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Make room for social media in silo-structured organizations.

Yesterday on my Twitter stream I see Ford’s social media guy, @ScottMonty, ask a fellow Twitterer the name of a Ford dealer with whom she was having an issue.

She responded with the dealer’s name and Scott thanked her. What likely happened next is that Scott asked someone at Ford to contact the dealer to find a way to solve this customer’s problem.

That’s what social media can do for a business.

In order for that to happen, though, a company needs to realize social media is its own thing. It is not just marketing. It is not just public relations, or advertising, or customer service.

It is a communications platform allowing organizations to interact with customers, potential customers and the general public. This is the value of social media to business.

Current customers connect via social media with a company for many reasons, including to have a pipeline in case they need help or have a complaint, to hear about new discounts and ways to save money, as well as new product or service offerings. Potential customers can discover your company through social media, and you can use social media to quickly and naturally communicate with the general public.

The individual who reached out to Scott Monty was able to do so and set the wheels of resolution in motion in less than 30 minutes. That’s good customer service.

To anyone following the conversation between Scott Monty and this customer, this experience goes down as marketing. If any media, including bloggers like myself, are paying attention, this becomes a public relations story. Like it is now, thanks to this post.

That’s the beauty of social media and that is why it naturally reaches across the silo-structure that exists in many companies.

It is also why fully implementing social media in companies takes time and causes strife, because our org charts are created based on tasks, purposes, duties and expertise.

The marketer wants social media to live in their silo because they hear people using the term “social media marketing.” The PR person wants it because they’re already responsible for all outgoing messaging. You have technical people saying social media belongs with them because it’s technical in nature, and you can even have other departments wanting their own social media presence run by their own employees.

Operating in this atmosphere may still produce some Twitter accounts, a few social media press releases and a slathering of social media stuff, but it won’t allow for what social media can really do for an organization.

In the example of Ford’s Scott Monty, he was in a position to respond to that customer’s issue because he was given time to be on Twitter, he is plugged into Ford’s massive structure, he has the blessing of Ford leadership and he could interact with the customer without fear of having his hand slapped.

Keep in mind, the conversation between Scott and the customer happened in real-time on Twitter for the whole world to see. Anyone paying attention now knows the name of a Ford dealer that has treated a customer poorly. Scott could have taken the conversation with the customer behind closed doors with a private Twitter message, email or phone call.

But Scott knew the damage was already done. The customer had already told the world that she was having a problem with a Ford dealer. Had he taken the conversation private, her complaint about the dealer would stand alone, without any knowledge that Ford had resolved the issue.

Scott needed to reach a public conclusion with the customer so that the public conversation would be resolved. Whether he damages that dealer’s reputation a little by having their name aired publicly is irrelevant because of scale.

It was more important that Scott show Ford is responsive and cares about its customers than it was to protect the dealer because fewer people listening into the conversation will ever have a chance to visit the dealership anyway. All of them, though, have the chance to buy a Ford.

How many PR people or how many leaders at your company would be OK with Scott’s actions?

It’s not easy embracing and making room for the shift social media is bringing, but it is going to happen. The organizations who fully embrace the shift now are those who will have more loyal customers, a stronger brand and growing customer base.

Those that don’t are the companies that will be playing catch up to how brands and businesses communicate with the public in the 21st Century.

Social media is not a fad and it’s not a marketing or PR tool. It truly is a communication platform allowing organizations to interact with the public, and it’s here to stay.

Did you miss part one of “Social media puts on its business suit?” Read it here.

- Nick Barron, Green Buzz Agency Social Media Consultant

Learn more about GBA and our video production prowess!

Learn more about GBA and our video production prowess!

(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!

In the early days of television, people basically watched long commercials that led to what we know today as sitcoms.

The same thing is about to happen to the Web, thanks to FedEx (FDX 64.98 ↑1.15%)’s new campaign that uses short, entertaining Web videos as ads. The “1-2-3 Succeed!” videos (starring Fred Willard as host of infomercials) are a strong step in the evolution of entertainment from TV to the Web.

It’s yet another indication that someone, somewhere, is busy building a media empire based off this new frontier.

That makes these FedEx videos harbingers of things to come is that they’re not just ads. I mean, they technically are, but their created as a form of entertainment, brought to you by FedEx. Just like the early days of television, when Americans were entertained while being relentlessly marketed to.

Except the FedEx videos were made for the Web. And they come on the heel of FedEx raising eyebrows by not advertising in the Super Bowl. As the New York Times’ article linked to above discusses, FedEx tends to be at the forefront of new endeavors in advertising. If the company opts not to advertise during the largest television event of the year, instead putting its resources to creating made-for-the-Web videos, what does that say?

It says we will see more companies generating entertainment for the Web that can double as ads. Even if FedEx’s videos aren’t viewed as successful (meaning views and FedEx revenue are low), I suspect other companies will give it a shot. The Web is too lucrative a platform to not try capitalizing off of it, and online video is gaining immensely in popularity.

That these Web-specific videos will do is increase the public’s comfort with shorter, scripted, produced videos. Right now the most popular video content on the Web is that which is less than a minute and amateur produced (YouTube) or that which existed offline first (Hulu).

The videos FedEx has created are hybrids. They combine the shorter, punchier aspects of YouTube-like videos, with the polished, acted made-for-TV content found on Hulu.

Is these hybrid videos grow in number on the Web, and they will, viewers will grow accustomed to this type of content. This will provide the right person, or media company, with a welcoming audience for these hybrid videos.

The launch of FedEx’s “1-2-3 Succeed!” videos is no small thing. It’s another step toward turning the Web into an entertainment platform from which tomorrow’s media giants can make money, and build an empire.

- Nick Barron, Green Buzz Agency Social Media Consultant