Are you just a social media cheerleader?
Almost every time I work with a public relations firm or corporation on social media, I hear a version of this statement:
“Us old dogs don’t really understand all this new social media stuff, but we’ve got this brilliant young guy right out of school, and he’s getting us all up to speed.”
Bang Bang. You’re Dead.
If you truly believe that social media can transform brands by flipping the script on the age-old master and servant relationship of companies and their customers, then how do you delegate that assignment?
If you truly believe that social media is more than just a tarted-up version of SEO combined with YouTube videos, how can the most senior people in your agency (or company) decide that they cannot get involved personally?
When TV broke on the scene, did agencies say “I don’t really understand that radio with pictures stuff, but we’ve got this kid who watches it all day. He’ll tell us what to do.”? If you watch and believe Mad Men, I think the answer is absolutely yes. But let’s not make that mistake again.
I’ve worked with some amazing interns, but interns don’t transform brands.
It’s not that they don’t have the smarts. It’s not even that they lack experience. It’s that they don’t have the ear of senior members of the client team.
It Takes a Village
Everybody in your organization – including senior managers and ownership – needs to understand and participate in social media. Period.
Not everyone will be an expert in every aspect of social media. It’s too broad, and the current moves too swiftly. But you can have a shared understanding of why you’re involved in social media and how you’re going to evaluate your success, and then break the execution into morsels that can be assigned to team members.
More so than any marketing or communication development in this last century, only social media participation yields understanding of its capabilities.
Are you ready to drop the pom poms and get your hands dirty?
(photo by Jimmy MacDonald)
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pom poms on the floor. (check)
hands dirty. (check)
Resounding YES. There is no way to delegate your brand and be authentic. And I honestly believe that there is no way to understand any tool or craft derived from that tool with out practice.
Jay, this post is excellent, and so right.
Also, if the part of the revolution of social media is about facilitating full-on, two-way conversations between orgs/companies and constituents/consumers, then everyone involved needs to be having these conversations, authentically, or you won’t get anything real out of them.
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Sometimes the deep end looks scary for these guys. While I am learning to swim, I can’t always seem to get everyone else to join me. How do you move from being a cheerleader to a participant?
I agree that you must get in there to really understand it. Read, comment, participate. Thanks for the great blog Jason. You continue to write on good topics.
Great post Jason. You have no idea how many times I have heard someone say that we have a great intern or someone fresh out of college that handling this. It’s ridiculous to think that’s all it takes. Not only does the organization’s culture need to embrace social media, but it needs more focus, more dedication, and more strategy to be successful.
Thank you for getting this out in the public. I thought it was just me.
You’re spot on here. It really does take a village. Very creative way to get your point across but simply valid.
Hiring a smart “kid” is a start but their needs to be that cultural change like you said. The employees are going to be your best way to market the company and ultimately provide the best service to clients.
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Could not agree more. This can be a struggle within an agency and on the client end where clients can tend to think they’ll “get by” by having a newbie handle their social media stuff without a second thought about what that even begins to mean. To Drew’s point, I think that motivation across the board is going to be a struggle as agencies get all employees to embrace the importance of the social Web but as you mention, folks will soon realize it’s a necessity.
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I love it when you take thoughts that have been rattling around in my head and articulate them so brilliantly. Thanks for that.
This all goes back to the issue of looking at social media as a narrowly defined tactic versus a holistic approach to communications as a whole. And by that I mean every touchpoint of communication in a business: customer service, marketing, public relations, product development, the list goes on. It’s like saying “I don’t know how to use the computer, so I’ll hire someone to do my data entry.”
The trouble is that in social media, more than almost anywhere else, you have to understand the WHY before you can really make an impact with the HOW. It’s not something you can feign an interest in or put together a sheet of talking points. You have to grasp what it’s going to do for your business, because at that point, every action you take is going to have that perspective in mind.
Thanks for another thought provoking post, Jay.
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one of the best posts i have read on this topic. it saddens me to watch senior big thinkers fall for the ‘you don’t get it old man/woman’ nonsense. smart people are ageless. years of experience communicating mixed with ability to adapt to new modes and technologies is the perfect blend of expertise, beyond a shadow of a doubt.
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