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Things Companies Don’t Want to Hear about Social Media

When a company decides to embrace social media, everyone becomes an eternal optimist. Whatever services are selected, there is no doubt they are going to take the world by storm.

If it’s a Facebook Page, there will be thousands of “Likes” within months, if not weeks. On Twitter, there will be a stampede of followers. And a blog will attract lots of comments and in-bound links from other blogs and Web sites.

In the wake of all this bullishness, it becomes obvious there are a few things companies don’t want to hear because it would ruin the mood. These include:

1. Social media is a game of inches, not miles. While some companies hit the jackpot by attracting a lot of followers out of gate, most companies are lucky if they see slow, but steady, progress. It means that instant-gratification may be difficult to discover, and that success could takes many months rather than days or weeks.

2. Social media is grunt work. From the outside looking in, it’s glamorous with lots of shimmery tools. In reality, social media can be tough slogging that needs to happen each and every day.

3. There is a never-ending need for fresh content. Social media is a beast that is always hungry and never satisfied. One of the keys to engaging consumers is giving them a steady diet of content – be it blog posts, updates, videos, polls, photos, tweets or contests.

4. Social media can be an expensive proposition, particularly if you’re lucky enough to be successful. While the tools are free, it costs money to hire people to operate social media, create content, monitor activity, and engage with consumers. If a company’s social media efforts succeed, it may have to hire more people to support the growing amount of activity.

5. The ROI of social media can be challenging to measure. The thing about social media is often it can’t be measured in isolation. It may be easy to quantify the number of followers or “Likes” but extrapolating the impact on leads and sales can be difficult to pin down because there may be other factors – direct mail, advertising, etc. – that also have an impact.

If a company isn’t prepared to consider these realities, there is a real danger it will have unrealistic expectations of what social media can achieve. As a result, it may be easily disappointed when things don’t exactly go as planned.

By Mark Evans - March 8th, 2011 - 25 Comments »
Tags: Social Media, strategy, tips
Posted in Social Media

If Everyone’s Doing Social Media, Then What?

Earlier this week, I was doing some research for a company looking to get into social media. Much to my surprise, I discovered that none of its major competitors were active in social media. This suggests the category isn’t interesting to consumers, or there’s a huge window of opportunity waiting for someone to seize.

These kind of “blank slates” don’t exist much anymore as more companies embrace social media. A couple of years ago, it was a novelty if a company had a Facebook Page or a Twitter account. It gave them a first-mover advantage and a competitive edge.

Now, most companies have some kind of social media presence. It raises the question of how companies can rise above the crowd when simply doing social media isn’t enough anymore. This has put the spotlight on a few key areas.

1. Content: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, content is king. If companies want to engage, entertain or educate consumers on a regular basis (as opposed to one-time visits), the consistent creation of content is essential.

Content can be blog posts, Facebook updates, tweets, polls, contests, photos or videos. Whatever your poison, it is important to continually provide reasons for consumers to have a regular relationship with your social media properties.

2. Commitment: One of the key things many companies fail to realize is the commitment they need to make to social media. It is a 24/7 activity. It is not something that can be done in fits and starts if you want any kind of continuity or success.

Social media is a lot of work, and it requires a corporate commitment – time, resources and dollars – to make it happen. Companies that embrace this approach will have a stronger and better social media presence.

3. Engagement: It’s not enough to generate great content or be committed, although they are essential. In addition, companies that want to rise to the top need to really engage with existing and potential customers. This needs to happen digitally through pro-active engagement (monitoring is a key part of this activity), and off-line at events, conferences and meet-ups.

4. Cross-pollination: Social media needs to become part of your corporate DNA and an integrated part of overall operations. It can not be orphaned or left to its own devices. Instead, social media must be supported by other parts of the business, and social media needs to support other parts of the business. It’s a 1 + 1 = 3 relationship. Far too many companies think social media can generate and sustain its own profile when, in fact, it’s a difficult task.

By Mark Evans - March 4th, 2011 - 1 Comment »
Tags: Social Media, strategy, tactics
Posted in Social Media

Without Tactical Execution, Social Media Doesn’t Work

Over the past couple of years, I have talked with lots of companies excited about the potential of social media. Fuelled by this enthusiasm, they put together detailed strategic plans and set themselves up on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, et al.

