Selling the the benefits of social media inside organizations may be the single greatest battle ground for social media right now. A friend who works as a social media director within a large organization confirmed this for me recently along with several other conversations with employees from other organizations.
Part of the internal "sell" is identifying the people who have issues with social media and then understanding their points of view. The problem is, the people you're trying to convince are usually the very ones with the authority to really do something with social media or at least release it to take hold within the organization.
I've been doing social media consulting for three years now, so I've had my fair share of these kinds of discussions with everyone from the company CEO to an outside consultant working on the company's behalf. In my experience, the bottom line is one (sometimes more) flawed perspective of how social media must work. These flawed perspectives skew people's entire views on what social media can do, and together, they make up four kinds of people who can kill your company's social media efforts. It's time to call these killers out so you can attack them before they attack you:
- Mr. Fearful - Whether he's afraid of what people will say, won’t say, might say, or could say, the root of Mr. Fearful's unwillingness to move forward is a fear of the unknown. He doesn’t know social media and is therefore scared of it. It’s too new, too open, too conversational, too accessible, and simply too different from the way he's always done things. Perhaps telling him how your competition is succeeding with social media may swing him in your direction.
- Miss Trust - Miss Trust is one of the more lethal social media killers. She doesn't trust her employees to be good representatives for the company and she certainly doesn’t trust her customers. She wants control but control always draws things in. Control doesn’t release. Trust requires release and social media requires trust. Miss Trust won't release and is killing your social media efforts.
- Mr. Unwilling - Mr. Unwilling doesn't want to hear what his customers have to say. Like the ostrich who buries his head in the sand, it’s easier to keep doing things like they have always been done than it is to ask the customer about his/her experience. Mr. Unwilling says things like, “They may something bad about us.” Be sure to point out to Mr. Unwilling that "they" probably are already saying bad things about you, and he just doesn’t know it. Point out to him that if they’re saying bad things about the company or products, you can respond and maybe (just maybe) learn, change, or apologize if needed.
- Miss Salesalot - Mrs. Salesalot thinks social media is just like her billboards and radio spots. To her, social media is just another sales channel that people are talking about today. What she doesn't realize is that social media requires a different perspective. Sure, there are great sales opportunities with social media, but you can totally blow those chances with the wrong thinking. In the world of social media, the Salesalots always marry the Spammys.
The opposite of the four killers above are trust, faith, a willingness to listen, and endurance to earn the very attention you plan to cash in on down the road. Every company that’s considering social media will have to decide one way or the other. If you’re trying to implement social media within an organization with a lot of social media killers I recommend you start small: share good data, give good case studies, and show some of the small ways you're already implementing social media well.