Social media has transitioned over the past several months.  I’m in the technology business and I have to admit that my clients have routinely asked me to block access to many of the social media sites… the reasons being somewhat obvious.  Facebook, Twitter and other sites have quickly sucked up a lot of productivity in a great many work environments.  But, as I just mentioned, there has been a transition in this area and it is now to the point that a blanket “block” can be a far greater risk to the business than is the potential for lost time.  Simply put, the PR and marketing opportunities are too great to ignore!

So, what’s the answer?  Do we simply open the flood-gates and hope for the best, or do we continue to block access and risk loss of market share as others take advantage of the opportunities that are available in this arena known as Social Media?

The first thing I’d recommend is a well written and clearly defined policy for the use of social media in the work place.  This one is a BIG one, so don’t overlook it.  I’d be willing to bet that this will be a new section in the employee handbook for many small companies.  We may already have clearly defined policies for attendance, vacation, sexual harassment and others, but this is an area that, until very recently, was way off the radar for many.  For others, it may mean we have to modify the policy that was created a year or so back that clearly stated that any employee caught visiting any of those time-sucking, productivity killing web 2.0 sites on company time would be drawn and quartered.  Pardon me; I think I got distracted for a moment.  Regarldless of which section of the field in which you may be standing; this is an area that requires our attention as we move forward.

If I recall correctly, it was Benjamin Franklin that used to choose between options by making a list of “Pros” and another list of “Cons”.  He would look at the two lists, weigh each item on each side and “hopefully” arrive at a decision a little easier.  I want to offer you a list of “Pros and Cons”, but I’m going to try to keep those lists somewhat even… I don’t want to unduly pressure your decision making process!

First, let’s look at the “Pros” side of the scale

• Social media will allow you to reach clients/customers that more traditional marketing will miss.  If you are simply good “Tweeple” (people who tweet and are twitters) and you tweet your message to your followers, regardless of whether you have 50 or 15000, you may think that your message will have limited circulation.  This particular line of though simply misses the boat.  If your tweet is retweet worthy, you may have one of your followers that retweets the message to their followers, who may share that with their Facebook friends, who post it on LinkedIn and MySpace… are you starting to get what I’m throwing down (oops, was that way to “yesterday”)?  I have honestly seen messages hit my Facebook page that were retweets, of retweets, yet great info that caused me to track down the link.  You simply never know who will direct a friend to your blog, Facebook page or social bookmark post.  This makes your potential for finding new, fresh leads virtually unlimited.
• Social media is very cost effective.  Done correctly, it’s give you an excellent ROI.  If you compare it to other forms of reaching new prospects you’ll find that you have to lay a lot of cash on the table to reach the same number of people.
• It’s a great tool to learn about your target audience.  Social media allows you an opportunity to use various analytics options to study visitors but it also gives you an opportunity to view comments that those visitors may leave to your posts, blogs and articles.
• Social media gives you the opportunity to improve your product or services.  Again, by encouraging open communication through public comments, you have the opportunity to find ways to improve what you do/offer.
• Brand loyalty is also a biggie!  Social media is an excellent tool to introduce your brand to the market place but, beyond that, it allows you to interact with your clients, develop a personality, let your clients know that you care and all those things that make you more real to them.  That, in turn, will breed loyalty and allow you to build your reputation and build relationships.

How about a look at the “Cons” side now

• It requires a time commitment.  There is always the content that will have to be created and actually posted somewhere.  There will them be comments that wil require some response.  You’ll have some type of site and/or pages (blog, business pages on the social media site or something) that will have to be maintained, etc.  Oh, there are ways to eliminate, or profoundly reduce, this tax on time if you want to part with a few bucks.
• You will lose some control.  Any time you publish something, it becomes quite public.  Even though this is the intent, it can become somewhat troublesome.  Once it’s “out there” it’s open to criticism.  The last thing you want from your efforts in social media is to spawn a backlash and have no control over comments.  This backlash of criticism may even come from your own team.  Again, this is a good place for a well defined policy that is well communicated with your team.  Be sure that everyone has more than a simple “head knowledge” of what you hope to convey.  Wow, this is a big topic, so I’ll just leave it at that for now.
• It places a high demand on your talent.  Oh, you may not have thought about this one… You’ll have to continually come up with interesting content that will appeal to those in the market that you want to touch.  That first few times may be easy, but you’ll begin to see if you’re cut out for it when you get down the road a bit.
• Return On Investment (aka, ROI) can be somewhat delayed.  Don’t forget the term “Social Media”.  That’s where it starts.  In the beginning, you work to build the relationship, brand loyalty and to set yourself up as the subject matter expert (SME).  That takes a little time and will require a little front-end load on your effort.  Simply put, don’t venture into this arena with the thought “I’ll give this a few weeks and see what happens”.

I have become a big advocate for social media, even though I used to be one of those who viewed it as the black hole of productivity.  It requires some thought, some guidelines and a plan.  It may not be for everyone, but it simply cannot be written off without looking at the possibilities and opportunities.  I started this article with a specific intent, but I have to admit that all I’ve actually gotten to here is the introduction.  Oh well, I think it’s the place to start.  If the mood hits me, I’ll pick up here tomorrow.

I’d love to hear your thought!  Please leave your comments.

Have a great day,

Roger

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 12:33 pm and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.