Then they run into a serious hurdle: who’s actually going to make social media happen tactically on a day-to-day basis. It is one thing to have a master plan but if no one is going to execute on it, the plan is pretty much useless.

As I have mentioned before, tactics is the part of social media that is crucial but doesn’t get as much attention as it should be it’s not as sexy as strategy or the cool services. Tactics is grunt work, it’s blocking and tackling, and it’s a game in which victories are measured in inches rather than miles.

It is always strange, therefore, to see a growing number of people set themselves up as “social media strategist”, while few people call themselves “social media tacticians”. Being a strategist is fine but you’re only doing half the job if you are not also engaged in helping your employee or client execute tactically.

This means not just setting up and launching social media services but creating a plan of attack, hiring the right people to make social media happens on a regular basis, and giving them the education, training and tools so they can be as successful as possible. It might even mean hold someone’s hands tactically under they can run on their own.

At the end of the day, social media strategy has a relatively short shelf life before tactics starts to impact everything you do. Sure, strategy can be tweaked and re-calibrated but once social media has been launched, the execution of tactics will determine whether what a company does is successful or not.

Too many companies consider tactics to the less glamorous cousin of strategy when, in fact, tactics is as, if not more, important.

By Mark Evans - February 8th, 2011 - 4 Comments »
Tags: Social Media, strategy, tactics
Posted in Social Media

Hats Off to Community Managers

Today is Community Manager Appreciation Day, although I suspect few community managers will be given a holiday.

Truth be told, they should get a holiday given community managers are the workhorses of social media. While Facebook Pages, Twitter and Old Spice ads get all the attention, community managers are toiling away behind the scenes to make sure that tactical execution happens on a day in, day out basis.

It’s a job that isn’t that glamorous because it involves a lot of work, energy and focus. At the same time, social media is a 7/24 activity, which means community managers – or their teams – are on the clock all the time.

In many respects, community managers are like centers in a football game. While the quarterback, running backs and wide receivers get all the attention, the center controls the game. It’s the center that has to recognize different defensive strategies and then make sure his teammates are prepared. If an offense does well, center doesn’t receive any accolades, even though their efforts are crucial in the scheme of things.

Despite the hard work and not enough glory, being a community manager can be a fascinating gig. The most attractive part is community managers have multiple roles that involve content creation, customer service, business development, marketing and sales.

For many companies, community managers stand on the front lines, and can often become a face of the company. They’re the ones people start to associate with a brand. Maybe the best example is Frank Eliason, who provided Comcast with a public identity (no small task for a cable company) when he headed up social media engagement.

The biggest risk facing community manager is how engrossing the job can be. Social media never stops so the demands can be significant. As a result, burn-out is a real danger, particularly for people who are one-person operations or part of a small team.

It means companies need to be realistic about their social media activities and goals to be sure they are aligned with the resources put against them. Community managers are important but they’re not Superman or Wonder Woman.

So here’s to community managers (including Sysomos’ Sheldon Levine), and the important role they play within the social media ecosystem.

By Mark Evans - January 24th, 2011 - 4 Comments »
Tags: community managers, Social Media, strategy, tactics
Posted in Social Media

Social Media Shouldn’t Be Scripted

Here’s something that has surprised me in recent months: the number of companies that want their social media tactics to be handled by an external agency – public relations, advertising, digital or pure socia media.

These companies want to do social media but they don’t want to do it themselves on a daily basis. Instead, they want to create a strategic plan, and then have a partner do the “heavy lifting” such as running Facebook Pages and Twitter accounts.

It took awhile to get used to the idea of handing off social media tactics but given the reality that many companies need to leverage social media, it makes sense in many cases to let someone else do the tactical execution. The alternative is building a social media team, which can be risky if a company isn’t sure that social media is going to be a long-term proposition.

One of the strange aspects to outsourcing social media is while companies are happy to watch from the sideline, they insist the agency running their Facebook Pages, Twitter, et al stick to a structured script and schedule.

It means an agency has little or no editorial flexibility, particularly when it comes to engaging directly with existing or potential customers. The justification for sticking to a script and schedule is it addresses any legal or branding issues, and provide the company with control over what is being said on public forums.

