Aligning Social Media Within Companies

I think this ties back to the age old dilemma of ‘what is marketing?’. I’m tired of people making jokes at marketing’s expense, especially since its a profession thats changed so much (or should have) in today’s tech savvy environment. And its a career that I couldn’t ask more of. I love it.

I love the idea of communication as marketing. That marketing isnt push, push, push anymore. That the integration of several facets of tech driven communication can spur real life outcomes and events and vice versa. Thats how marketing should be: integrated into daily life. Not manufactured and glossy.

My question is: how much does a strong brand presence play into this? If you’re brand is weak in a saturated environment, then which comes first: your brand strategy, or your social strategy? I fear most begin with the latter and fail due to the former.

Thoughts?

This is so timely. We’re about to pull back the curtain on our social media program as part of our overall digital marketing strategy. So it’s got the marketing component for the advertising side of the house and the PR component for the other side of the house. We’re talking Facebook fan page, new blog, we have a Twitter account. And we’re redoing our Web site so all are integrated.

I’m beginning to think the divisions of “marketing” and “PR” and “customer service” could be more an more arbitrary divisions that mean less and less. Marketing, Sales and PR are company-centric divisions of labor–designed that way because in the 20th century you needed people with very different skill sets for each group. Now we are turning that around to a customer-centric view, where your check-out clerk could be your sales department, the 1-800-call center could be PR, the salesperson is the customer service rep, etc. You have to start the (anthropological + data-driven) research assuming everyone does everything–hard for a corporate culture to enbrace today. And what kind of agency helps inspire, direct and manage that process? It’s got me wondering and reading….

“The question might come down to whether or not you’re going to use the blog as a conversion point or just a conversation station.” Love this. I’m managing our blog and have been thinking about its purpose, the point and how to make it more interactive, more reachable. Great post.

The important thing to remember is that not every social media strategy works for every agency or for every client. Whether a marketing tool or a PR tool, the purpose needs to be evaluated. Everyone doesn’t need a Twitter account. In many instances it would simply be a waste of a lot of people’s time. So before any decision is made, a plan must be in place. Why is this needed? Who are we trying to reach? Who will run it?

I think the applications of each of these services will vary a lot depending on the product / service and size of the company, but just a few thoughts:

Blogging – A great tool for building community and providing service. Especially if its authentic. Specifically, if it can be used as a way for users to interact directly with a CEO or higher up. If I had a negative experience with a product, how cool would it be if my concerns were heard directly by a VP or CEO and they reached out via the blog to fix the problem or at least let me know that they heard me? Its a very valuable tool that only costs you your time.

Twitter – Will probably become the best resource to get ideas out to your “Tribe” (Seth Godin’s beating the idea of leading tribes like a drum and I agree). Its rapid fire, real time, and easy.
Additionally, the internal applications can rock as well, in terms of inter-department communication and team building. Plus it has the ‘it factor’ at the moment.

The really cool thing for people working in social media consulting or agencies is that you now have a HUGE opportunity to not only help clients use these tools to communicate with their customers, but an even BIGGER opportunity to help them use and leverage these tools to better communicate within their organization and build a cohesive brand internally and externally.

Again, great post Chris.

-RM
@ryancmiller

Coming in a little late to this conversation but great topic Chris…and you hit the nail on the head, they are communication tools, so they can be used pretty much anywhere we need to communicate. And most people in the organization need to communicate.

Here is my perspective:

- Each of us has a community that we are trying to communicate with (implicitly or explicitly). If we are good at our jobs, we are trying to have some kind of impact…that needs to be communicated in order to have that impact.
- Each of us communicates best in different ways. Social media tools expand the options…and I would argue that they extend the ability to communicate well to more people (people who struggle to write have been at a disadvantage with documentation, email, etc).

As a more concrete example I was working on getting my entire product team thinking about blogging, vlogging, podcasting, etc. as a way to document new functionality…instead of the traditional product documentation that very few people read. The audience was both internal and external. We also used a wiki for all of our product requirements and design specifications so anyone could drop in and make changes, add questions, etc. – it was great to always have the single source of truth.

Similarly – years ago now – we created an internal multi-author marketing blog (internal facing) to post competitive info, market info, customer comments, our thoughts, etc. – it was a great content management application for little bits of info that we found here and there but cumulatively represented what we new about the market.

So I fully agree with your point – It *can* be used by everyone for many, many different work tasks – all depends on the people and goals involved whether you choose to make use of the tools or not.

Great questions! I think everyone is seeking greater clarity but we are still in the early stages of social media. From a b-to-b perspective, my opinion is that they are additional tools and only as good as the skill set and patience of the user.

