A huge, huge barrier to adoption of social media is the Us vs. Them mentality. The notion that “they” are preventing us from implementing the social media strategy we want. Or that “they” are a bunch of time-wasters who don’t understand business value and want to upset the apple cart with unproven strategies.
Provided that you have the wherewithal to bring the feuding parties to the table for a constructive discussion (and if you don’t, sorry, you’ve got no room to complain that “they” don’t “get it”), let’s talk through a few things you might want to discuss across the table.
Evangelists to Critics
Speak their language: Understand that the critics around social media are hearing the hype, but they’re likely seeing a focus on the tools instead of a discussion around how they further business goals. They may not use the tools themselves, which means they don’t have first hand experience. Or if they do, they see them as a personal communication tool, and not readily applicable, measurable, or executable in a business framework.
Your job: Education, information, and an objective mindset. And doing your homework around how your social media ideas fit into the bigger picture, including having a realistic assessment of risks and potential challenges. You’ve got to temper your enthusiasm based on what you see, and look at the social media landscape with a critical and editorial eye.
Points of Discussion:
- What perceptions do you have about the usefulness of social media within a business? What have you heard that reinforces those notions, for better or worse?
- What information would help you feel more comfortable about considering social media strategies as a part of our mix?
- What are you most concerned about regarding the risks or implications of social media? What’s the worst case scenario you can imagine, should we undertake such a thing?
- Why are these concerns top of mind? Is there anything else we do as a company that has similar risks?
- Have you undertaken new or unfamiliar strategies in your role previously? How did you establish a foundation for that and mitigate risk?
- Are you concerned that this will somehow negatively impact your role? That of your team? Your available resources? Why or why not?
Critics to Evangelists
Speak their language: Know that many proponents of social media do see potential for this kind of communication and mindset, outside of just Facebook, Twitter, or blogs. Enthusiasm for new strategies is often because it speaks to a perceived unmet need or a weakness in existing approaches. It’s perfectly reasonable to require business justification, but your advocates for social media might be seeing opportunity in places you hadn’t considered.
Your job: Articulating your criticisms and concerns from an objective and levelheaded viewpoint. Educating the group on business goals, and where you see gaps between social media strategies and the ability to meet those goals. Keeping an open mind to looking at existing business challenges through the lens of different solutions that may feel less familiar.
Points of Discussion
- Which areas of the business will this impact, and how would we need to adjust our current culture, process, or operations to accommodate it?
- How do you see roles and responsibilities changing to incorporate these new strategies and tactics, and what kind of resource allocation will your strategy require (people, time, money, infrastructure).
- What are the potential financial risks? Reputation risks?
- What training and education will we need to provide, both internally and externally?
- What are your goals and objectives for our use and adoption of social media? How will you gauge progress toward them, and how are you defining both success and failure?
On both ends of the table, I’m a big fan of the 5 Whys approach to getting to the root cause of issues. It’s a tactic employed by the folks at Toyota as part of their evolution in manufacturing. It’s not perfect, but if you haven’t tried it before, it can be an interesting way to break through repetitive thinking. (On a related note, if you haven’t read The Elegant Solution, it’s a fascinating look into the world of Toyota’s processes, innovation, and mindset, and a compelling business book.)
Getting the discussion started among dissenting viewpoints is really key to uncovering root issues that stand in the way of long term social media adoption. And you may find that the issues at hand aren’t about blogs or Facebook or policies at all, but a shift in culture that’s happening as a result.
What would you add? Have you had these discussions, and what roadblocks do you come up against? What makes you lose patience with these kinds of discussions? Let’s have an honest discussion ourselves, here, shall we?
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=8d10ff9b-176e-4839-b02b-df5574e2f1f8)
I just blogged about this very subject, in a post called “the toxic myth of us vs them”. Thinking of ourselves as separate from others makes it easy for us to judge and make assumptions based on very little evidence, and is actually the opposite of community building.
Once we realize we’re all in this together and that there is no ‘them’, huge changes can happen.
I just blogged about this very subject, in a post called “the toxic myth of us vs them”. Thinking of ourselves as separate from others makes it easy for us to judge and make assumptions based on very little evidence, and is actually the opposite of community building.
Once we realize we’re all in this together and that there is no ‘them’, huge changes can happen.
Love Jeremy’s “it’s only and all us” concept and till everyone is on the same “us” page, I am definitely one of “them.” A critic.
It’s not that I am diabolically opposed to social media (and yes, I once was, and not so long ago either) but that the SM discussions I have with clients, employees, and folks whose companies I own shares in, is often exasperating at best.
