Social Media Isn’t About Relationships for Companies
21I hope you will indulge me with this post as it is somewhat off-topic for this blog. We usually spend quite a bit of time talking about monitoring and measuring, but that isn’t what this post is going to be about, at least not entirely.
I was having a conversation yesterday with my friend, Sonny Gill about the way in which companies hire consultants or internal professionals to run social media efforts. We both agreed that often times reputation carries the day over whether or not the person can ACTUALLY do the work. Mack Collier recently wrote a post imploring companies to ignore the social media early adopters. While I agree with the crux of the post, I do think some of the things those early adopters do can be helpful for companies. However, I don’t think I’d hire them JUST because they were an early adopter. Additionally, it’s worth noting that many of these people have several thousand people following them on Twitter, or several hundred connected with them on LinkedIn, or even several hundred connected with them on Facebook. It has been said numerous times, but numbers don’t necessarily equal expertise in this space. Companies need to peel back those initial layers to see if that person or persons can really help them develop a strategy that will contribute meaningfully to their business. If that person comes to you with fluff about building communities or developing relationships, politely send them on their way, even if they have the BIG reputation.
Which brings me to my point…Many of these people do often share quality information , but in many instances they are just uber-connectors (my apologies - I can’t figure out how to create an umlaut in this template) who try and network with as many people as possible. That isn’t to say that this approach has no value, I think it does, but primarily for individuals. Fundamentally, many companies don’t care about building relationships, or networking with you, me or anyone else. They view social media as another potential channel for transactions. We may not like it, but that’s the reality. They are wondering how social media helps them attract and retain top talent, enhance an existing customer’s experience, resolve an existing customer’s issue, save on overhead and fundamentally, drive sales and revenue. Try walking into a board room and say - “we think it makes sense for you to build a Facebook page. Over the next several weeks and months, we will be focusing on building relationships and a community.” I challenge you to do that and see how many blank stares you get. If you get some people nodding, they’ll likely follow that up with, “what am I getting,” or “when will I see some benefit to sales or revenue from this effort?” Not to reference Mack Collier again, but he made this point quite well a few days ago in this post. Building communities sounds nice, but the majority of companies aren’t going to join social media to do only that. They want the payoff. If you bring them relationships and community building you might be looking for different opportunities.
So, to sum it up, the more we (the non-social media elite among us) can bring social media-related solutions that directly impact our client’s businesses, the better off we will be. Not only that, but the people that bring those types of solutions will ultimately win the day over those who have JUST a big reputation or talk about how social media helps us build relationships with our customers and employees.
Anyway, I’m hoping to hear from you. Am I off base?
The Conversation
Sonny Gill on July 28, 2009
Joel Ressel on July 28, 2009
Good topic Chuck.
I think creating relationships with customers is going to have its dividends but it may not boost their ROI as quickly as they would like.
Morgan Johnston the manager of corporate communications at JetBlue made a great point, “That’s a clichéd phrase, but Twitter really is about tearing down the artificial walls between customers and the individuals who work at companies.”
If a business is going to use social media to get access to consumers and expect results they can’t just post spam about their business but join the relational connection social media can offer.
It may take more time and money initially but brand loyalty always brings the biggest ROI.
Heidi Cool on July 28, 2009
Nice post Chuck. It really all comes down to explaining cause and effect. Making conversation may be the tactic, but you have to start with a measurable goal.
If that goal is to increase sales, then perhaps the strategy is to bring more qualified traffic to the site—people with an affinity for the company and its products or services, who are more likely to buy the widgets, fill out the contact form, etc.
The tactic to both connect with those people and to increase their affinity could then involve social media methods such as blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
I think if you start the conversation with the goal and strategy, then explain how blogging can offer value to consumers, thus building brand loyalty (or whatever the tactic maybe) you can get much better buy-in. Talking about conversation seems wishy-washy on the surface, so the trick is to frame it in the right context, one that clearly demonstrates the intended ROI.
Chuck Hemann on July 28, 2009
@Joel + @Heidi - Thank you for the very thoughtful comments. I think you are right, it’s about framing the conversation. I just worry about the push to make everything so warm and fuzzy, or for that matter, ALL about the conversations. I agree, though, building brand loyalty is incredibly powerful - something every C-suite exec would pay for.
@Sonny - thanks for the post sir. So in a round about way you are telling me my post wasn’t necessarily off base from my regular musings? EXCELLENT! I agree…hidden beneath the conversation about conversations and communities is ROI. It really is everywhere.
Narciso Tovar, Big Noise Communications on July 28, 2009
It’s Kinda Like Trying to Meld Some Sort of ‘Ideal’ on What/How Social Media Can Be and How It Can Make You Relevant/Strong in the Boardroom. It Is Feasible and Attainable, But You Really Have to Be Deliberate About Getting To That Place.
You Can’t Just Go Willy Nilly and Start Up a Facebook Account and/or Twitter Handle and Do Nothing…or Worse Yet…BUY Followers!
Nay Nay!
You’ve Gotta Put Your Best Foot Forward, Put in the Work, Soak in Some Knowledge and Make it Happen! And, Oh, By The Way - Keep Your Client’s Expectations in Check - You Can’t Convince Em’ of Doing Something Like This and Expect Them to ‘Take That Hill’ Without Letting Em’ Know That ‘Taking That Hill’ Will Take Some Time and Effort.
So, Yes - Try to Stay Gold, Pony Boy…!...But Always Remember That Part of ‘Staying Gold’ Calls for Putting Food on the Table.
