Social Media Change Management

Although things change, in many ways they stay the same. Ten years ago many businesses were still resistant to developing a web presence. For some it was the technical challenges, for others the major issue was resistance to change in the way they do business.

The resistance to implement Social Media into the business's marketing and promotional programs in many cases suffers from the same fate, resistance to change.

The consumer's habits are changing

Social Networking membership numbers have increased at a phenomenal rate. It's clear consumers and businesses alike are congregating online and forming personal and business networks that they depend on for information and advice in all types of purchasing decisions.

With such a phenomenal change in consumer habits, is it reasonable for businesses to resist change when considering the implementation of a Social Media strategy? I think not and therefore, one of the most important elements in the implementation of a Social Media Marketing Program is change management.

The old

For a very long time businesses have depended on interruptive marketing such as; television and radio commercials, print advertisements and of course the most annoying, telemarketing. Each of these methods are used to distract us from what we are doing and force consumers to listen or read some sort of marketing message designed to encourage us to take some form of action, which in most cases is a purchase.

Technology initiates change

It really is time for businesses to face the fact that to remain competitive change must be initiated. As in the past technology has required businesses to change, and in may ways it is technology that is now forcing businesses to move forward with Social Media Programs.

Technology has provided consumers with the tools to filter out advertising messages, we have mute buttons to filter out TV and Radio commercials, Caller ID and answering machines to filter out unwanted phone calls. The print media is harder for consumers to filter, but in many ways consumers are also doing this by obtaining much of their news and special interest information online, which of course offers plenty of opportunity to filter out unwanted content.

The New

Social Media is now the way forward and requires business managers to change their fundamental mind set. No longer is broadcast and interruptive marketing effective, consumers have turned off. Social Media is the new marketing approach with the two primary fundamentals being content and relationship development.

To succeed in Social Media, businesses must gain a deeper understanding of their targeted customer, discover where the audience is congregating online, and then interact and provide content to encourage enough interest to visit the business's web site to further interact with the company and develop a trusting relationship.

Managing Change

Change always meets resistance within the business environment. There will be many cases where individuals will ask, "Why? What we have been doing has worked in the past."

Change should be implemented slowly, stakeholders must be identified and considered. Will these new processes developed by the marketing department support those in sales? The sales department will need to be convinced.

A step by step trial approach is an excellent method to introduce Social Media to your business and associates. Developing a trial program is often effective as it creates the impression that it is only a trial and therefore, stakeholders do not feel committed to change.

A good first step is to introduce a Blog and Linkedin account to your business. There is minimal cost involved and some simple monitoring techniques such as interest in discussions and referrals from Linkedin to the business web site are easily tracked. And if during the test the "trial" delivers leads and customers to the sales team, it will be much easier to implement the trial program and move forward with additional Social Media initiatives.

The Last Word

The uptake of Social Media by consumers and businesses alike has created an environment where change is compulsory not optional.

The days when educating businesses on the need of developing a web site are still clear in my mind. The similarities of business's past resistance to developing a web presence, to that of Social Media implementation is clearly evident. If resistance to change cannot be overcome within your business troubled times are ahead, your competitors will surge forward, and your company will be left behind.