These are valid reasons to script social media but it doesn’t mean it’s the right approach. To me, social media is a medium that thrives and succeeds on real-time, authentic conversations and interaction. Social media is not a traditional marketing tool in which every message is fine-crafted after input from the marketing, communications, sales and legal teams.

To script social media means – and excuse the expression – you’re neutering it. Rather than let social media be free flowing and real, it’s structured and staged. While social media programs can be efficiently operated when they’re scripted, there’s something missing. Maybe it’s authenticity or real-time engagement but there’s something different from social media that follows its own path.

At the end of the day, companies will need to learn and accept that social media does best when it’s not scripted. They will need to trust their employees or partners to operate social media in a way that meets the corporate strategic and tactical goals but, at the same time, meets existing and potential customers in the best and real way possible.

By Mark Evans - January 5th, 2011 - 6 Comments »
Tags: scripted, Social Media, strategy, tactics
Posted in Social Media

The Social Media Learning Curve in 2011

As we head into 2011, social media is firmly established as something that most companies should embrace. It’s a “when” rather than “if” proposition given social media’s potential as a new and different communications, marketing and sales platform, as well as the dynamics of the competitive landscape.

That said, one of the most important considerations for companies looking to get into social media is educating themselves. This means getting a firm handle on the opportunities, the different options and how social media can be effectively leveraged.

And it’s something that should happen before a company even considers putting together a social media strategy.

Far too often, companies scramble into social media because there’s a fear the market and competitors are rumbling ahead, and that if they don’t jump into the fray, it will be too late.

Unfortunately, this approach often leads to disappointment because without a good and educated sense of what is happening and how to capitalize on it, companies can easily get little or no return on their social media activities.

What I’m starting to see from companies that haven’t jumped into social media is a growing willingness to educate themselves before they decide to take another step forward. It often means providing executives with a presentation that covers the entire landscape, including the advantages and disadvantages of the different services.

It can also involve something less formal by sitting down for a conversation to hear what’s happening, and then asking questions about different options.

Perhaps the growing appetite for education has to do with the fact that if a company isn’t already in social media, then there is no first-mover advantage. As a result, speed to market is not important.

While a company may not want to sit on the sidelines for too long, the reality is there’s no need to rush things out the door. By taking the time to determine whether social media makes sense, they can pragmatically move forward in a way that has more to do with overall strategy and objectives than simply being active in the marketplace.

For companies weighing the benefits of education vs. action, a recent report by eMarketer looking at the mistakes made by U.S. marketers about social media is an eye-opener.

Among the leading reasons cited by marketers is not having a strategy, not defining goals and objectives, and not setting proper expectations with executives. These are all issues that can be focused on during the education process as opposed to learning them after a social media program has been launched.

By Mark Evans - December 27th, 2010 - 7 Comments »
Tags: education, Social Media, strategy
Posted in Social Media

Houston, We Have a Failure to Execute

In continuing our theme of why social media falls short, let’s focus on one of the biggest culprits: the failure to execute.

It goes like this: companies hire a social consultant or activate an internal team to create a social media strategy that looks at the why, who, what and how’s.

A well-defined strategic and tactical plans are put together, the right social media services are selected, the resources (people and money) are allocated, and the launch plans are made.

The next big step is turning the plans into action – taking them from the planning board into the real world, which are far less glamorous.

It means making social media happen day in, day out, pumping out content, engaging with happy and critical customers, building relationships while demonstrating ROI to the corporate executives.

For all the planning, it is always surprising how often there is a failure to execute. The reality is execution is difficult. Attaining success can be a long-term proposition as opposed to happening overnight. And measuring success can be a challenge given there are hard and soft metrics.

The reality of social media execution can be a shocking wake-up call compared with the hype and enthusiasm that surrounds social media. Execution is grunt work, not glamour.

It’s about consistency rather than overnight success. And success may pale in comparison with some of the success stories that people point out on a regular basis.

This means many companies fumble the ball when it counts. When push comes to shove, they can’t make social media happen because they are not prepared, not ready or not willing to do what it takes.

Bottom line: If you’re serious about social media, strategy and tactics are only half the battle.

By Mark Evans - October 11th, 2010 - 1 Comment »
Tags: execution, Social Media, strategy, tactics
Posted in Social Media

Social Media: Easy as 1-2-3?

