Social Media Is Not a Life Raft

Zach I think you are dead on the money…it is not about size of the company (we actually have brought in both National and Local advertisers and buyers into our content…and believe the local network infrastructure will be as important as the national buyers). In fact we believe local is going to be more important for social media than national where it is for branding and marketing but on local (and our focus for them) is purchase activation.

The problem is when people do not see the specifics of what social media is a tool for…and just because you have it does not mean you are using it correctly for your needs.

It has to fit the culture and brand of the company. Are you truly open or not? Do you trust your employees to share what they really think? If your DNA is to “control the message and polish before sharing” or your execs naturally fear what might happen if people disagree, then don’t do it. The easiest test and first sign that it’s wrong for your company is if social media is presented as a “trend we must capitalize on” as a bullet point on a power point slide during a recent company meeting. Run and hide. This isn’t a marketing/sales campaign. It’s a set of communication tools. If you’re genuinely interested in people’s opinions, want feedback (good and bad) and have an honest point of view on something relevant to people, then jump in. But the #1 rule is transparency, people will sniff that out immediately if you’re not.

My checklist for implementing social media for a client:
_ Are they new to market or are they introducing something new (product or feature)?
_ Have they failed or are struggling communicating to the end-user or customer?
_ Is the company or client willing to answer to tough questons and objections?
_ Is there a spokesperson or expert that is available daily to communicate with the customer?
_ Does the company or client fully comprehend the concept of being “transparent”?
_ Are you willing to stick to the Rule of 3 (so as to not dip into too many social media pools)?

Companies that are not ready for social media think that creating a “character” for their product will drive more attention no matter what your business entails.. and they do like, like above mentions, because “every one else is” — I agree, it has to make sense for you and your product!

Amen. So many times I hear ‘we need to be doing X because so and so is doing x’ with absolutely no strategic reason why. If I’m brought a ‘we have to do this’ pitch I always throw back ‘why? what problem is that solving and for whom?’. Works every time. :)

I agree, social media is not for everyone. I see a lot that resonates with me. I’ll restate one point here:

“If someone needs to vet everything your Community Manager posts or tweets, stay away from social media.” – Jeff Stolarcyk
This is so true. In the world of social media things go stale fast. If things are not acted upon say goodbye to user trust, recognition and your reputation (which is what you were trying to build, right?).

If your company has no history of transparency, is not ready for transparency: stay away from social media.

So if you go against the above advise and decide to proceed, still without a paddle (and plan), you’re really just setting yourself up for failure.

Before we begin a relationship with any enterprise client in social media – before even getting into questions about developing their social media strategy – we ask them three questions which will qualify or disqualify them as someone we want to work with:
1. Does management have a sincere commitment to facilitating in-house participation? If the company doesn’t have the in-house resources or isn’t interested in developing them so participation is ongoing and sincere then we tell them they’re wasting their time. Yes, there are companies that want somebody to come in and produce content for them and have minimal involvement. Not a prescription for success in our opinion anyway.
2. What is your motivation for entering the social media space? If it’s only to market and sell we tell them – wrong vehicle. If it’s to build more trust, transparency, and credibility with customers then it’s the right vehicle.
3. Are you willing to commit to this long term, like from now until you no longer need greater trust, transparency, and credibility with your customers? If they’re looking for a short term, quick fix to increase sales – once again, wrong vehicle. If they understand it takes time to sow seeds of trust, transparency, and credibility and that the harvest will come at a time and place that may surprise them, right vehicle.
Other than those questions we take a look at the brand, it’s products, and/or services, it’s current customer base and their use of social media and in most cases find some application of social web engagement that could benefit them on some level, even if not for new sales.

In line with your set up here Chris, I’m beginning to think more and more that there are a number of different service businesses forming in the Social space: i) Online PR Agencies (like us) that use this stuff to generate noise / awareness ii) Social Media Consultancies that help people change business / comms processes and Digital / SEO firms that practice Social for the greater God of Google…. Their consulting processes are all different, although they all need a little of ii)… and because they’re different the result is much debate about the true worth of Social Media……. Some of the comments here reflect this. So – my answer to your Q is I guess it depends who you are and what you’re driving at

chris I love the comments on “having to build trust with your customers”

lol

sorry to everyone but bringing more communication and transparency DOES NOT mean more trust necessarily…what it can mean is more drama and if people aren’t preparing customers for that…and that they will need the tools and skills to be able to deal with that …to get the trust etc…

This is just everyone saying “invest in real estate” when they don’t understand what drives the market and overvalued neighborhoods… …in 2005. If a company invest a ton of dough (dough that could be better spent on target marketing more efficient technical infrastructure…or that extra office person that can catch them up on paperwork and would actually be able to organize the office itself) all in social media thinking that is the evolution be all and all cure…because “that is where everything is at” and they listen to someone say “if you need or want your customers to trust you…”

they are in for a hard turn.

