When NOT to Use Social Media
These days, everyone is talking about social media and discussing what services and tools to use, how to use them, why you should use them, etc. In fact, if you listened to all the advice out there, you would probably think that no matter who you are, whether an individual wanting to build a personal brand, or a large multinational corporation intent on communicating with customers, you should be using social media. But is social media for everyone? Are there times when you shouldn't be using it at all?
According to B&B, a magazine for marketing strategists, there are definitely some scerarios when social media should be avoided. In a recent article, they listed what these were:
- You're in a high-ticket business: The article recommends that businesses with only a few customers who each spend tens of millions of dollars with the company each year are better off not using social media. Instead, face-to-face interactions and phone calls will still work better.
- You fight with your employees: In some businesses, management and employees are constantly at odds. (An example was given of a unionized workforce where management-labor strife was common). This is also not the type of company that should encourage employees to communicate directly with customers via social media.
- Management skepticism: If management doesn't believe in social media, then employees who have been told for years that public communication needs to be filtered will be hesitant to try out a new medium which requires them to speak openly. In this scenario, management needs to encourage and reward participation to make social media work. If they don't, it will fail.
- Strategic Vacuum: Don't do social media just to do social media. If a company doesn't know what they're trying to accomplish, then there will be nothing to measure and no way to determine success. Just as with any other initiative a company takes on, there needs to be an objective...and that objective shouldn't be to distribute a press release.
- Privacy and regulatory concerns: If you work for a company where what you say in public could send you to jail, proceed with caution. You'll probably even need lawyers involved (sigh).
But Don't Be Afraid to Try!
All that being said, outside of a handful of scenarios, there is still plenty of room for growth when it comes to social media. For example, the results of a recent survey put out by marketing intelligence specialist WebTrends found that only 2% of businesses are using Twitter as a marketing tool. Only 2% - can you believe that?
Perhaps the problem is that businesses are hesitant to dip their toes into the water because they're unsure of how to proceed. Social media community members, such as those on Twitter, can be very critical of the companies they think are "doing it wrong." The backlash can be brutal...and not necessarily good for your brand, either. In other words, businesses thinking of getting involved with this platform should definitely think before they leap.
As it turns out, that was the exact advice Sarah Milstein gave at last week's Web 2.0 Expo out in San Francisco. At her session, "Effective Twitter," she recommended that companies consider the following questions before diving in:
- What will be different in 3, 6, 12 months as a result of our Twitter account?
- Who are we hoping to connect with?
- What kind of information is interesting to them?
- What might go wrong? What expectations might people have of us?
(Her session also had a number of other good resources - you may want to check out the PDF summary here.)
During Milstein's presentation, audience members were furiously scribbling down her every word as if this was the first time they had ever heard this information! Of course, it probably was. Although the right and wrong ways to use Twitter and the tools that can help you use it better may be old hat to some of us who live and breathe this stuff, but it's clear that to many people out there, this information is incredibly new...and intimidating.
This is unchartered territory for a lot of companies and many of them are just now beginning to think about their strategies and levels of involvement. You could literally see this trend in action at the Expo. There, some of the top sessions, the ones so jam-packed that it was standing room only, were specifically about social media and marketing. Twitter, Facebook, community building, etc...people just couldn't get enough.
This makes us wonder if 2009 be the year that social media really goes mainstream? Or, will the experimentations continue? We think it's possible that it will be both. Companies will try new things using social media. Some will succeed and some will fail, but in the end it will be these experimentations, led by the big brands, that will help push social media further out into the limelight than it is now.
Of course, having more Hollywood celebs sign up for Twitter couldn't hurt either.
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That is a thin line and firms have to decide carefully. İf not it will force to down.
Concerning social media becoming more mainstream, citing the increase of celebrity Twitter users: it occurs to me that what we may see is social media becoming more of a mainstream consumer activity rather than a business function. This might be good for businesses in that more consumer eyes will be drawn to various social media sites, particularly mid to late adopters who normally follow influencers like celebrities.
But will that help businesses sell "meatballs" or widgets? Bic pens? Inkjet printer paper?
