Get On the Right Side of the Fence

April 22, 2009 · Comments

farm fence You’re probably the most passionate person in your company when it comes to social media. When it comes to explaining this to your senior leadership, a different approach is required. They’re busy. They have other concerns. They might not be as studied up on the tools as you. Here are some suggestions.

Get on the Right Side of the Fence

  1. Start strong. When you get the chance to talk to the senior team about why social media tools are right for improving your company’s business communications, be clear and put together a brief overview of what you want to do and why. “I’m thinking that a blog will improve our marketing efforts and overall SEO. I’ve built a plan that shows rough costs, time involvement, and my predictions of what we’ll get for our efforts.”

Can you imagine the response you’ll get for that?

  1. Explain things from the senior view. Look at this from the whole business perspective, and couch your requests that way. Make sure you’re focused on what the company’s benefits are, and not so much on the tech, how cool it is, and why Oprah joined Twitter.
  2. Use case studies. Need some to start with? Here, take mine. Find the ones that best align with what you want to do, and/or that best match your company’s verticals. Case studies are nature’s way of saying, “Hey, here’s an ass-covering for you.”
  3. Find and keep a senior sponsor for the project. Depending on your organization, this makes or breaks the project. Luckily, it seems that most senior teams come equipped with one savvy person who actually knows what you’re talking about, but who hadn’t thought of seriously engaging in the process at work. Use that relationship to leverage and keep support.
  4. It’s not about the tech. Make sure your presentation and efforts are business focused. This is what kills most projects. However, as a paradox, be clear that this won’t consume the tech team very much. The impact to infrastructure and bandwidth are minimal (depending on what you plan to do) and you will work with the appropriate IT people to build the right security measures and informational policies to manage things.

Beyond that, it’s just a matter of finding the right opportunity to recommend that your company is ready to play in the game. It might mean finding your top competitor already using the tools, but hey, that’s won several social media enthusiasts the chance to get things going.

Join me today for a free webinar with Hubspot on the topic at 3PM ET, and if you’re really interested in learning more, come to the Inbound Marketing Summit on April 28-29th in San Francisco, to meet with me and several dozen others who can better equip you to make the case.

Photo credit ScottieT812

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  • Luckily, it seems that most senior teams come equipped with one savvy person who actually knows what you’re talking about, but who hadn’t thought of seriously engaging in the process at work. Use that relationship to leverage and keep support.

    That was Promissing...
    Will Try and see if That helps...
    I am sure it will...

    Bijay Rungta aka @rungss on Twitter... Sharig Knowledge through Blog at bijayrungta.com

    PS:
    Thesis Theme for WordPress

    That is also Promising, Would you recommend me installing it at my Blog replacing the (perhaps) mature existing Theme??

    Will revisit to explore the Possibilities...
    Regards,
    Bijay Rungta
  • Great post Chris! This is critical as sales and marketing folks really start to understand the role that social media can play in achieving business success, but may have trouble explaining the concepts to decision makers who are not technology-savvy. I'm working with two law firms and and insurance underwriter right now who are struggling with this issue.
  • Unsaid in this good post -- how to talk to an executive. The underlying work an executive does is make decisions. All day. So the most important way to talk to an executive is to clearly state the decision you want the executive to make right at the top. Once you do that, then you can go through your case for doing whatever because now the decision maker sees where you are going.

    Without the summary statement that contains the decision you want the executive make, you will most likely fail.
  • what do you think the real business case is for a non profit foundation to commit to a blog?
  • Best statement in the above, "It's not about the tech." <- folks get so tied up in themselves focusing on how the company must be on techX that they lose the focus on branding, marketing, and consumer communication. Good reminder and thanks for the event heads up.
  • It is always about the business. Benefits, not features. Results, not the tool. For a boss, social media is a tool. To the boss, it is only a means to a business end.
  • I like the 5 recommendations. The best I think is number four. You have to align with someone who knows what you are talking about. If there is no one in your company that fits this criteria then develop one. Find the most eager or knowledgeable person on the subject and begin dropping hints. Build up your alley so they are more confident to understand, agree, and comment when you bring the idea to the rest of the group.
  • i most identified with your statement that we're the most excited ones in the company. good reminder to ratch it down a notch when talking to the uppity-ups lest they think you're just giddy or playful about it.
  • SpecialDee
    This post is very helpful as I start to put together my ideas for a new job position: Director of Consumer-Generated Media. http://specialdee.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/usin... Thanks for the insight. I also read through the comments and visited the links. Why is it that clicking on one great link always leads to another great link, and another, and another?
  • Luke Moilanen
    Great post. I especially like #5, smart way to get the senior team on board.
  • Great post - I've been reading a lot on marketing to different generations and the term 'senior' is being used quite often in the social medium conversation.