Social media is effective- IF-there is latitude to do what needs to be done strategy wise for a corporation. There are what i call “hitler types” that want to control every aspect of what goes out in the social media arena and the power of the vehicle diminishes when there is little leverage to make that happen effectively .Some freedom is critical for the SM practicioners. Most of the fortune 500 companies have jumped on the SM bandwagon, but many do not know how to play the instruments. Givng your people some lead way to do what they need to do to create an effective SM strategy is imperative. Many do not do that. Transparency is critical- and that scares lot of managers to death. Rocking Hot post as always Chris!

Here are a few tips I ALWAYS follow:

1. Can they truly afford to take the risk of a social media campaign
2. Do they have the authority to take the risk and not feel the wrath of a superior should it not meet expectations.
3. Speaking of expectations, what specifically do they expect?
4. What can we look to for leverege with what they already have? email lists, members, events etc.

This is a great question to ask our community of experts at inSocialMedia.com

I think you make an excellent point regarding social media not being a salvation for a company. I think some businesses think they’re going to hop into social media and suddenly drive revenue and positive community in the same way that some of the successful case stories have. It doesn’t happen like that. It takes strategy and a lot of time to become one of those case stories. Even with those successes, they don’t *only* rest on social media. It is one of the tools that they utilize successfully.

As far as your question about when a company should try social media….I think all companies should be involved. Every company from a large Fortune 100 company down to the small steakhouse in a small town in Massachusetts ;-). All companies need to be thinking about developing strategy, creating content, listening and exploring social media as a way to reach their prospective and current customers.

1. Will the entire company “buy-in” to the social media effort?
(Should each part of the business be involved?)
(Why should each department feel they have ‘skin in the game’?)

2. Does the business have realistic expectations and identifiable goals?
(Promoting a product, looking for instant sales vs. deepening customer relationships via ‘Cafe Shaped Conversations’ that lead to long term loyalty)

3. How can our business develop two-way communications?
(Sharing Flip Mino video recorders for customers/partners to create video? Empowering customers to promote contests with our products…)

Social media might not be a life raft, but it’s definitely a must. I can’t think about any business that couldn’t benefit from going social (media) – when done right.

Companies should be out there getting a grip on it’s being said about them. And if there’s nothing out there, then start the conversation.

It’s highly amusing, and also incredibly frustrating, to hear accomplished business professionals claim that they simply DO NOT HAVE TIME for social media. Do they REALLY need it, they ask? They haven’t needed it before! They are MUCH too busy to devote time to a communications vehicle that is, as far as they are concerned, an unproven method within the business arena, particularly where their industry is concerned . . .whether it is architecture, jewelry making, or even the latest unbeliever, a SOFTWARE COMPANY! I know! Crazy, right? They think, “Ok, if I try this, my sales are supposed to EXPLODE!”

Given the amount of information available on all of these networks, feeders, blog apps, widgets, etc. I think they are just overwhelmed and don’t know where or how to start. even when they understand the WHY. They are willing to pay a consultant, but there are so many of us out here scrambling to open the eyes of Marketing Managers to entrepreneurs to CIOs to CMOs to CEOs, if given the opportunity.

Sometimes they feel they can try it on their own first and then they fail to make the most effective use of their time, (like the consultant who told me Twitter was useless and overwhelming for her, but had never heard of Tweetdeck . . . insert eyeroll here, hers!!) or they take a chance with someone who claimed to know what to do with Social Media and Networking just because they have been working in marketing for years.

These old media marketers then either denigrate, or otherwise minimize the potential success of an ongoing communications campaign that includes Social Media, or they promise the moon with it. Either way, expectations must be managed realistically, markets must be analyzed as well as the tools to use, and a strategy must be developed. Then the tactics must be executed to further those objectives. That said many people just jump in and then go from there once they wade around a bit and assess the temperature of the water.

I tweet about social media, mostly networking, and other random topics and post similarly to my Facebook and LinkedIn. I am @pinedaferet if you want to follow me on Twitter.

Great post Chris -

I think you need a social media strategy map that plays nice with your organization’s marketing plan.

http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/01/creating-your-organizations-social-media-strategy-map.html

Social Media is not a life raft, nor a boat, but can it be a paddle?
Many businesses are in a fullblown identity crisis when it comes to using social media. They wonder or agonize how to speak on social media platforms using the company voice, from the company identity. When viewed from this angle, social media often doesn’t makes sense because the concept of the collective “company” as accepted in mass media and marketing is not the identity that should be given voice.
If we look behind the facade, go past the storefront, we see what’s inside any company. People. The simple truth is, people do business with people, not with technologies, complex organization structures, corporations or brands. Businesses struggling with how to use social media would do well to dip an oar in the water by equipping a few employees with the autonomy and guidance to give voice in a transparent, human environment where people talk to people. There’s simply no substitute for directly listening in to your market and customers. How transparent you decide to make your business in that context is then up to you.