The B&B article suggests that social media might not be so useful when you only have a few customers that buy high priced items and services. I would also suggest that the opposite end of the spectrum, when a company mass-produces cheap, disposable consumer goods, might also fail due to scaling problems.
@Mark Dykeman
"...But will that help businesses sell "meatballs" or widgets? Bic pens? Inkjet printer paper?"
Yes, of course it will.
Social Media is one communication tool in what should be a cavernous tool box to serve your customers. Anyone disparaging social media is saying customer service is not important...
That's a good indicator that they are following the same path to extinction the newspapers and the music industry are marching in.
Also,
The only business people I hear disparaging social media are the ones too stupid, too lazy, or both, to recognize the difference between true success and just scraping by in business.
All I can say is that I am glad my company allowed me to jump on to Twitter and announce that we had made cuts to our staff of 62, laying off 9 people. I alerted our Twitter community right away and within hours we had job interviews for about 5 of those affected employees. The goodwill we received for being transparent about our lay offs extended to the affected employees too as they recognized that we had them covered as best we could.
Here's the story - Using Twitter During Company Lay Offs
I also could see a position of sales not really using social media. Most sales are done over the phone or face to face and require the personal connections that social media can't always bring.
@Dave Allen
Wow. That's awesome your company made the effort.
I also love this bit from one of your post's that reiderates my point in a much more eloquent way:
"...Leave it to Billboard Magazine, a scion of the fading music industry, to resort to old media tactics. This editorial on their web site is worthy of discussion but unless you happen to subscribe to the magazine for $24.95 a month you do not have the ability to comment. Clearly what happens as a result of this madness is that Billboard’s music business subscribers can hold up this editorial as a sign of “things aren’t so bad after all chaps…” and then continue to ignore the future of their business whilst looking backwards at the good old days.
Control has moved from the few to the millions of many. Dull labels and dull bands offering dull, flat, non-experiential product - e.g. a CD, will go the way of the CD as it goes the way of the Dodo.
...If these ideas and opinions, not to mention the debate around them, are ignored, then the recording industry and Billboard Magazine will definitely follow the CD into extinction."
http://www.social-cache.com/2009/04/billboard-magazine-old-media-album-nostalgia-and-a-lack-of-vision
Everyone should be using social media, for one reason:
LISTENING
Even if you are not participating you've got to know whats going on out there!
5# Privacy and regulatory concerns- An important thing to keep in mind is many large corporate companies won't adapt to twitter just yet because of copyright issues/infringements. You want to be very conscious of whose saying what in large corporate environments, and that is why many companies are dipping their toes in the water slowly.
I hate to be be picky, but could you please not split your infinitive in the headline? It's unprofessional, plain and simple.
Great, great post. It's very important for companies and anyone really to look at why they are doing social media and how it will affect their internal organization. Thanks for going against the grain and not stating that it's an absolute must.
Maria Reyes-McDavis
Social Marketing with Impact
Basically, if you or your company is a dick: don't bother. Uninteresting isn't a crime...but being dishonest and mean is. You don't want to start an argument in this space. Just to messy and to public.
The most common neg I've come across professionally is (from my own post), "Your executives are obsessed with control of information and unable to delegate that control." My problem as a marcom guy with a severe social media problem is that it is almost always precisely these executives who insist that social media is tried. They still expect you to be able to "make some social media come out" without being, say, social or using, say, media.
Dear Sarah Perez,
I see you "wonder if 2009 be the year that social media really goes mainstream," when Facebook claims 200 million users. You probably meant something else, ja?
Funny that you should write this article just as I had my first experience of two companies actually following the Twitter discussions related to their products.
I was approached by Kodak and Creative Labs and given advice on a) where to find reviews on the products I was thinking of purchasing and b) which online shops actually carry the product. The Creative Lab twitter even went as far as finding me a good deal on ebay.
Now _that_ is superb service in my book!
Great article! Based on a debate I just had with several people on Twitter, another reason a company might have for NOT joining in the social media conversation is if they sell controversial products.