I agree with Ryan above that there is huge opportunity both internally and externally for these tools to strengthen the conversation and brand–but it must be from an authentic voice. We have all seen some early missuses of BLOGS that can negatively impact brand with customers.

Really great conversation here Chris!

bdr

Hi Chris! I enjoyed reading this post and just in time for our brainstorming. A lot of people are saying that we should be early adopters and to use social media to change how we work and do business. As tech guys, there’s no problem for us to adopt to new trends. It’s already in our blood to explore new things and see the opportunities it can bring. The question that’s been bugging our brain is how are we going to answer the question “What is it for me..” to people doing business who we’re going to challenge to use social media. Another thing, is there a way to measure ROI if a business uses social media for PR or marketing? I’ve been going back and forth with other blogs and do my own research but until now, I haven’t seen a concrete way to answer these question. Maybe one from the audience can help?

Thanks Chris and you Rock!

Rob

Chris, thoughtful and timely post as usual. Two reading recommendations if you’re not already way ahead of me: @ellmcgirt’s recent piece on Cisco for @fastcompany, and “The Future of Work,” from HBP (2004). Social media is just part of a whole revolution taking place because of the falling cost of communication, which I know you understand.
To your post directly, I am working to spur adoption of these tools in a Government 2.0 context and the best advice I’ve got is that you have to listen, listen, listen before offering a solution. Is Web 2.0 the right approach? In actuality, there probably is no “right” approach, there is a range of desired outcomes w/a range of implementation options and possible real outcomes.
Indeed, thinking, listening and assigning must come first.

I think many companies still don’t recognize the significance of these social networking communities. My office has blocked MySpace, Facebook, and even YouTube. We’re a TV media department and we can’t browse YouTube for good creative ideas! I work around some of this with an iPhone because I’m tenacious like that. Do I conduct some personal conversations with these networking tools? Sure, but I can do that with my office e-mail too. Have I been able to get appointments with clients, or conduct any business with MySpace or Facebook? Absolutely! I’m about to the point where I should get rid of the desk phone and go completely electronic with most of my correspondence (I’ll keep my cell). When I leave voicemails for people, they don’t call back, but e-mail them and they often shoot back a reply immediately. Kill the fax machine too. Many of my contracts are confirmed within e-mail, or by scanning docs in pdf.

Interesting debate!
I work at a company where my directors have never heard of social media, twitter and probably not even facebook. My attempts to explain these things have been met with the attitude of “This is not how we do things around here!”. Maybe they have a point as most of our environment/customers is not on Twitter either. I guess you gotta take the conversation to where its at.

However, in theory, even though I support company blogs, then I am starting to really appreciate the zero-footprint meeting place of Twitter and Facebook Groups. I find that these places promote communities much better than company blogs/sites. Maybe people are more at ease at Facebook/Twitter etc. because they already hang out these places, where as they do not already hang out at company blogs.

All social media tools provide platforms for people to connect with people – engage in
conversation and develop relationships. People don’t want offers pushed at them, they seek out what they want through people they have relationships with. They are attracted to the opinions of people they like and trust. Social media is people and personalities. If people like you, they will be attracted to your business, opinions, recommendations et al. If they don’t, they won’t.

People have been put in a box i.e. owner, boss, manager, employee, janitor, PR person, customer service tech, consumer etc. and basically play a roll in the big picture within that box. In social media, everybody has a voice, none being above another… one voice may have more influence than another, but that is only determined by the value and good will an individual has developed in a community.

The paradigm is changing; big business and big money basically programed and controlled the masses. Now, the power and influence is shifting to the masses.
Whether PR, marketing, sales or customer service; there will be major adjustments necessary to these activities in the new relationship economy.

I think something very important has been touched no here that I’ve been giving thought to as well. Chris is talking about what aspects of social media are the responsibility of marketing, PR or human resources. At least as far as PR and marketing are concerned, perhaps it’s time to ditch both of those terms? I recently discussed a new client of mine with a potential partner who is a PR professional. We disagreed as to whose responsibilities were whose. For many years I’ve developed strategies or implemented designs for corporate and consumer marketing. In some instances I found that the PR or internal marketing folks felt I was stepping on their toes. If all of these things are ways to communicate with customers, partners, vendors, investors, and consumers, then why aren’t we just calling it Communications?

Great post…

So the whole video-thing is what I am struggling with in my startup. We have a collection of 12,000+ video clips of entrepreneurs and business experts talking about their journeys…and the information is priceless. We clip the content up into 2-minute segments on specific topic and keyword it so it all can be searched and aggregated. It is a fantastic resource….IF you have the TIME to mine it (which is mentioned above in a response by Marc Carbone)

So where I struggle is that I see the value (obviously – since it is my company) – but I wonder if I’ve just been drinking too much of my own Kool-Aid.

