characteristics of a social business:

• Engaged—deeply connecting people, including customers, employees, and partners, to be involved in productive, efficient ways.
• Transparent—removing boundaries to information, experts and assets, helping people align every action to drive business results.
• Nimble—speeding up business with information and insight to anticipate and address evolving opportunities.

Social Business is about moving beyond the social media tools you’re currently familiar with to unlock the potential of the people and gain a competitive advantage. Today, by combining social networking tools—internally and externally—with sophisticated analytic capabilities, companies are transforming their business processes, building stronger relationships among their employees, customers and business partners and making better decisions, faster. This is what makes a social business—embracing networks of people to create new business value and opportunities.

What other charateristics do you think there are for a social business?