Scott's recently joined the Twitter fray and has been getting flack from organic gardeners who don't approve of using chemicals on their lawns and gardens. If a brand like Miracle-Gro or a company like Monsanto can't take the heat they will inevitably get, they should stay out of the kitchen. Just sayin'. :-)
Go ahead, split your infinitive. This isn't latin. The English language allows us "to boldly go" wherever we need to. Even if it means ending a sentence with a a preposition, you should write what needs writing.
Thanks for the input. As a writer and marketer, I believe in social media, because it's the expanded, online representation of how we function in our brick and mortar social circles. We promote what we do to our friends when and where it makes sense.
I seem to be having this conversation more and more these days.
With questions like "What could someone who [insert occupation or station in life] sells life insurance... is a stay-at-home mom... works for a living... is unemployed... do with FB or Twitter?
Beyond forming and maintaining relationships, I can think of far more reasons to use SM than to not use it.
Nice article. Thanks!
Dino #9, updated headline :-)
Thanks to CNN coverage of the Demi Moore incident, I have a feeling that 2% will be a good 85%
Posted by: Brandon J. Mendelson
|
April 9, 2009 5:22 PM
A few nits to pick on the "list" of examples:
2) You fight with your employees: In some businesses, management and employees are constantly at odds. (An example was given of a unionized workforce where management-labor strife was common). This is also not the type of company that should encourage employees to communicate directly with customers via social media.
Yeah, good thing that companies like Walmart, Comcast, Ford and others who are occasionally "fighting" with their employees don't use Social Media!! Wait a minute...
This is ridiculous. No one said that using Social Media tools meant 'giving all employees free reign to say whatever they want to customers using those tools.' Just as you wouldn't let your truck drivers issue your press releases, you don't necessarily have to authorize all employees to 'speak on behalf of the company on Social Networks.'
3) Management skepticism: If management doesn't believe in social media, then employees who have been told for years that public communication needs to be filtered will be hesitant to try out a new medium which requires them to speak openly. In this scenario, management needs to encourage and reward participation to make social media work. If they don't, it will fail.
Um, whom exactly do we think is authorizing this decision if it's not someone "in management"? This example is essentially meaningless. If someone is creating a Social Media Strategy without including those who actually make the business decisions in the mix? Then it's not a Social Media Strategist - it's someone else entirely - and while there may be exceptions? Most of those who are engaging in representing their company without the okay of "management" are not going to be working there for long.
Seems to me that not using social media is like hiding your head in the sand. About as much protection.
Seth Godin, as usually, is beautifully succinct on the subject:
"Why people choose to visit online social sites:
* Who likes me?
* Is everything okay?
* How can I become more popular?
* What's new?
* I'm bored, let's make some noise"
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/03/the-pillars-of-social-media-success.html
Facebook broke 200 million users this month. Wikipedia is one of the most well-known websites in the world. Blogs affect stock prices. NPR is all over podcasting. Celebrities talk about Twitter on late night TV. The POTUS even used Twitter announce he'd be taking questions for his livestreamed townhall at the White House with Google Moderator and blogged about it. Heck, President Barack Obama’s Open Government Directive will encourage Federal agencies to tweet and use other.
Paul Gillin made some excellent points that I think you undersell (and paraphrase) without perhaps given full weight to his experience talking to large enterprises about how they use technology. I find his last point most compelling, since privacy and regulatory concerns circulating around social media is any area I'm paying close attention to right now -- and not just because I work at a public company myself. Most large enterprises and governmental agencies have protected, proprietary or personally identifiable information that they can face considerably liability for disclosing or failing to protect against a data breach.
In those environments -- and let's be clear here, we're not talking about a "handful of examples," given the proportion of the economy constituted by big business, government, law and healthcare -- jumping in to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other public-facing social media tools may hold much more risk that reward if not done carefully. For attorneys, for instance, individual features like "Recommendations" on LinkedIn may pose legal issues. Paul's right; if such an organization doesn't have a strategic vision or buy-in from upper management, they're like better off staying out of it -- and be clear with staff that that is the expectation.