In my world (direct marketing), we manage to a small success percentage — typically about 1-2%. I don’t need to be told that Twitter is going to make millions overnight or that a Facebook offer is going to get us on Oprah’s Favorite Things for Christmas list to invest my money but I do want tangible goals and more important, feedback.
Surprisingly enough, the question for me is not always whether or not we can measure it and how much the ROI is but what we’re going to do to monitor it and how we’re going to tweak it to make it better. What kind of benchmarks will we put in place? Who is going to monitor those benchmarks? What role does customer service play versus the marketing team?
You listed this in #5 above and for me, it’s the thing that I get the most pushback on. I never expect a web site launch to go perfectly and it doesn’t matter if it does because that’s one of the biggest benefits of the web — you can change things in a nanosecond. However, when I try to use this analogy (and perhaps it’s the wrong one), I get the “oh, so you expect us to fail before we even start” schtick, which frankly, just irritates the hell out of me. Never a good thing when the person who controls the purse strings loses patience.
Hi Amy,
Some great points there, especially about monitoring, benchmarks, and adjusting strategy. The bottom line is that there are some companies and people that are ready to tackle social media properly, and some aren’t. Mindset and attitude matter a lot, because there’s a huge need to be vigilant while flexible, and that’s hard to handle for some.
Same goes with web development, or anything else that’s on the internet. Yes, we *can* change things in a nanosecond. But knowing what to change, having the attitude to let it be imperfect in the first place, understanding real vs. perceived risks – those things are elusive to some businesses at best.
And frankly, if you’re not going to take your social media strategy as seriously as you do any other business initiative, you probably aren’t ready for it, either.
Thanks for weighing in.
Amber
Love Jeremy’s “it’s only and all us” concept and till everyone is on the same “us” page, I am definitely one of “them.” A critic.
It’s not that I am diabolically opposed to social media (and yes, I once was, and not so long ago either) but that the SM discussions I have with clients, employees, and folks whose companies I own shares in, is often exasperating at best.
In my world (direct marketing), we manage to a small success percentage — typically about 1-2%. I don’t need to be told that Twitter is going to make millions overnight or that a Facebook offer is going to get us on Oprah’s Favorite Things for Christmas list to invest my money but I do want tangible goals and more important, feedback.
Surprisingly enough, the question for me is not always whether or not we can measure it and how much the ROI is but what we’re going to do to monitor it and how we’re going to tweak it to make it better. What kind of benchmarks will we put in place? Who is going to monitor those benchmarks? What role does customer service play versus the marketing team?
You listed this in #5 above and for me, it’s the thing that I get the most pushback on. I never expect a web site launch to go perfectly and it doesn’t matter if it does because that’s one of the biggest benefits of the web — you can change things in a nanosecond. However, when I try to use this analogy (and perhaps it’s the wrong one), I get the “oh, so you expect us to fail before we even start” schtick, which frankly, just irritates the hell out of me. Never a good thing when the person who controls the purse strings loses patience.
Hi Amy,
Some great points there, especially about monitoring, benchmarks, and adjusting strategy. The bottom line is that there are some companies and people that are ready to tackle social media properly, and some aren’t. Mindset and attitude matter a lot, because there’s a huge need to be vigilant while flexible, and that’s hard to handle for some.
Same goes with web development, or anything else that’s on the internet. Yes, we *can* change things in a nanosecond. But knowing what to change, having the attitude to let it be imperfect in the first place, understanding real vs. perceived risks – those things are elusive to some businesses at best.
And frankly, if you’re not going to take your social media strategy as seriously as you do any other business initiative, you probably aren’t ready for it, either.
Thanks for weighing in.
Amber
Amber,
Great conversation starters, and I will be using them in my local community. The past year has been interested. At first, people had no clue about social media and what it could for their small business.
Then I joined forces with the local community college and offer classes on Social Media. Facebook, Twitter and blogging for the small business. It’s amazing what a little information can do for people!
The biggest obstacle I encounter is “I don’t have time for all of that”. It’s my job to show people they don’t have time to NOT be involved in social media. It’s a great relief to them to know we can make a 1 year or 2 year plan – it does not get done overnight!
@debworks
A little information can be good…and it can also be incredibly dangerous. Part of what’s fueling our “We need a Facebook page!!” panic in the business community is that we’re leading with tools and whizbangs, and we’re not talking enough about the *implications* and *business case* for social media.
Folks push back on time management because they’re seeing these things as tasks, not underpinnings of business. That’s the part we have to change.
Amber,
Great conversation starters, and I will be using them in my local community. The past year has been interested. At first, people had no clue about social media and what it could for their small business.
