I was speaking with my friend and colleague Tyler Willis today about social media and he made a good point which should be pretty obvious but is oftentimes overlooked. The topic dealt with being able to debate and articulate your position in a conversation. This doesn’t have to deal directly with social media, but in our case it did. In social media (and for that matter in any field), there are going to be different types of people; some will be extremely analytics and ROI focused, others will understand that 1.5 billion people are on the web and it’s crucial that their company is too, and other folks will be right in between.
The key to addressing anyone on any topic is to understand both sides of the argument. If you’re in the social media space this means understanding why an executive or an employee may have a problem with social media (or with anything else for that matter) as well as understanding the arguments for social media use. The way you convince people or win a debate/argument is to understand and present both sides of the argument and then show how one of those sides falls apart.
Here are some arguments that an executive at a company might have against using social media:
- It’s too time consuming
- People can bash us online
- Can’t track direct sales or revenue
- Don’t have the resources
- Time could be better spent on things that are trackable
- It builds personal brand but not company brand
Here are some arguments that a social media strategist (such as myself) might have for using social media (directly correspond to arguments above)
- Time spent building relationships is the most valuable thing your company/brand can do. Every relationship you build is another consumer or user that you can reach out to for feedback or information. Every relationship you build can turn into a brand evangelist which can then turn into another 5 relationships. Without user and consumer relationships your brand cannot succeed.
- It’s not a bad thing if people bash you online, it’s how you deal with the negative comments that matters. Negative comments are just as valuable as positive ones because you will understand customer pain points and how to fix them.
- In some ways you can track direct sales or revenue. For example, Dell made over $500,000 from listing discount and refurbished products through a twitter account that they created. You can also track and measure things such as links, comments, brand image, etc. that overall contribute to brand awareness and brand visibility. Think about how much more trackable that is then a large print advertisement or a bill board.
- If you don’t have the resources start small. Create a blog and devote one hour a day to it. As it grows and as the conversations increase you can begin to add other social media channels and features to the mix.
- Again social media is far more trackable than any other type of medium. It all depends on how you set out to define your goals. If you want leads you can get leads, if you want increase brand awareness and visibility then you can do that too. Anything online is much more trackable than anything offline.
- It builds both. Take a look at what Richard at Dell or Frank at Comcast are doing. Both are representing companies that have received kudos from the entire social media community. Frank responds to every comment or complaint about Comcast, I posted one earlier today and received a response within 5 mins. Frank is saving Comcast a lot of time and money by acting as their social media customer support representative; he can fix and diagnose problems from twitter! Richard from Dell reported that since the company started using social media that their negative online presence has decreased by 30% These are just two examples of how individuals have been able to use social media to build brand awareness while contributing to their personal brand. Personal brand does not sacrifice company brand, it enhances it!
Now it’s your turn. Let’s hear some of your arguments against or for social media. How you debate for social media with an executive? If you were (are) an executive how would you debate against social media with a strategist?
thanks for reading!
Regarding people bashing you online, the point I like to bring up when discussing this is that people are bashing (and praising) you online whether you know it or not. It is happening whether you have any clue or not. I love to show examples to a client of something someone has said recently about their brand – it often blows them away and solidifies the point. It is important to admit that its already happening, and then chose what level of interaction you want to have with the info (just reading/researching all the way to reaching out).
Another area we need to keep in mind while arguing for social media is to be the ones to admit the faults of it ourselves. We need to not only understand the other side of the argument (as Jacob has pointed out), but be the ones to bring it up, which shows that we have thought about it and understand that social media is not a cure all. As excited and entrenched as many of us are in social media and its future possibilities, the whole world is not there yet (hence the need for arguing for it). We need to make sure we are not blind to its limitations, problems, or undeveloped areas.
Nice job. I like the part about social media being trackable. It certainly is. Can you tie precise ROI to it? It's tough. But, you can't tie precise ROI to TV, radio, print, outdoor or just about any other medium other than search and email.
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Wow…another homerun.
Good job and keep up the good work.
Jacob, you are on to something possibly far greater than your wildest imagination. Computer Enabled Society is new to the world and the implications will be sweeping and vast. Social media will make knowledge tangible outside the construct of the traditional corporation.
The following article; “That Pesky Little Problem With Market Capitalism” argues that Social Media will be the next currency of trade after the dollars fails.
http://www.ingenesist.com/general-info/that-pes….
Side point and response to C2; you can't tie ROI but you can use Real Options Analysis for valuation of knowledge assets in a social network
Thanks again, great post. Don't stop educating!!!
thanks a lot jason. i definitely think that social media is more measurable than traditional media.
glad you stopped by!
hey thanks man!
hey dan, well thank you very much 🙂 we are already seeing the dramatic impact social media can have on an organization, next few years are going to be quite interesting indeed.
thanks for the comment dan!
hey drew, yep, great points all around there. we definitely need to be the ones to bring up both sides of the issue. we do still have a long way to go before we reach mass adoption but it's great to see that some fortune 100 clients are on board.
hey when are we collaborating hmm? 🙂
thanks for the comment drew!
Jacob, you are on to something possibly far greater than your wildest imagination. Computer Enabled Society is new to the world and the implications will be sweeping and vast. Social media will make knowledge tangible outside the construct of the traditional corporation.
The following article; “That Pesky Little Problem With Market Capitalism” argues that Social Media will be the next currency of trade after the dollars fails.
http://www.ingenesist.com/general-info/that-pes….
Side point and response to C2; you can't tie ROI but you can use Real Options Analysis for valuation of knowledge assets in a social network
Thanks again, great post. Don't stop educating!!!
thanks a lot jason. i definitely think that social media is more measurable than traditional media.
glad you stopped by!
hey thanks man!
hey dan, well thank you very much 🙂 we are already seeing the dramatic impact social media can have on an organization, next few years are going to be quite interesting indeed.
thanks for the comment dan!
hey drew, yep, great points all around there. we definitely need to be the ones to bring up both sides of the issue. we do still have a long way to go before we reach mass adoption but it's great to see that some fortune 100 clients are on board.
hey when are we collaborating hmm? 🙂
thanks for the comment drew!