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Web Business by Ken Burbary

Digital Marketing, Social Media, Web Technology

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Social Media Denial?

September 2nd, 2009 · View Comments · Business, Social Media, Trends

Spend some time outside of social media communities and you’ll realize there are many people who either don’t agree, don’t understand or haven’t yet taken the time to learn about social media (what it is, what it isn’t and the ways it has changed how we communicate). I was reminded of that today when I came across an article criticizing the idea of letting company employees publicly respond to consumers via social media outlets. The author make it clear he sees no business value in social media efforts, and reiterates that all outbound company communications should continue to be handled via internal corporate communications teams. The article generated some great discussion in the comments, but the best response might have been from Scott Monty who reminded us that with any new game changing technology, there are companies that fear and wish to avoid it.

“A friend sent me a PDF of an article from a business journal in which a company expressed reservations about this new technology over which everyone seemed to be abuzz. They decided that they would restrict employees’ use of it, because of the fear of corporate secrets getting out, of insider information making its way to Wall Street, and of employees wasting their time on it. For that reason, they set up the hardware on a single station in the middle of everyone’s desks so that everyone could see how people were using it.

“That PDF was an article from a 1930s business journal and the technology was the telephone.”

If employee social media participation shouldn’t be allowed because it is too risky, then should you also take away their telephone and email access? Clearly not. Give social media a chance first.

FACTS:

Social media interest and participation continues to climb at an incredible rate. Don’t buy into that statement? Read on. The chart below demonstrates the interest (based on search activity) of social media, direct marketing, digital marketing and digital advertising in the United States. Remember, these are not opinions but rather actual google users telling us what they are interesting in via their searches. As the chart shows, direct marketing has been suffering a steady decline, while digital marketing and advertising have a slow and steady increase. Social media however, has a meteoric rise, with no signs of slowing down. Ignoring this fact because you personally believe it is wrong isn’t advisable. The rest of the world is moving ahead. Don’t get left behind due to ignorance.

Take the time to understand social media (the tools, culture and practices) and participate in it first before you throw the baby out with the bathwater. Who knows, just like Sam-I-Am, you may find that you like green eggs and ham!

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  • I disagree with there being no business value in social media, but a company that's interested in influencing (or controlling) outbound communication doesn't necessarily correlate to being anti social media. Most of the public/private sector does some form of this every day.

    Living in a litigious society corporations have every right to be concerned about the information disseminated by it's representatives. Because, at the end of the day, the corporation is left holding the bag for any transgressions that may occur between it's employees and consumers. Unfortunately, advancements in Internet security and the law has severely under paced the growth of social media and the general Internet. Run a Google Insights report on "facebook scam" (just an example) and see the year over year query growth. Marketer's are scared.

    That being said, education is really the key. Before "throwing the baby out with the bath water", one must identify all the F.U.D. surrounding the issues and empower employees by providing a framework for interacting with consumers through all channels (not just social).
  • Jeremy Probert
    Who's denying social media, Ken? How can you? It would be like denying - er -dog. ( The agnostic, dyslexic insomniac who lay awake all night pondering the existence of dog.) But dog - the four legged furry friend - exists, so does social media. Can't deny it. Can, however, realise that it's not measurable (in terms of qual, not quant) and not (in any way) regulated. Can say that it doesn't return any quantifiable ROI. Can say that - for a corporate - having a 'social media strategy' (an oxymoron if ever I saw one) is time-consuming, resource-consuming and budget-inefficient. Can say that it's the obvious cause of the current outbreak of 'Shiny Object Syndrome' (oooh, oooh, must have that, it's new, it's sparkly, everyone else has got one). Ken - no-one knows anything about social media. As communicators, we don't know how it works, what its long-term potential is, what the pitfalls are. But there's loads of people styling themselves as experts. What's your favourite Ken? Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Posterous, Jaiku, Tumbir, Pownce, BrightKite, FourSquare? Hmmm?