Then I joined forces with the local community college and offer classes on Social Media. Facebook, Twitter and blogging for the small business. It’s amazing what a little information can do for people!
The biggest obstacle I encounter is “I don’t have time for all of that”. It’s my job to show people they don’t have time to NOT be involved in social media. It’s a great relief to them to know we can make a 1 year or 2 year plan – it does not get done overnight!
@debworks
A little information can be good…and it can also be incredibly dangerous. Part of what’s fueling our “We need a Facebook page!!” panic in the business community is that we’re leading with tools and whizbangs, and we’re not talking enough about the *implications* and *business case* for social media.
Folks push back on time management because they’re seeing these things as tasks, not underpinnings of business. That’s the part we have to change.
Amber this is really helpful. I’ve been deep into SM conversation with practitioners, and talking with skeptics, getting beyond the tools to the biz goals, can be tricky. Too often we talk past each other. I like the focus on “incorporating these new strategies” – this stuff can work together all toward the same ends of increasing awareness and developing new business opportunities.
Amber this is really helpful. I’ve been deep into SM conversation with practitioners, and talking with skeptics, getting beyond the tools to the biz goals, can be tricky. Too often we talk past each other. I like the focus on “incorporating these new strategies” – this stuff can work together all toward the same ends of increasing awareness and developing new business opportunities.
Amber, something else to consider is the category of people who read a book like The New Rules for Marketing & PR and insist that social media projects must begin immediately because they are the wave of the future. Sometimes clients want to just dive in and don’t want to wait (or spend the money on) a social media audit that can help to determine what type of social media strategy makes sense (if any at all besides listening) based on business objectives.
Amber, something else to consider is the category of people who read a book like The New Rules for Marketing & PR and insist that social media projects must begin immediately because they are the wave of the future. Sometimes clients want to just dive in and don’t want to wait (or spend the money on) a social media audit that can help to determine what type of social media strategy makes sense (if any at all besides listening) based on business objectives.
Amber, excellent post and counsel for both sides.
I’d just add that sometimes you have to address underlying emotional issues before you will be able to make any progress with rational thought. I sat in on a colleague’s social media presentation to non-social media users who own businesses. The audience was mostly over 55. Quite a discussion pursued, and the presentation kept on getting off track. It was clear to me sitting there that there was a lot of emotion and some fear of how to incorporate a new way to do business when they were too busy already. All the social media information was just noise to many of them, and it was emotionally overwhelming.
I think the same holds true for corporate managers and leaders. Sometimes you have to find ways to get to the emotion of it, which is difficult, if not improbable, without good interpersonal skills. Sometimes you have to develop a good relationship with those on opposite sides (of any issue) to cut through the emotion and develop understanding. This is easier, perhaps, if you work with them (colleagues) rather than for them (consultant/vendor), but still possible as trust is developed.
Amber, excellent post and counsel for both sides.
I’d just add that sometimes you have to address underlying emotional issues before you will be able to make any progress with rational thought. I sat in on a colleague’s social media presentation to non-social media users who own businesses. The audience was mostly over 55. Quite a discussion pursued, and the presentation kept on getting off track. It was clear to me sitting there that there was a lot of emotion and some fear of how to incorporate a new way to do business when they were too busy already. All the social media information was just noise to many of them, and it was emotionally overwhelming.
I think the same holds true for corporate managers and leaders. Sometimes you have to find ways to get to the emotion of it, which is difficult, if not improbable, without good interpersonal skills. Sometimes you have to develop a good relationship with those on opposite sides (of any issue) to cut through the emotion and develop understanding. This is easier, perhaps, if you work with them (colleagues) rather than for them (consultant/vendor), but still possible as trust is developed.
In my shop (over 12,000 people) I’ve found that the most challenging us-vs.-them conversations are between technical evangelists who see the (especially internal) collaboration tools as being (a) the whole of social media and (b) the cure for all organizational ills – and the social media strategists who see SM as a tool among many tools for engaging/informing/tapping into both internal and external stakeholders. (I’m in the latter category.) Maybe it’s because the languages we speak are actually so close together – but the objectives we’re pursuing are distinct – that the gaps between our discourses seem so difficult to bridge. Any thoughts?
In my shop (over 12,000 people) I’ve found that the most challenging us-vs.-them conversations are between technical evangelists who see the (especially internal) collaboration tools as being (a) the whole of social media and (b) the cure for all organizational ills – and the social media strategists who see SM as a tool among many tools for engaging/informing/tapping into both internal and external stakeholders. (I’m in the latter category.) Maybe it’s because the languages we speak are actually so close together – but the objectives we’re pursuing are distinct – that the gaps between our discourses seem so difficult to bridge. Any thoughts?