    Spencer
    http://worksmartla.com
  • Number 4 is key. I've been beating that drum for awhile in our office. And I often send article or videos to the rest of senior management (I'm part of that group). About 2 weeks ago it finally clicked in with our CEO. I was getting ready to go to the Module conference you spoke at and he hit me up with "Hey, Mike. I finally get it." He had watched a 5-minute video I'd sent him with someone explaining why companies should use Twitter. Since then, he had me develop a Social Media plan that he took with him to one client. And had a dinner meeting with a potential client where the main topic was getting into social media. Get that top advocate and the floodgates will open!
  • Chirs, I have a concern.

    The BlendTec figure of 500% increase in online sales sounds impressive 'till you consider these points:

    1) What was the base? Maybe they were doing close to zero online before the "Will it Blend series?
    2) (Even more disturbing) 100 million views drove only a 500% increase. Realistically, mere mortals like us might get a thousand or (if we're really good) ten thousand views. Pro rate that into 500% and you get a miniscule 0.05% bump (500% *10,000 / 100,000,000 = 0.05%).

    Thoughts?
  • karmicangel
    This is fantastic, Chris, and exactly what I need since I often feel like the only one in the room speaking web let alone speaking social media and networking.
    Example of my last meeting:
    "Well, Zach has been working on some really interesting stuff, and Angela, well she's probably tweeterating about us right now - he he!"
    Nice.
  • You know that I'll be more than happy to help you any time ever on your company. I'll even fly up there on my own dime.
  • is there a recording available from the webinar i totally forgot about the time difference
  • Remo
    I was working at the time of the webinar, by the time I was able to try to log in and participate it said that the room was full. Is there any sort of recap, overview, or key points that you or anyone found particularly interesting or useful can post? Hopefully someone may have gotten the chance to screen record the whole thing, if its available I would really appreciate a link. Thank you for your time.
  • Barb Noad
    Thanks for a great webinar today! Very helpful.
  • "It’s not about the tech. Make sure your presentation and efforts are business focused. This is what kills most projects."

    I'm with ya, it's all about impact. An exec in my company was sitting in my office and i showed him something we could do for us and our customers that unhanced Facebooks fundraising abilities and he laughed in my face (in a nice way, really) ... but when we got into a real project where this particular facebook app could have real impact he was MUCH more open to discussing. At the end of the day it was about how impact could be made ... not the 'new cool flashy toy'.

    http://twitter.com/franswaa
  • EH
    It is totally critical to present it from the executives' point of view. Unless you are telling them what it's going to do for the company and how much revenue it will generate for the company, they don't have time to listen.
  • At the end of the day I always expect people to tell me how any technology investment will reduce operational cost or result in increased profits. Good advice, especially the points about finding examples within your companies market/verticals.

    John
    http://twitter.com/JohnFMoore
  • Your comments are right on target. It's all part of our efforts to win friends and influence people, even right in our own businesses.

    @clagett
  • Good post, Forrester says up to 19% of SG%A expense is hidden costs that "helps sales sell"
    An integrated sales, content and inbound marketing platform will eliminate a vazt majority of those costs.

    19% of SG&A expense tied up in hidden costs to sell? Change is in the air.
  • pegmulligan
    Seamus, your Forrester statistic (recapped in your blog post today), the case studies Chris gathered on Delicious, and the how-to implementation steps from the Hubspot webinar today are all compelling ways to present ROI, when pitching social media to the boss. As communicators, we must remember to talk the same language as those funding our initiatives.
  • I like that. I want to be part of helping sales sell. Seems like the #1 reason to be in marketing, yes?
  • Chris, social networking, inbound and content marketing helps sales sell! Here is a short assessment that can determine if your online content can help or hinder sales.
    http://bit.ly/U1Svs
  • Chris, a few years back, I had a CTO client at a major New York City brokerage firm, on his desk in lieu of typical name plate, he had a sign, "nothing happens until someone sells something." He got it....

