Perspectives & Strategy

Since making the move into the Social Media space I have spoken with many business leaders about leveraging the power of the medium. One CEO recently asked me “what is in it for me, I suppose that means more expenditure?” I understood his thinking as every business has to know the value of every investment these days. This is a compendium of important questions that I have recently faced about the deployment challenges associated with Social Media

I knew this was going to be both a positive an exciting meeting. Of course I had already sent a copy of my earlier article “How to Leverage the Social Media Channel for Business Success” (although not in its finalised form as now appears on my website).

We talked for a while about improving communications and collaboration within the company and of course we talked about the many tools they used for communications today, so of course we came to the inevitable question “How does Social Media improve communications?” I love this question because it shows a desire to understand how to implement one of the core aspects of the new media.

Well Social Media allows any corporation, irrespective of its size to be involved in the world market for their specialist segment. Involvement in Social Media is about connecting to people and businesses. So who do you connect with? Customers, obviously as we wish to maintain and enhance our ongoing relationship with them, suppliers – likewise they are a vital part of our extended business realm. Prospects, of course, as we do wish to grow our business. Competitors – Excuse me, you cannot be serious? Of course we know the old maxim about holding your friends close, but your enemies closer – well it applies to Social Media as much as in any other medium.

However involvement in the medium is in itself not sufficient – it is important to have a strategy. Without a strategy your intervention is doomed to failure, somewhat akin to chasing the latest greatest gadget as there will always be another one coming very soon. Of course there is no problem with companies jumping onto Twitter just to try it out, but it is important to define what you wish to accomplish first, even if you are just defining one or two goals. If you are looking to drive additional sales for example how are you going to measure 1) the additional traffic, and 2) the sales uplift?

Taking a little time is important and will tend to accomplish much more. Dell has stated that their revenue based on their Twitter presence has led to a sales uplift of $2million. That is a sizeable claim and can be measured because new customers are directed to a location that will tag their session activity, which when resulting in a sale can be associated with Twitter. Now of course we cannot tell what was in the mind of the purchaser when they saw the Twitter posting, but nonetheless they will come.

“So you are talking about extending my advertising strategy?” asked my curious CEO. Well the answer of course is both yes and no. You can advertise in the various Social Media channels, like Facebook, MSN, or LinkedIn, and you can target your message so that it appeals to each demographic sector (e.g. one ad for teens and another for middle aged women) but that is not leveraging the real power of Social Media which is about creating a dialogue with those that can be interested in your business or its products/services.

Crucially involvement is more about communication and intervening in the chatter happening about your marketplace. There is no question that when people are talking about your products, your brands, your company then the business needs to be on the pulse and needs to responding appropriately. When people praise you it is always essential to thank them (you may also wish to consider asking to connect with them). Many times praise may extend as far as providing discount vouchers or other promotions.

When people criticise you it is even more essential to respond appropriately and in a timely manner, in fact intervention it is even more crucial at this time than when your business is being praised. The best tactic is to face the problem head-on, do not attempt to bribe them gifts and promotions tend to be seen as an attempt to bribe the critic to go away. It is better to try to create a dialogue with that person in private (either via a direct message or preferably via the phone), yet some people need their grievances to be aired in public so a genuine response is crucial.

We all all do things wrong from time to time and honest brings more kudos in Social Media land. Someone made the analogy that business relationships on Social Media are more akin to the personal relationship built with your corner store. When managed right it becomes a relationship of trust.

The other aspect of building an intervention strategy is in knowing what is being said about your marketplace. No matter your business there is already someone blogging , or using YouTube, or have created a podcast. You need to manage your digital footprint. You need to have a blog in addition to your website. The website is focused around selling your products or services whereas you blog is about adding value to the marketplace. The blog can have a multitude of articles, including how to use your products, installation advice, and other frequently asked questions as well as commentary on the marketplace, critiques of products etc. If you do decide to critique products then ensure you add links to web sites and be fair about the genuine state of the market. Also you should link to interesting articles by industry experts and future trends.

“You are telling us to change our whole marketing approach?” some pundits will claim that if people cannot find you online (especially in Social Media channels) then you are invisible. This is NOT true for every business, for some Yellow Pages is still an essential part of their promotional activities – where do you turn when you need Auto Repair Shop, or Lawyer? Yes Yellow pages! Yet Social Media can be a crucial differentiator. However once you have found a likely suspect (or three) then you may look them up on-line. The search engines (Goolge and Bing) are more likely to find you if you have a blog and a social media presence. This is where a balanced approach is required – one this is sure involvement in Social Media, provided these guidelines are followed will ensure that you do have both a favourable presence.

Further Reading:

Social Media for CEOs by Mitch Joel