Is there really an application for video as a way of capturing the journeys, culture, failures, success, in general – the “soft side” of the company. I would argue yes – especially as capture becomes easier and bandwidth is no longer an issue.

But how do you make that “sale” to a company? And how do you make it sticky with employees?

And while I’m pondering…there is obviously a huge value for one company to learn from their competitor’s stories… The innovation that could be spawned from that is mind-blowing… But I don’t see executive management ever letting this stuff get shared outside the walls of the company. (until a disgruntled employee leaves with the digital files in hand…)

Thanks for bringing up the topic, Chris. If anyone has any pearls of wisdom for me, I could use some…

Great topic. Blogging, twitter, Facebook… these are all social communications paltforms. People are talking. To segment conversations into a single agency or discipline is to cripple the capabilities of a conversation.

Conversations create relationships. Relationships can create advocacy. Advocacy spans all disciplines: PR, Marketing, Innovation, Branding, Creative, Interactive, DR etc. Some capabilities or agencies may be better suited to one tactic. But without a guiding vision looking past the action and into the big picture, you will end up with many many people running in many many directions.

Great topic. Blogging, twitter, Facebook… these are all social communications paltforms. People are talking. To segment conversations into a single agency or discipline is to cripple the capabilities of a conversation.

Conversations create relationships. Relationships can create advocacy. Advocacy spans all disciplines: PR, Marketing, Innovation, Branding, Creative, Interactive, DR etc. Some capabilities or agencies may be better suited to one tactic. But without a guiding vision looking past the action and into the big picture, you will end up with many many people running in many many directions.

PR? Marketing? How about service and support? Ownership (and more importantly, execution) depends on the strategy and objective. I think it’s possible to make the case that PR can assist in conversion, as well as acquisition (though it’s a tough case to make to certain audiences). PR loves to glom onto anything that represents the public face of a company (guilty!) but here it’s advisable to hold a loose leash at best — create the business case, the program framework, help select the best contributors form all over an organization. And then serve as the catalyst and eyes-and-ears for the social media effort, but try to stay out of the way.

Rocking Hot post Chris- and one word—YES –would be the answers. Social Media is changing the face of corporate America- as they go into it many time kicking and screaming and flailing against a digital strategy. Great insight- and thanks for the wisdom–

Great questions that force companies to take a good hard look in the mirror, or across the table. It’s not good enough to say, “let the intern handle the web stuff” anymore. Social media needs to be embraced and at least understood from top to bottom.

Until that happens, social media, which is by nature bottom up rather than the traditional top down, will not thrive in a company.

I am part of a Knowledge Management team for AT&T and have spent the past year creating a community among our sales team that has 2 main goals.
1. Move tribal knowledge to institutional knowledge
2. Develop a Subject Matter Expert program
We have taken the blogging and social networking aspects of multiple sites to bring together a disparate community and assist Sales people to FIND answers while at the same time providing an opportunity for those SMEs passionate about a topic to get on their pedestal and share with the rest of the team.
Over the past year we have brought along a select few Marketing folks to assist us in dissemination information, but mainly in order to gain answers to questions. Being in a large company it is very difficult to know who to go to for answers…this provides help. We continually think about that Newbie, in their first day and weeks, how can we ramp them, get them up to speed.

I guess what I’m saying is that I feel most of the comments are focused on how do we communicate TO an audience, not how can we assist our audience in communicating about our product which in my case is their job and/or passions.

Great post, Chris. I especially enjoyed the part about blogging being technically PR or marketing. I find it funny when we want to box a tool into a category such as this. Can we not just say blogging (and other tools listed) is a way to create value for your brand? Why do we have to label it as one thing or another?

Answer: because we were taught to do it. Modernity thrived on labeling and reductionism. Well, most people don’t function that way anymore.

Social networking should be the resposibility of all departments, BUT, this only works when everyone at the company knows the company’s core story. With that knowledge interaction can support the brand, which builds the company.

Great post, I am currently muddling through these same questions at my day job as Marketing and B/D and as I do Marketing/PR/MR for some of my families various and sundry small businesses.
Twitter is a great tool, but I like many people seemed to get sucked into “broadcast” mode vs a conversation. I also like how it has a “block-party feel” feel vs FB’s ‘invited guest” feel.
None of this brave new world is cut and dry at my company and I think it will take a while to be. Right now it is more of a “Well let’s see what happens…” feel.