The phenomenal rise of social media platforms is altering the way organisations engage the public. By more intimately connecting companies to customers, social media provides organisations with powerful new means of getting their messages out. But how do organisations tap into the power of social media in the face of executive pushback and potentially unknown returns on investment (ROI)?
The answer is deceptively simple: have a clear social media plan.
It's not sufficient to go "social" simply because it's the in-thing. The key is to accept that communicating and marketing social media is just that: marketing and communications. The same basic principles that govern corporate communications and marketing can be applied to the new social media channels.
The new digital platforms are simply new interfaces for engaging customers, building brand awareness, and promoting products and services. Social media platforms also can also be used to gain invaluable insight into shifting market preferences and trends.
Feedback from organisations
The Harvard Business Review Analytics Services recently conducted a survey of 2,100 organisations and discovered that 79 per cent are currently using social media channels. They also asked them what they saw as the benefits of social media and here are the results and feedback from the real world.
1) Increased awareness of the organisation
2) Increased traffic to Web site
3) Greater favourable perceptions of the brand
4) Able to monitor conversations about the organisation
5) Able to develop targeted marketing activities
6) Better understanding of customers perceptions of their brand
7) Improved insights about their target markets
8) Identification of positive and negative comments
9) Increase in new business
10) Identification of new product or service opportunities
11) Ability to measure the frequency of the discussion about the brand
12) Early warning of potential product or service issues
Social Media still evolving
According to Jon Phillips, a Washington DC-based new media expert, "Social media is still very much in transition. Companies are still figuring out how to connect social media investment into quantifiable business returns."
This is one reason why organisations and marketers struggle when it comes to understanding and measuring social media ROI. Lack of knowledge of the rules and requirements of the dynamic social media landscape is another reason that many initiatives end in failure or disappointment.
Phillips likens corporate social media efforts to New Year's resolutions, "The majority of organisations have great intentions, but the efforts at adoption social media ultimately fail because there is insufficient investment and commitment."
Rhea Yaw Ching, vice-president, sales and marketing at Columbus, agrees, "When there are no well defined objectives, implementation can and often will lead to wasted resources and disappointing results."
"Companies should take the time to understand the shifting behaviour of consumers in online channels and match that to their revenue and retention objectives."
Understanding this who, what, were, when and why of social media engagement makes it easier (and more rewarding) to take the plunge.
Creating a presence on the popular networks is a technically trivial affair. Any business can join and create a profile. Making that presence count is where the investment must be focused. Just as visibility has value in the real world, your social media presence can be given value in the virtual world.
5 guides for social media success
The following list can be used as a guide to help you craft a practical set of rules for your social media initiatives:
1. Participate where your presence is strategic: Research all relevant communities of interest and come up with a participation value matrix
2. Resource your social media initiatives: Ensure that any external activities are supported by a comprehensive infrastructure to address situations and adapt to market conditions and demands.
3. Make sure your social media initiatives are seamlessly integrated into your corporate communications, marketing, HR and sales initiatives: Internal collaboration ensures a consistent external messages.
4. Track your online activity and safeguard your brand perception: Train your social media personnel to proactively and reactively respond
5. Act and Learn: Record and share lessons of your social media experience across the company and create avenues to ensure that your organisation evolve and adapt over time.Research all relevant communities of interest and come up with a participation value matrix
Even with all its benefits, many corporate decision makers remain unsure or skeptical about the returns to be gained from investing time and resource in social media. What often intimidates decision makers is that the potential dangers of social media can be so devastating.
Paul Gillin the author of The New Influencers, wrote, "Conventional marketing wisdom long held that a dissatisfied customer tells ten people. But...in the new age of social media, he or she has the tools to tell ten million."
However, the positive dimension is that a satisfied customer can now instantly share that delight with thousands or millions in a way that was simply not possible before. Fear of the unknown should not be allowed to overwhelm clear value that the social media revolution can provide to an organisation.
Bevil Wooding is the chief knowledge officer of Congress WBN, a values-based, international non-profit organisation and an Internet strategist with US-based Packet Clearing House. Follow on Twitter: @bevilwooding or at: facebook.com/bevilwooding or contact via e-mail at technologymatters@brightpathfoundation.org