Heather Whaling on July 28, 2009
Chuck, this is like a breath of fresh air. “Relationships” are a means to an end. Management doesn’t set out and say “We want to create relationships with our customers.” Instead, the goal is to sell a product or a service. Connecting with current and potential consumers via social networking is just one “tool in the toolbox” to help achieve the goal.
As communicators, we need to remember who we’re communicating with. For example, when we’re addressing a board, we need to speak their language—and that’s not relationships and followers/fans ... it’s dollars and cents.
Heather (@prtini)
Chuck Hemann on July 28, 2009
@Narciso - don’t think I could’ve said it better myself. Thanks for stopping by, as always!
@Heather - Thanks! This started out as a possible rant about reputation carrying the day when companies were making SM decisions (particularly when retaining outside counsel), and then it mushroomed into the broader point which is relationships versus value. I’m not here to say there is no value in relationships, it’s just not something that resonates with a C-Suite crowd.
David Spinks on July 28, 2009
There’s definitely a difference between someone who’s good at networking with professionals and someone who’s actually a valuable professional. They could also be the same person though.
True, relationships don’t usually resonate with C-suite and even if they do, it’s usually because C-suite doesn’t really understand relationships and are misinterpreting their value.
I do think though that relationships can translate into improving the bottom line and the key is to be able to show that…which is something I am working on myself.
In the end, all of these social media concepts have to be tied to the end goal, which is usually revenue. It’s the people who understand how they can drive the bottom line with these concepts, and present it to their boss in a clear way that they can understand, that will be truly successful.
@DavidSpinks
Scott Hepburn on July 28, 2009
Thanks for keeping this debate going, Chuck. This is a topic that I think many companies—and even the social media pros they hire—are still trying to wrap their minds around.
I go back and forth. On one hand, I agree that we (“we” being the SM pros) need to do a better job of setting measurable goals for social media, being honest about what it can and can’t do, and defining success.
On the other hand, there are hordes of companies flinging themselves into social media with a “Hey! Hey! Look at me! Buy my stuff!” approach, and it’s JUST. NOT. WORKING.
So, is there a middle ground? Can we achieve business goals—particularly sales goals—without being salesy? Perhaps, but it’ll take a new kind of thinking, and a social media consultant could go bonkers trying to get ages-old institutions to think differently.
There’s another alternative, I’ve discovered. Social networking doesn’t have to be about relating with customers. What about connecting with business leaders in other lines of work? Forging new and creative partnerships? Meeting people via social networks who may never be customers but who could collaborate with you in a way that boosts BOTH of your businesses?
Imagine it: A restaurant owner meets a florist at a TweetUp, and co-market to husbands for anniversaries and “get out of the doghouse” packages. A high-end furniture retailer meets a wine distributor and they co-plan a luxury lifestyle MeetUp.
You get the idea…
Maybe relationships CAN grow your business—but maybe it’s the people you’re not marketing to, not your customers, that put the R in ROI.
Brad Snyder on July 28, 2009
Hey Chuck, I’m enjoying your post as well as Dave’s at DaveFleet.com… You are both speaking a lot of truth on measurement while coming at it from two different perspectives. I’ll be thinking all this over on my drive home!
Thanks for the post.
Chuck Hemann on July 29, 2009
Scott, David and Brad - Thanks for stopping by and adding to the discussion. I should clarify my position a bit…I don’t think conversations and community building are meaningless. What I am saying is that consultants, and even SM pros with corporations, should lead with business-driven SM strategies. How does joining the conversation on twitter help our business? How does creating a Facebook fan page help us grow our business? How does creating a customer forum enhance the customer experience and help you retain those customers? You get the idea…I just think that FAR too often we lead with, “we want to help you converse and build a community with customers/employees/investors” instead of we are going to help increase efficiencies, boost sales, etc… by creating X on some social network. Does that make any sense?
Christina Klenotic on July 29, 2009
Chuck, as we’ve discussed, it’s amazing how social media “experts” will walk in a room and say company X needs to create a presence on social media platform A to achieve an online community with Z. How many of those “experts” have actually done their due diligence with listening to determine the strategy matches where a company’s stakeholders are engaging in conversations? It’s awful tricky to put the cart before the horse in this type of instance, and yet, it happens all the time.
Chuck Hemann on July 29, 2009
@Christina - Hey! thanks for the comment! I don’t want to take shots at all the gurus, because I think many of them are doing tremendous work. At the root of the problem for many failed efforts is exactly what you are referring too - not enough listening. If you are listening first, your chances of success go WAY up. Not to mention that you are far more likely to present a business-oriented solution FIRST!
Don Bartholomew on August 03, 2009
Hi Chuck,
Enjoyed the post. I agree with the premise that just because someone has done a good job of building their personal brand they can fully transfer that to expertise in helping a company build their brand online. I would want to see how a candidate has helped a company, not just themselves.
On the broader point, building on Heather’s comment, relationships to me are always the strategy and never the objective. At the end of the day, we need to show how stronger relationships will lead to better business outcomes.
-Don B @donbart
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Prale Neict
Great talking with you yesterday about this, Chuck.
Company perspective is a tricky thing to gauge. Some definitely get it, whereas others have no idea what SM is. The thing that needs to go into that boardroom though, is not just the fluffy words and hopes of conversation and transparency, but the ROI in it all. What is the direct outcome (financial and non) to your efforts and how is it going to effect that client’s business? Coming in with a plan to talk about relationships will get you shot down 99% of the time. Talk about that business’ return and SHOW them how it can and has (from past experience) made a difference.