Social Media and Traditional Organizations

Who owns Social Media?

What consultant can offer advice?

What department should be in charge of Social Media?

These are questions that I have heard a number of times of late, first at Third Tuesday in Toronto and most recently, today in a post in Media Bullseye by Jay Moonah. I know Jay well, he worked with me at Canoe some years ago.

We talk a lot about Social Media marketing in the paradigm of traditional media. Social Media is about flipping the old paradigm on its head, not just tweaking it. You can’t hire a Social Media expert and WHAM! - we are now doing Social Media marketing.

Social Media marketing needs to begin inside the organization. How receptive is your organization to sharing, communicating and connecting?  If an organization is not ready to share internally, it isn’t ready to jump into the Social Media marketing game.

Would your organization allow the traditional company newsletter to become an internal blog? Maybe even with anonymous comments and guest staff writers?

Would any employee be allowed to have a blog and write about personal and business issues?

These are just a couple of the many questions that an organization needs to ask itself before even contemplating Social Media marketing. If the answer is generally no, then the organization is not ready and no amount of advice or ownership will help.

Social Media communication is about openness and openness is infectious. You can’t just share with your customers and not with your staff. In today’s organizations, many departments don’t know anything about what’s happening in other departments. Too often when I’m interacting with organizations, I find myself informing employees about what’s going on in their organization.

Did you know that such-and-such has left the organization? “No”, says the employee.

I understand that you will no longer be supporting “x” product. “I didn’t know that.” says the employee.

In too many organizations, things are held close to the chest in upper management. Not much is shared with staff. How could such organizations be prepared to share with the community at large when they can’t share with their own staff?

Let’s move the conversation to socializing our traditional organizations, before they can tackle Social Media marketing.

And the answer to the above questions?  Everyone in the organization!

Comments

[Liona]

Thanks for writing this.

[Jay Moonah]

Jose, some great points here and I agree with everything you've said. The article on Media Bullseye was really aimed specifically at brand marketers and their respective agencies who are looking to communicate outside the organization, but I think your ideas around engagement within the organization are equally important.

I do think there is a lot of overlap in potential roles around assisting organizations to communicate internally on social media platforms. Most organizations will still need help with strategy, project management, technical execution and so on for internally facing communication programs.

One thing that's important to keep in mind is that your customers are not necessarily the same as your staff, and may not be served well by using the same kinds of social media executions. For example, the recent book "Groundswell" by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff outlines how different demographic groups participate differently in social media. The communication tactics that work with one group may not fly well with another.

I think it all backs up to goals. Internal communication can indeed be well served by social media, but not necessarily using the same tactics that will engage your customers.

[Jose Leal]

Sue,
Having founded Canada’s first automotive portal autonet.ca, I know a little bit about automobile dealers. They more than most need to change how they do business before they can employ Social Media marketing.

[Sue]

Interesting veiwpoint, shared by this former auto boss, who has to dig at the industry for lagging behind on social media.
http://www.e-clipsblog.co.uk/2008/04/08/taking-a-fresh-look-at-online-marketing-in-the-auto-industry/