Over the last half year or so I immersed myself in social media. Read a lot of stuff. Tried to weed out the self proclaimed gurus from the people who really know what they are talking about. And of course I dabbled in social media myself. I learned a lot and I would like to say that my learning curve has been very steep. Going up that is.
I needed to read up because when working for TNT Post as an interim manager on employer branding and job marketing we didn't use social media at all. Sounds like blasphemy, but thousands of people needed to be hired, while it looked like thousands of employees would lose their job. Strikes and labor unions were part of daily life back then and social media had been abused by disgruntled employees before so it was a no go back then. However, in the mean time the Communication Department strategized on how to deal with social media. They came up with some excellent guidelines that I blogged about last December.
So I was held back. Or so it felt. When awake from this "social media" less period of my life - I didn't even have time to write my blog back then - I realized that lots of organizations, professionals (even friends in the same line of work as I) don't use any form of social media. It reminded me of a friend who 13 years ago was working in food FMCG and proclaimed that the internet was of no use for his business. He was the commercial director and he was wrong. It still boggles my mind that people who work in branding, marketing or communication aren't on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook. You don't have to be fanatic about it, but how do you know how it works or what it can do, if you do not use it? And if you don't use it how can you give the best advice possible to colleagues or clients?
Or course there are people who say that social media isn't for everyone or every organization. I beg to differ. I think social media has an impact on the organization and its brand(s).
It is very simple really. If branding is all about the image in the heads of the consumer, you have to listen to what they are saying about you. And they using social media to say it. So social media is not an option. You don't get to chose if you're in or out. It is mandatory. Your (potential) customers are out there talking about you and you should listen. It is the least you can do.
If your organizations is like most organizations it has employees. They use social media too and may say good or bad things about your organization. With service providers employees have always been creating moments of truth. Every interaction with customers is a moment of truth. The emergence of social media confronts other types of organizations with this phenomenon as well. Listening, and clear and simple guidelines would be a minimum involvement in social media for an organization with employees.
Businesses exist because they sell stuff. Person to person sales has taken on a whole new dimension with social media. Cold calling has been replaced by smart calling. That is, if you use social media to your advantage. And why wouldn''t you? I have never met anyone who likes cold calling. Nor have I ever met anywone who likes to be "cold called".
It is a challenge to figure out how to best use these media to your advantage. But you really have no choice in "if" you should use them. It influences your organization and your brand whether you use it or not.
To explore this topic I started the group The Social Brand on LinkedIn. Why don't you join me there?
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