“I’d like to better use social to build my business.
But I don’t want to spend anything because we don’t have a budget, and we can’t cut anything else. I don’t want to have to hire anyone or spend any extra time on this, and no one else can take it on right now, so we’ll need to outsource it or perhaps put the intern in charge of it. We like our culture the way it is and don’t see anything wrong with it, and we’ve always done things this way so we’re not really keen to change any of our processes or people. Some rhetoric around developing a positive culture would be great, but we really don’t have any intention of putting any of that into practice if it involves significant effort or any kind of substantial change that might disrupt the way that we work or how we work with our customers currently.
So we’re really looking for some free strategy guidance, but we’d like to reserve the right to reject it outright if it feels uncomfortable or unfamiliar. We’d like some viral content that’s easy and cheap to create, and we’re really not interested in investing any time or people long term on this. Just looking for some some proven, guaranteed best practices that we can implement immediately, get immediate return on, set on autopilot, call ourselves “social” and not worry about integrating into the rest of our business because we’re looking for a quick win here that doesn’t really require much from us.
Can you help?”
I’m dripping with sarcasm here, but I’m not kidding about this being an amalgam of far too many of the discussions I still hear at events, or inquiries I get from companies that want to “be a social business” because they read it in their favorite business magazine or blog, but haven’t the slightest interest in doing what it might take to become one.
Truth is that we are adept at quoting business legends about the importance of change, of evolution, of investment and reinvention of our business models in order to stay current if not ahead. Until we actually need to do the work in our own organizations. Because it’s much easier to read about or talk about in a leadership retreat than it actually is to do, every day.
If you’re truly interested in evolving and growing your business, be it with social or otherwise, you will likely need to:
- Spend money
- Make personnel adjustments
- Invest significant time
- Manage difficult and long term change
Or all of the above.
We all want to be better at what we do. As businesses, we either want to grow revenue, increase value to shareholders, deliver better products and services to our customers, further a cause, or some combination of all of those things.That isn’t accomplished by some quick-witted Facebook campaign.
If a short term marketing gimmick is all you’re after, that’s fine (and it’s still going to require investment). But if you are really trying to adapt your business to the demands and pressure that social communication and culture is creating, and ensure that you’re integrating social horizontally as well as vertically, it’s a long-term play – think years, not months – that will require you to commit effort and resources, and embrace the discomfort that comes with change.
If those things don’t interest you, you aren’t ready to be a social business. That’s the uncomfortable truth. Change is a sexy idea, until it costs. But the result of that change is what eventually defines you and the future of your business. The companies investing in their business models will win, every time.
The brilliant news?
There are businesses doing this. One step at a time. With careful thought, evaluation, and yes, investment. They’re devoted to the future of their business, the evolving expectations of their customers, and the ever-changing culture inside their own walls. They’re working hard every day to understand the implications of all things social and ensure that they become part of the fabric of their company, not just lip service they’re paying to the latest fad. They’re letting social become the lever for true business model evolution that will carry them into a new era.
That means there’s hope that the discussions above, too, will change and adapt, and eventually disappear altogether.
There isn’t an easy button in the world that can do that for us.
Look what I clicked on this morning…
My two cents: the only thing you’re going to get “quick” is something in the back seat of a Chevy (and a Volkswagen, if you’re *really* unlucky). And we all know how lasting encounters like those are. Snake oil salesmen have been around forever — so why have we become the ones selling ourselves snake oil? The day I started accomplishing exceptional things with my business was the day I started treating myself like a client. That meant mapping out projects. Establishing budgets. Assigning responsibility. Adopting a project management dashboard so I can track progress and hold people accountable. Getting my financial (insert expletive) together.
You know — treating myself like a business and doing the work required to KEEP myself as a client. We’re great at planning and finding hacks, but there are some things that will remain unhackable. Among them? Putting your company on an equal playing field with your other “clients.” If we dont’ work to earn our OWN business, we won’t be around long enough to take care of anyone else’s.
Sounds like the person saying that is what should be cut. And never hired again, for anything else, ever.
“We want to do what Old Spice did. But we don’t really have a W+K budget. More like a few hundred bucks.”
I truly believe there are businesses that still see being “social” as some sort of crunch, new-agey, crazy flight of fancy that’s going to go away in a few years. They want to get on the bandwagon so they’re one of the cool kids, but don’t really buy into the whole thing.
