Social media puts on its business suit: Part 1 of 2
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(First of two-part series looking at how social media is affecting businesses and how we work in them.)
The times aren’t changing, they have changed. At least in regard to social media serving a business purpose.
Recently I met with some people to discuss using social media for business, and I was met with some resistance and doubt. This kind of thing happened all the time way back in 2007 when I started leveraging social technology for business, but I thought we all had moved past the doubting phase and into acceptance.
Anyone who knows of JetBlue’s All You Can Jet pass has done so because of either Twitter or a press release sent on PRNewswire. And most of us know that Dell has sold $3 million worth of computers through Twitter.
Despite these success stories, though, some walking among us still doubt social media’s ability to work for business and organizations because of basically two things.
1) They don’t think their organization can pull it off. Whether it’s a lack of infrastructure, budget, time, etc., some people will acknowledge the success other businesses have enjoyed via social technology, but insist their organization wouldn’t enjoy the same success.
2) They see social media as a threat. In my experience, the people most often resistant to using social media are those who have something to lose by giving it a shot. From an experienced marketer who needs focus groups and ad buys, to a public relations person used to controlling the message and delivery vehicles for that message, those who fit this description are not just resistant to trying social media, but they often find excuses to not use social media.
Those in the first group need to live a little. Give it a shot. If you don’t think you can successfully handle social media internally, go outside. I can recommend a great agency of hard-working folks called Green Buzz Agency. (Full disclosure: I’m a consultant at Green Buzz.)
Folks in the second group cling to studies claiming Twitter is just babble and try to disprove social media’s value by applying old-school models on top of this new paradigm.
These are the people worried that Facebook doesn’t let you specifically control which demographics become fans of your brand. Or they are afraid someone will post a negative message about their organization on Twitter or LinkedIn.
In yesterday’s world, these are relevant concerns.
Today, however, they’re moot. People will always bad-mouth your business, but by participating in social communities like Twitter and LinkedIn, you can show the world all the positive things others also say about your business. You may not be able to target your Facebook page to a particular demographic, but obviously the more people who want to be a fan of your business, the better.
I understand, these are nervous days we are living. As this article in The Chicago Tribune points out, we’re all being forced to rethink what we’ve always known.
For some marketers and public relations people, the accelerated growth and popularity of social media is adding to the anxiety. It challenges what they learned in college and how they’ve worked their entire lives, and of course that’s a scary thing, especially in the middle of a recession.
The thing people clinging to their traditional model need to realize, though, is that they can’t stop what’s happening and they’re only making themselves more expendable by resisting. Recessions trim fat, and if you’re a communications or marketing person thumbing your nose to social media, you’re in danger of becoming your organization’s fat.
What social media is doing for business is not just changing the way we market and communicate. It’s changing how we work.
- Nick Barron, Green Buzz Agency Social Media Consultant
Part two of “Social media puts on its business suit” is now available. Read “Make room for social media in silo-structured organizations.”
Learn more about GBA and our video production prowess!
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You might want to look at our second generation social media company that ha s captured the interest of emergency management, security companies and a number of media outlets. It’s secure, encrypted and used for group communications. While it can be used for viral spread of information, it can also be used as a reliable communications device in which there is little opportunity for a malicious man-in-the-middle to redirect critical resources. Balaya’s Tick-it is a distinctly different version of social media that does not compete with Twitter, Digg,Groove or others. It does stream all of them and you can archive their information in the Balaya database,.
Social media is evolving to meet the needs of business and is resolving the problems of any new medium.
You make some great points, Nick.
It’s funny: the one term that generates the most search traffic to my blog is “Twitter is useless.” It will always amaze me how many folks use fear of the unknown to defend generic statements. I believed the “I don’t understand it, so it must be worthless” mindset was rediculous when I wrote my “Twitter is Useless” post in 2008; still do: http://www.flackrabbit.com/2008/twitter-is-useless/
Margie´s last blog ..Three things to remember when relocating for a job
Social media is definitely The big thing right now. I do consider it one of the main marketing channels and I do advise all my clients to use it heavily…