With all due respect to Jay Baer, who is among the leading thinkers about social media, a post he wrote about “The Five Step Process for Social Media Success” is another example how many of us are guilty of making social media look easy.

In fairness to Jay, there are things that companies do need to embrace to give themselves a better chance of social media success. At the same time, social media success is as much art as science. There are no sure-fire or easy ways to be successful or even quasi-successful. Instead, companies have to execute strategically and tactically – the same approach they take to other parts of the business.

The blog posts and articles offering the secrets to social media success are part of a well-oiled marketing machine hoping to take advantage of new, emerging and potentially large market. Everyone is working hard to grab a piece of the pie so marketing their experience and expertise is part of how the game is being played these days.

For companies, however, there are no short-cuts to social media success – keeping in mind that success can be defined in many ways. Instead, companies need to focus on making sure they put the pieces in place to prevent themselves from failing.

It means creating strategic plans that take into account how social media fits in the bigger corporate picture, what companies want to get from social media, how they will define and measure success, who is going to make social media happen on a day-to-day bais, and the competitive landscape.

Then, it is a matter of having the right people to execute as well as possible.

Even then, social media can not be a success for a variety of reasons – anything from the inability to use tactical best practices to content that fails to engage or inspire.

The bottom line is there’s no easy route to social media success, or a recipe that can be followed to make it hard. All you can do is plan properly, execute as well as you can, and make adjustments along the way.

By Mark Evans - September 17th, 2010 - 2 Comments »
Tags: Social Media, strategy, success, tactics
Posted in Social Media

Five Ways to Effectively Scale Social Media

Last week, we had a blog post looking at the new economic of social media tactics. This included the suggestion that tactics could be outsourced in much the same way that many companies outsource customer service to cost-effective call centres.

In thinking some more about social media tactics, I started exploring the different ways companies could scale social media. While outsourcing is still part of the mix, there are a variety of ways that companies can scale other than simply hiring more people. These include:

1. Hire top-notch people. It may seem like a simple enough proposition but hiring the right people to operate day-to-day tactics should not be underestimated. You need people who are not only social media savvy but energetic, self-starters, engaged, willing to go the extra step, and see their jobs as a mission as opposed to just a job.

Of course, you usually get what you pay for so attracting these people may not be cheap. But if you hire the right people, there’s a better chance of achieving a solid ROI on their efforts. This means avoiding the trap of trying to hire people who are cheap, young and enthusiastic about social media.

2. Be focused. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, companies can be successful by focusing their efforts and people on the social media services that best meet their strategic objectives. It may mean just having a blog or only using Facebook and Twitter, rather than trying to embrace everything.

Too many companies shoot themselves in the foot by adopting a shotgun approach to social media in which they do everything, only to see their efforts fail because their people are stretched too thin to be effective.

3. Create strong content. At the end of the day, content is king, regardless of the social media being used. A company’s social media efforts will live or die by the quality of their content – be on a blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or Flickr. It’s one thing to be have an active social media presence but quite another to have a presence that resonates, engages, entertains or educates users on a regular basis.

4. Democratize social media throughout the company. As much as a company wants great people to oversee their social media efforts, an effective way to scale social media is getting other employees to contribute to the overall cause. Companies such as IBM, for example, have harnessed the enthusiasm and intellect of their employees to create a major social media presence. An important part of making this happen is a social media policy that clearly articules what works and what doesn’t.

5. Let people who consume your social media content also evangelize and support your efforts. In an ideal world, for example, people who criticize or attack a company are quickly counter-attacked by consumers who like what a company is doing. This allows a company’s employees to avoid the fray because issues are being handled effectively by the public.

To encourage this activity, companies should make a point to thank their customers for their efforts in a sincere and transparent way.

6. Outsource tactics to a PR, digital, advertising and social media agency. It’s a model that is still evolving because the cost to let someone else handle day-t0-day tactics can be expensive. But it’s an option many companies should explore rather than hiring someone, particularly during the early days when a company may not want to make an investment before knowing exactly what it wants to do.

Any other suggestions on how to scale social media?

Mark

By Mark Evans - September 13th, 2010 - No Comments »
Tags: Social Media, strategy, tactics, tips
Posted in Social Media

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