It’s going to be interesting to see what sort of impact this makes on the face of business in 5 years’ time. Will they still think it’s a fad, or will they realize they should have gotten themselves on track when it was realistic?
Oh there are. One of my clients, a lawyer, wrote a well-reasoned piece on why lawyers needed to be involved in and more aware of social media to serve their clients. One of the responses? “This is absurd. It’s like saying criminal defense lawyers have to engage in criminal activities in order to defend their clients.”
Head, meet desk. Forcefully.
(That all happened yesterday, by the way.)
Um. WORD. With super-excited hand-motion thingies and maybe even a little jumping up and down to boot. (And I could swear I’ve gotten calls ‘n emails VERY much like that prologue.)
I agree with Tab. A lot of businesses are still trying to do it, because “everyone else is doing it”. It’s not hard to see why, either. A lot of the advice out there is still based on the newest social stat and how now that there are x number of people on the platform your business can’t miss out on being on that platform. Horrible grammar in that sentence, I know, but you get the idea.
Anyway, the point is that “social media” is way more than just adopting the newest platform, network, etc. into the marketing arsenal. It’s a shift in thinking and doing. A total evolution from “Hey, look at my cool marketing piece!” or “Hey, I’m cool, buy my stuff.” to “How much did you enjoy your last visit?” and “Oh, you didn’t have a great time? Let me fix that (insert broken piece here) so that your next visit is better.” It’s about learning to be a better business by listening and implementing what your customers want. Those who embrace this as a change in their business philosophy rather than a new marketing tool will (and have) seen the most and longest benefit from it.
Amber it is interesting in doing new software development implementations companies usually see the NEW as a expense and struggle with “Hey the current isn’t costing us so much money?” There in lies the problem. You have to invest with “Pig Commitment” if you don’t you will NEVER ever NEVER see the true return someone put on the business case. It is a real struggle for all lines of business within a company, especially if one department takes the lead of building the future of the company from the people, process, technology and especially the money!
So yes not just in social or using social it happens in the implement new tech into a company. It always sounds sexy to get salesforce.com and all the wonderful things you can do and get. It is quite another when you eliminate jobs, wholesale change a perceived well oiled process that someone dreamed up, and whole new skills need to be acquired. That SUCKS is usually the first reaction I see. Working through all this is the happy challenges, if you view it that way (which I typically do)
Sadly I have confronted so many prospects with this attitude.
On many occasions it gets even worst because you can see how selfish people can get just so they can meet their objectives without putting in the time or spending a dollor at the expense of others.
I will be keeping this post as a reference…
I love this post Amber! I’ve been actually thinking about this a lot lately. Are companies really trying to use these tools to improve their customer’s experiences or just push-marketing.
As usual another great post.
I always wonder why in this day, companies expect something for nothing. Even if you do something “nice”, it is usually met with some kind of expectation that there is some “reward” attached. Not all businesses are likely candidates for “social” media. Thank you Amber, wonderful post.
Real change requires a champion who dedicated to change. Dan and Chip Heath’s book “Switch” is a great read for those that are looking for tools to help direct and then rally the herd. Here’s a link to learn more about the book: http://www.heathbrothers.com/switch/
“That means there’s hope that the discussions above, too, will change and adapt, and eventually disappear altogether.”
Sure hope that happens sooner than later… I’m relieved though by knowing that influential people with years of experience in Social Media for Business are still getting those questions; I used to think it only happened to the ones that are beginning to make a name of themselves and once you were well recognized and established, you’d stop getting approached like that.
Looks like I was wrong. Thanks for another great and educational post!
OMG best article ever! I’m signing up for everything you have to opt-in to!
This was pretty brilliant, Amber. Thank you for writing it.
The fact that truly adapting to the new paradigm includes changing things that don’t appear on the surface to have anything to do with the fad you thought your understood is the a hard one for people to wrap their head around.
Social media isn’t how you become social, it’s where you prove you are social.
Great advice when it comes to change. Every change means investment not only for big firms but also for small scale companies particularly in social media. A good strategy is through promos which grab people’s attention, although this is quite costly, you can propose other companies to be a sponsor of this promo you want to push. Less cost, bigger subscriptions 🙂
When I started reading
I thought you were one of the many calls I get every day. But by the end I realized
just how bad I am.
Thanks, the timing could not have been better.