Ironically, the old adage about
“jumping on the bandwagon” is a legitimate reason to be cautious about
social media. The absence of consistent and significant evidence of a return
on investment (ROI) is sufficient reason for many CEOs and business
owners to squash even the remote possibility of a social media
initiative within their companies.
But after speaking to nearly 500
executives and business owners over the last six months, I’m convinced
that a lack of ROI is just an excuse. For starters, a majority of the
presentation attendees admitted that the marketing and advertising they
were doing was ineffective at generating new business in tough times. To
correct this, many participants invested significant time, money and
resources into revamping their websites. But when I inquired about what
criteria they used to justify the investment, few reported any…or at
least anything tangible. They justified the expense as a necessary evil
and considered social media as a next step if all else failed. The
budget, however, allocated to website redesign, search engine
optimization and paid advertising like Google Adwords was based on the
very same weak analytics and hype they pooh-poohed for social media.
What I believe is driving their
resistance to accepting social media is the very essence of the
communication revolution we’re experiencing — relationships. The most
common objection I hear is that “we don’t have the time.” Time for what?
What is more important than taking the time to develop relationships
with customers, job candidates, employees, vendors, suppliers and other
prospects? Think about it. Management and salespeople will spend
hundreds of dollars for six or eight hours on a golf course and dinner
without any metric applied to its ROI. But if they find an employee
checking their Facebook
page or watching a YouTube
video, all hell breaks loose. HR is mandated to put guidelines in place
and IT builds a cocoon around the company’s Internet connection.
A new website, however, takes the
pressure off management and salespeople. If new leads don’t come in,
it’s either the economy, the web developers, poor keyword selection, or
something else…almost anything else is to blame. If a new recruiting
campaign tanks, it’s HR’s fault, the poor candidate pool, or a failure
to provide adequate funding for recruitment. If sales goals are missed,
it’s never the quality of the relationships a salesperson develops but a
lack of leads.
A social media strategy, much to the
chagrin of management and many employees, puts the responsibility for
success on the individuals to identify, nurture and sustain quality
relationships. Traditional advertising and marketing does the work for
you. It doesn’t require anyone to reach out and connect with someone.
It’s designed to pull
people in rather than push word-of-mouth out.
Social networking is push marketing
on steroids. As Erik
Qualman says, it’s not word-of-mouth, it’s world-of-mouth. Social
media puts the onus for success on each salesperson to convert quality
relationships into introductions, referrals, and new business as well as
customer retention. It puts the burden on human resources to engage
employees and encourage candidates to apply. It holds management
responsible for developing quality relationships with suppliers, vendors
and employees. For the first time, a business and its employees will be
held responsible for the quality of relationships they develop not the
size of their database and budget.
But most people are finding this
“relationship” thing very difficult to do. It’s not so much that they
don’t have the time as it is that they won’t have anyone to blame for
failed relationships. It’s much easier to hire another salesperson,
build a new website, send out press releases, and create a new brochure
than it is to develop and maintain a relationship.
Although social media is due for a
shakeout, it’s reaching a
tipping point. Social media is here to stay. It’s simply too useful
to disappear.