    I think it's great that we are finally talking about integration and alignment, in today's economy, everybody sells!
  • Hitting them initially with the raw data/case studies has been extremely effective for me. People are suddenly a whole lot more interested in what you have to say after you've given them three examples of social media success.
  • Indeed it can be a very touchy subject. especially under a multi-tiered corporate umbrella where all companies are competing for the same goal.

    Certain markets knows the stuff is coming, and in most cases its already began to engulf their online image in some pretty gruesome ways.

    Patience and flexibility is so important when breaking the ice to these people with how serious it is because its a topic they don't have time to understand the way you do. Even if they are fully aware of the dire importance of the wave that is crashing down upon them.

    great stuff Chris. this kind of information is key the further we get down the road this year.
  • Great tips and insights Chris!

    I can really relate to #5 through personal experience, and melding business case with keeping IT departments informed about objectices is a fundamental part of achieving success with ones social media plan. In the past, I've written about how access control can come in the way of reputation monitoring strategies, and the point carries well here - mainly that the success with your social media plan hinges on making sure the IT guys in your company are on the same page with your strategies and that there aren't any restricitions or barriers to accessing online resources/tools to achieve goals.

    Joseph
    @RepuTrack
  • I did this at a company I used to work for. I realized the opportunity would likely never exist because management was technophobic and extremely worried about what they thought could go wrong with a blog, Twitter account, etc, so I tried to create the opportunity. It took months to make my case because they were so dead set against it, and when I finally (let's say) won them over, they arranged it such that I had zero support for it within the company and zero resources, so the project was doomed to fail.

    What did I learn? As great as social media can be, it just will not work with certain mindsets and certain environments.
  • MercedesInTexas
    Hey Chris,
    I couldn't agree more. My company just launched our social media program (a blended marketing and recruiting effort) last week. We just presented it to all of our employees at the company meeting yesterday, and I must admit that I was floored by the response. Within four hours we tripled our followers on Twitter and started to see the viral effect. Many of our employees were already using these tools in their personal time, so our network expanded quickly.

    So how did we get buy in? We leveraged the fact the our company has always been an innovator in our space (we build HD video conferencing systems), and we pitched that we should be leading the pack on promoting our brand. It worked.
    Thanks for a great post,
    Mercedes
  • Selling the "benefits" (point #2) and "ass-covering" (point #3) definitely ring true for me. Getting a reliable c-level sponsor is currently the biggest challenge. I recently had a brief exchange with Lawrence Liu (@LLiu) of Telligent about how long to stick with it. He suggested 6 months, which seems quite aggressive for a very conservative corporation. Can't rush a good thing, right? :)

    Thank you so much for this great check list from the right side of the fence, Chris!

    Veronica
    @Shih_Wei
  • Nice post Chris.
    Absolutely. Aligning the strategy so that it can be seen in the context of objectives is key to management buy in and avoid the dreaded ROI axe.
    Another element that needs to be addressed is content and context. A social media plan cannot only be seen in terms of network destinations and profiles. It needs to take account of Audiences,
    Their learning styles,
    Their decision making process,
    Influencers
    Organizational goals etc.
    Once these are determined a content strategy can be formed that allows relevant, targeted content to be created in the form that best fits audience learning styles and destination expectations. Content needs to travel, have value added to it and grow. The thing that brings this together is context
  • I agree that #4 is crucial in any typical company. A smaller company, possibly not, I suppose.

    What I would find interesting would be your thoughts on the way to accomplish the same thing from the outside...convince a team of executives to bring you in to build a SM strategy.
  • So true, great words of wisdom Chris.

    @litmanlive
  • I think you've hit the biggest one there as number 4. Having that executive sponsor will break the project here. We've had some good ideas that withered on the vine just because they didn't have the connections to get an exec on board... says the guy who had what he considered a good project and couldn't get an exec to look at him twice for it... Nowadays, everybody wants to play in the SocMedia space.
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