All of this pertains to social media as it exists on the public Internet. Once the various tools, including blogs, wikis and microblogging platforms, move behind the firewall, many of the issue posed by corporate communications and data leaking are addressed, at least if they are secured like rest of the enterprise's systems. Adoption of social media tools in the form of social software at enterprises, or "Enterprise 2.0" provides an entirely different value proposition and list of considerations that I'll leave to folks like Professor McAfee to pose. I would note that if the CIA could create, extend and maintain an Intellipedia, there's hope for even the most hidebound, hierarchical organizations to follow suit.
@Todd:
I don't normally come back and reply to comments made on comments but yours caught my eye and I think I'd like to address/clarify some points in your response and in my comment:
"...But will that help businesses sell "meatballs"
or widgets? Bic pens? Inkjet printer paper?"
Yes, of course it will.
Social Media is one communication tool in what
should be a cavernous tool box to serve your customers.
Anyone disparaging social media is saying customer
service is not important...
That's a good indicator that they are following the
same path to extinction the newspapers and the music
industry are marching in.
You know, these are good blanket statements to make and they are in tune with a lot of common wisdom in digital/social media marketing circles. Unfortunately, when presented as such, it sounds like you're merely repeating the common wisdom of the day.
In terms of disparaging social media, if that's what you took from my comment, you may not have read it completely or carefully. I was essentially agreeing with one of the findings of the B&B article and suggesting there's a continuum of transactions and value/transactions in business where social media may be less effective than other forms of sales and marketing. The article seemed to suggest that high ticket, small number of buyers might not be a natural fit for social media efforts. I suggested that the other end of the spectrum (small ticket items produced and sold in mass quantities) might also be a weak area. However, there's a huge space of opportunity between those two ends, in my opinion.
Also,
The only business people I hear disparaging social
media are the ones too stupid, too lazy, or both, to
recognize the difference between true success and just
scraping by in business.
Not really sure what to make of this comment. Also not sure what kinds of business people that you are talking to. I really think that this kind of statement is a generalization that doesn't take into account the many permutations of businesses that exist, the marketplaces they may exist in, their customers, etc. As I mentioned before, I definitely think there's a huge realm of opportunity for the use of social media in business activities. However, I'm not sure that all industries and businesses are geared for it, are ready for it, and can take full advantage of it, at least not yet. Eventually, I think virtually all businesses would, or could, take advantage of social media. We might not be there yet, though.
the believe in social media, because it's the expanded, online representation of how we function in our brick and mortar social circles.
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Doodlekit is a fully hosted online free website builder and CMS (Content Management System) that helps you build a personal or business website. It’s perfect for anyone from first-timers to advanced web developers and web designers. Unlike other website creator tools, Doodlekit is all online. You don’t need to install any software on your computer, and you can use it from any computer, anywhere in the world that has internet access, at any time. To know more visit http://doodlekit.com/home
Twitter and the tools that can help you use it better may be old hat to some of us who live and breathe this stuff, but it's clear that to many people out there, this information is incredibly new...and intimidating.
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The social media are designed to generate publicity in the network, we can not deviate from that reality, so if we put at risk our integrity or our interests is not advisable to use them, beyond being a social circle on Delicious or Facebook also seek to again through advertising...
Great blog! I actually stopped using facebook and myspace. I am back to Outlook. Just downloaded Outlook Track-It which gives me a followup reminder for important emails (its a plug-in), and now I can just keep in touch with people on there. Is anyone actually STILL on myspace???
Thanks nice collection.
CJW - Yes I have Outlook Track-It as well. It's probably Outlook 2007's best plugin. You can flag any email for followup reminders. Before adding that, I don't think Outlook had anything like the built in, so I'm pretty happy.
What I've found that's particularly interesting is monitoring my CTR on the links posted on Twitter. I have VERY few followers and yet I'm even at around 15 clicks per link...not too bad for 30 seconds and 140 characters!
I found a good post not too long ago on the value of a click via Social Media and Twitter in particular. I don't remember the URL, but you could probably find it with a search...was pretty cool stuff.
I found a good post not too long ago on the value of a click via Social Media and Twitter in particular. I don't remember the URL, but you could probably find it with a search...was pretty cool stuff.
I found a good post not too long ago on the value of a click via Social Media and Twitter in particular. I don't remember the URL, but you could probably find it with