Initiating Business Social Media

Posted on 11. May, 2009 by Pete Hollier in Social Media

Initiating Social Media for Business

Consumers have taken to Social Networking in droves, and where the consumer is active so should be the business.

In some ways the business reaction to Social Media is similar to the early days of the Internet, businesses realized the Internet offered new opportunities but were unsure how to create and capitalize the new business model. Social Media has again put businesses in a position of seeing the potential, but being unsure of how this can or should be utilized.

In a previous blog post I stated, consumers interacting on Social Networks was human nature and therefore quite natural. This may be true of human nature to participate in this way, but open communication and interaction between business and consumer has traditionally been persuasive content and the push approach, as apposed to the interaction, transparency and authenticity required with Social Media. The interaction and openness of Social Media is what many businesses are unprepared for and find difficult to comprehend and initiate.

What is Social Media?

Many people have their opinions regarding the definition of Social Media in the online context.

Put Social Media into action on this post, please include your Social Media definition in the blog comments.

Social Media: Is the use of Internet tools such as Internet Networking Web Sites, Blogs, Micro Blogs and Forums to develop user created content, interact as a community, build relationships and exchange ideas and opinions with those of similar interests. Social Media is about people.

Social Media – Why Participate?

As with any type of business activity whether a particular strategy is relevant to your business often depends on the products and services provided, and the business’s target audience. Social Media however, has the potential to benefit a broad range of business types and customer demographics.

Reasons for a business to participate in Social Media include:

• Encourage interaction, dialogue and loyalty between business and consumer
• Develop sales leads and professional contacts
• Increase exposure and monitor public perception of brand
• Market research and product development
• Customer service and support

Social Media Marketing and Business Culture

The business use of Social Media is a Marketing Program, essentially the primary reason a business will initiate a Social Media Program is to communicate with current and potential customers, and to create knowledge and awareness about the business and its services.

However, due to numerous elements of Social Media such as networked customers, instant and open communication and the interaction between business and consumer, Social Media requires businesses to consider Social Media not only as a Marketing Program, but a new way to do business which often requires establishing a new company culture.

Social Media should be embraced as a company wide initiative by all departments and stakeholders, and considered a tool to support the business’s strategic and marketing plans.

Change within an organization always creates resistance at some level. Creating the new culture within the company requires leadership and vision by one or more individuals to lead the way, and to encourage other stakeholders to understand the need for change, and the benefits change will bring to the business.

Social Media – Business Initiation

The initiation of Social Media should be done with consideration to long term goals and business objectives. The following questions which must be answered by the business prior to becoming involved in Social Media include:

What goals and objectives does the business wish to achieve through Social Media programs?

A good guideline of potential Social Media business goals and objectives are likely to be similar to the basic reasons of why a business should initiate a Social Media program. (See above – Reasons for a business to participate in Social Media)

Who will be responsible for the implementation and monitoring of the Social Media Program?

The initiation of your business’s Social Media Program must be considered the beginning of the change management process. Your business will need to change how it thinks about your customers and how the future interactions and Social Media participation will proceed. A leader is required to ensure all departments and stakeholders support the Social Media program and understand the benefits and dangers involved.

• Does your company have the personnel who have the drive, willingness and expertise to drive the business toward the new Social business model?
• What will the best process be, educate and train a current employee or hire a consultant?

Who is responsible for the development of content and approving the company’s Social Media communication and participation?

How many times have you heard it? “Content is King” and content in the Social Media context is just as important as or more so than the persuasive content produced in the past.With the popularity of Social Media comes huge volumes of content from other businesses and user developed content via comments and opinions.

Two points must be considered regarding Social Media Content:

1. The message your company sends out to the Social Media world must be; relevant, interesting, informative and participatory.
2. With the huge volumes of new content being posted on the Internet, your content must be searchable and find-able. If this is not considered you will be sending a message no one will find or read.

Who within the company will be empowered to communicate the company’s message, how often, on company or personal time?

Guidelines on who, what and when for content development and participation need to be determined with a company wide Social Media policy statement. Establishing clear guidelines of who is able to use Social Media tools to develop content and interact with the community is imperative. It must be assured that the individuals participating in Social Media on the company’s behalf are able to communicate well and in a positive manner.

• When will the content development and Social Media participation take place?
• Will the persons responsible be required to complete this work on their own time or company time?

Without doubt the greatest cost a business will encounter through initiation of a Social Media program is employee time. And don’t for a minute think Social Media is not time consuming. I consider time management one of the greatest hurdles of Social Media.

Another consideration is how personal will the participation become. How much emphasis will be put into the personal vs. business interaction completed by individuals?

Who will be responsible and how will the company’s online reputation be monitored and managed?

With increased participation and the consumer being empowered to make their opinions of your products and services widely known, the monitoring and management of your company’s reputation is imperative.

Processes and guidelines will need to be developed to ensure your company reputation is monitored and managed effectively.

• How will you monitor your reputation online?
• What tools will you use?
• What level of employee commitment will be required to effectively monitor your company’s reputation?

What Social Media tools will be utilized in the Social Media Program?

I often consider the term Social Media tools to be somewhat confusing. Essentially the tools of Social Media are the Social Networking sites and groups, micro blogging tools such as Twitter, Company Blogs, in essence anything used to communicate and interact within the community.

When considering the “tools” consideration must be given to the media to be used. What media should your business use in its Social Media Program? Audio, Video, Images and of course text are all options which are available and should be utilized in an overall program where appropriate.

What criteria will be used to determine the effectiveness of the Social Media Program?

Measuring the effectiveness of Social Media is somewhat ambiguous. What is effectiveness and what is success with regards to a Social Media program. This will mean different things to different people.Some indicators may be:

• Increases web site traffic
• Number of followers or connections on Social Networks
• Public perception and awareness of brand

The following blog posts may be off interest:

• Measuring the ROI of Social Media
• Measuring the ROI of Social Media – Another Perspective
• The “Intangible” Benefits of Social Media
• Social Media The New Marketing Philosophy

Once these preliminary questions have been answered, the business will have the beginning of a well develop Social Media strategy and the implementation of Social Media within the business culture.

Written by: pete@seowizardry.ca a Search Engine Optimization Consultant

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