To get the right answers
We get asked a lot of questions about social media.
Quite rightly so.
Most of them are simply reframed to refocus the thought and to enable a new approach in thinking.
Here are the top five frequently asked questions :
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What’s the ROI of spending time on social networks?
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What does a good social media policy look like?
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Have you got any examples related to my industry?
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How does social media usage differ from B2C to B2B?
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How much time do I need to set aside to play around with these new websites as I’ve got a job to do?
Our response :
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What’s the ROI of connecting with existing customers / clients (or even potential ones)?
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Do we know enough about social media to create a policy around its use yet?
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Have you got any models which can be adapted and adopted?
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How does social media enable me to connect with the specific people in businesses/organisations/communities who buy our products/services?
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How much time do we invest in developing our professional learning to ensure we keep up to date with new developments in our field?
Feel free to ‘borrow’ the above to reframe the questions usually asked in internal meetings about social media investments and let us know how you get on.
Any other questions which are in need of repositioning you can think of?
I’m somewhat flummoxed by the two opposite reactions that many organizations have to social media. “We don’t need to use it” is somewhat like saying “I don’t need to have a telephone”, and on the other end of the spectrum, the response is “Oh my gosh, we have to be on all these sites right away!”, which like saying you need to advertise your product in every newspaper everywhere.
Social media should be a part of any organization’s marketing and PR functions. It’s not an “extra” task, it’s merely a new channel for those existing activities. Like any channel or avenue, understanding how to use the various social media platforms to reach your target audience requires research, planning, and careful prioritization.
Joshua – great summary of the situation and read with nodding head :-)