I think that social media can be more than just the myspace’s or twitter’s of the world. It can create a new added dimension of a product. If people like the product enough, then the social part just makes it better. Look at youtube which allows people to comment on videos but also reply with their own videos. Now thats one step beyond….

Great comments. Great post.

Checklist questions…
1) Who is my audience? Not a checklist question, I know. But you know how important it is to keep asking that question.
2) Is my audience online? If so, where?
3) Will my audience respond to a new, personalized form of communication?
4) Can I reduce costs by communication through social media?
5) Can I expose my business to a new set of consumers if I utilize social media?

damn stop the world i wanna get off – isn’t this life raft earth – must have taken wrong turn and got on the wrong vehicle – the question is – what is the question will somebody please tell me what social media is or isn’t or when it or i grow up i wanna become a fireman who puts out fires – maybe that is what social media social communications is = you trust the fireman – “trust” – building trust – food for thought

Hi Chris,

That’s a good question. For me, it’s when a company wants to focus more on building a more engaging dialogue with your customers. It doesn’t matter what product or service they provide. If a company is really keen on taking their customer relationship platform to a whole other level then learning how best to utilize certain social media tools are the way to go.

The comment about, “.. humanizing the web” struck me funny. At first I thought, “The web was NEVER human to begin with.” Then I thought a bit, and remembered the good ol days on Geocities chat (before they partnered with Yahoo). I enjoyed interacting with the people on the different rooms and truly it was a great time. Twitter, facebook etc . .. remind me of that, only they’ve taken the chat platform totally to another level.

Oh, it’s also not just about adapting a social media tool for your business and then expect sales, revenue and brand presence to increase. Not at all. That should really be a RESULT of the kind of relationships you build with your customers THROUGH the use of these social media tools.

Increase in sales, revenue and brand presence should be, obviously the gauge of how well your company is doing, however, the approach is now different. The increase would be now tied into the level of *human’ness* a company has towards its customers.

Thanks for the opportunity to put my .05 cents worth! (no longer 2 cents – thanks ecnomomy!)

This post rang a bell with me, as I am always wondering if I am the only person in the social media/blogging world who is not surrounded by other social media people.
All my contacts on Twitter are people I have never met in real life. I have met none of the bloggers I read daily in real life. I work at a Chamber of Commerce – great! Though my member companies are all old school production companies which have never heard of social media, and don’t even see a need for a web-site as their customers are not online. Basically, what I am saying is that in the right environment social media must be great. But for me working in an international and intercultural environment, I have never ever been able to use it for other than an interesting read.

I’m a little late on this one so I’ll be brief (I’ll add my thoughts later in a follow up post and link-back)…

If you have a bad business, a blog isn’t going to help you. It sounds harsh, but it’s true. Just “having” a blog isn’t the solution. There’s a whole slew of work and strategy that goes into making it “work” for you. If you’re not willing to put in the time, forget it.

Almost everyone in “Social Media circles” seems to feel Social Media is necessary for most, if not all companies. I believe most companies can benefit through using Social Media, but like with most things there needs to be some major market force to initiate them asking the right questions about how they should be using this new medium. Those forces include loss of market share, increased competition, rapid innovation and other critical market forces. Which all goes back to strategy. In Canada at least, I don’t think it’s an accident that many of the large corps have no or limited interest in Social Media.They are probably not even reading blogs, because their IT systems don’t allow it. It doesn’t matter how much Social Media practitioners preach the gospel of Social Media about relationships… ;) unless the company is forward-looking and looking to lead rather than keep the status quo it’s falling on deaf ears. No competition = equals complacency (anyone who uses telco and other essential services in CA will know what I mean). Enter competition and suddenly making a business case for Social Media will become that much easier. Btw, I am referring mostly to those companies who aren’t even agonizing. I am always optimistic that things can/will change. Maybe. The current economic climate has certainly got some companies more interested. But as long as they are going to spend money on it, you will need to prove a business case with analytics and figures to get attention.

One last thing to @peter efland… being on Social media networks can give one the impression that everyone understands what it’s about and instinctively knows they should use it. Nothing could be further from the truth. I go to corporate and SB networking meetings and many business people I talk to initially do not understand what SM is or have a very limited understanding. So I have to start at their level and build up. That means asking lots of questions.

@NickyJameson – I agree.
However, I am always wondering if social media is really something that these capital good industrial companies need.
It might be that customers find their business more transparent if they set up a blog. But most likely their customers have never heard of a blog.
And Twitter? forget it.
Do you know these types of companies which have one secretary printing out all emails to the directors for later review?
In my opinion they are un-reachable.

Of course not all companies are like this. But I’m daily in contact with 60-70 companies and I hear it time after time.

So what does that mean? Is social media only for brands, lifestyle products and end consumer product companies? … I don’t know… does anyone know of non-brand capital good companies in social media?