We at Franny Knight, Inc. are working on a Ethnographic Study of what stages are companies at and going through with the use of all Social Media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogging, et....
Here is what we have so far:
Stage I: Blocking Social Media platforms like Facebook from all employees, i.e. head in the sand approach - hoping it will go away. Guess what, 800 million users on Facebook over 50% of U.S. population - over 75% who have a computer and growing. Its not going away! And...you are being discussed on Social Media both negative and positively - one bad comment on Twitter or Facebook could cause a very messy crisis management issue - just ask United: www.unitedbreaksguitars.com. BTW just because you block it on your company computers doesn't mean your employees aren't on it all day on their SMART phones.
Stage II: One Person Has Been Assigned to Deal With It. Its usually an intern or the youngest person on staff, which is a recipe for disaster. Not having a more seasoned employee working with social media messages from your company is just not smart. It is no longer going to work to have one person working on a Communications Platform that is the largest, fastest moving shift in communications we have ever seen. All employees should be using Social Media on behalf of your organization - you do this through creating a Social Media Policy and train employees. If you are afraid of what your employees are going to say - then you have hired the wrong employees.
Stage III: Marketing-PR Department are Handling It: At least its a department and not one person. Still this a very naive and beginners way of using a Very Large Shifting Communications Tool. And...its not designed to be a Traditional Marketing Tool. Traditional Marketing is like a Megaphone and it is Interruptive. Social Media is more like a telephone, conversation - not interruptive. You can't just plop your Marketing Messages, Videos, Annual Report, etc....onto Social Media. You ask anybody on Facebook or Twitter if that is what they are using it for - they do not want to be sold to.
Stage IV: Marketing Department Understands Its Traditional Marketing Limitations: The Marketing Department gets it has to be done differently - that a community has to be built, interaction, trust and participation from customers or followers. Their Social Media Marketing Campaigns are designed correctly with no Traditional Marketing plop ins.
Stage V: Entire Organization is Involved in Social Media as a Communication Tool: The company has in place a Social Media Policy and Strategy. Employees have been trained on how to use the tools and encouraged and rewarded to do so in the correct way. It is used for all departments, sales, product development, customer service, employee relations, teams, pr, marketing. Two great examples are Ford and Zappos.
We are in the same place companies were when the telephone was invented and salespeople were trying to sale companies on buying them to use in their operations. Companies originally resisted the use of them because they were worried that their employees would use the phone to call all their friends and family memebers and waste time. They were also afraid it would allow for more release of trade secrets than without it. But just as it was then, companies cannot ignore new communication tools that are powerful and creates a shift in communication in very big ways. They will lose market share eventually because their competition is using the new tool and gaining and retaining more customers.
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