    And do you work with them all equally?
  • I love the telephone bit. It also converts to those that treat the tools as anything more than the tools. My brother makes his full living on the telephone, but he is not writing articles on how the telephone was responsible for his success. It's not.... Social media like any other form of communication is all about being human. For a hundred years companies in the industrial age did everything they could to turn their customers into numbers. They are pushing back on social media because it requires them to know their customers names. They have been disassociated and detached for so long counting money at their desks and punching stats into databases that they have forgotten to be human.

    Right now it's exceptional for businesses to be reaching out in a human way...in a couple years it will be expected.

    Keep up the great work!
  • Keith - Love that description, thanks. I'm a name, not a number. I concur with your assessment, this may be mentionable now, but only companies that aren't doing it will be talked about in the future.
  • Great insights Ken, thanks for sharing. Yesterday I wrote a blog post about how my company (very small) is using social media to get an advantage over some of the much larger companies we compete with. From our perspective we say let those big companies twiddle their thumbs, waste time writing memos and policies on using social networks, and/or deny that this clear shift in thought is happening. In the meantime the little guys like us can take advantage of the headstart and use this as a chance to further differentiate ourselves.
  • The biggest lesson in this post is contained in the first eight words, "Spend some time outside of social media communities..." This is where the real conversations must happen. Get out of the Social Media fishbowl and talk to "normal people," those who are working very hard to build their businesses yet have no clue about the advantages that online technologies can bring. These people are starved for information on our subject, have many misconceptions that need to be addressed, and I promise that you will learn something during the encounter.
  • chrisboyer
    Nice post, with great supportive detail. I blog about social media use in healthcare, and actually wrote a (snarky) post about the "5 stages of social media grieving" that looks into the psychology behind the steps businesses take to embrace social media - check it out: http://hospitalonlinemarketingeducation.ning.co...
  • Great post, Ken. I agree with everything you've said. You would think any one in the communications field would just go with the flow of whatever makes it easiest for all to communicate. (What a concept!) Thanks for sharing this.
  • amydrill
    Very insightful, Ken. The analogy wit the telephone is spot-on. I recall folks having similar reservations to email back in its infancy. We can only hope (or likely, anticipate) that just as opinions have changed in the past, that they will when it comes to social media.
  • Nice Ken.

    But to put this in perspective, think about how many companies still restrict the software their employees can use at work, prohibiting downloads of any sorts or any types of communication software. They ban websites too, particularly those that would allow employees to check their personal email (e.g. gmail.com) - all in the name of "security."

    So the fact that some are afraid of social media shouldn't be all that surprising.
    Foolish, but not surprising ;)
  • Alan, definitely a valid counterpoint. That said, most of those restrictions stem from a command and control culture that in many cases doesn't understand modernization of the workforce. That said, I don't believe there can be a complete and total free for all, every person can do whatever they damn well please situation. The reality is a blend of openness to use new communications like social, but with an internal mechanism that helps facilitate and coached the effort, (Scott's work internally at Ford comes to mind as an example) so everyone is aligned with company goals and information is accurate.
  • Scott and Ken: don't get me wrong, I think that these companies are
    foolish to reject the modern world.

    My point was just that at a time where many companies still are
    uncomfortable with Web 1.0, we shouldn't be surprised to see them
    freak out about 2.0

    (Love the telephone story, btw Scott)
  • Agree 100% with that last statement Alan. And I think it will continue to be true for some time.
  • You raise a valid point, Alan. But I think security is a canard. The underlying context usually revolves around productivity. And my response to such companies is something along the lines of: "Then I hope you don't expect employees to check email or voicemail when they're not at work."
  • Scott - Who checks their corporate email from home?? ;)
  • Ken, I found this post particularly appropriate after a meeting yesterday with a corporate management team who have real reservations about the value of participation in social media. They market to an audience that is still learning about using the web and they themselves are more comfortable with direct sales tactics. I will forward your post to them in the hopes that they find it helpful.

    Thanks for doing the heavy lifting on this one!
  • Very nice work. Many people fight change, it's human nature. We know social media is not for everyone or every company however too many make that decision without researching. There is a name for that: ignorant.
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