Comments on: 5 Things That Small Businesses Want To Hear About Social Media (#5)

By: Maria Ogneva

Maria Ogneva — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:22:19 +0000

Great post, James! It's music to my ears when people talk about importance of measurement and ROI. Until these metrics and a roadmap to where you are trying to get as a result of social media activity, are developed, SM efforts will remain tentative at best. Have you tried many monitoring and engagement systems? Ping me if you want to try Biz360's Community Insights.

Maria Ogneva
@themaria @biz360

By: James Ball

James Ball — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:30:19 +0000

One of the things that stand out for me in the RFP document that I link to is the section titled “REPUTATION MANAGEMENT / SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING”. This whole section, along with much of the overall language in the document forces those who are seeking outside help to look at the reality of the “relationship” aspect of social media. As with any relationship, the chances that crisis and disagreement will arise is almost a given. Companies need to understand that the social media “staff”, internal or otherwise, will be the face and voice of the business across many channels and touch points. It needs to be understood that the sailing is not always smooth, and the forecast is not always sunny.
I’m agreeing with you that using outside help to guide and monitor can be a very good thing. I’m just especially pleased with the language of this document that brings out the depth and importance of the role that is to be assigned. I also agree that having a well “plugged in” resource either inside or outside the company is crucial to staying informed about current trends and opportunities.
I always like your comments Brandon. It always pleases me to have your input here!

By: James Ball

James Ball — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:52:10 +0000

I like the way you work Kathy. Identifying potential internal resources and deciding what can and cannot be handled in-house is a good first step. If certain tasks and responsibilities are to be out-sourced, keeping as much of the actual community building and engaging close to home is a sound tactic…I appreciate how you described this.

“Developing online relationships is not "ghost writing.” – Couldn’t have said it better myself! Thank you for taking the time to comment today!

By: Kathy Drewien

Kathy Drewien — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 04:48:34 +0000

Small business owners I represent quickly understand a social business strategy requires resources; often resources of time and/or money they don't have at their disposal. One of my goals when designing a strategy is to analyze which existing tasks and responsibilities can be outsourced or delegated; thus freeing time for building and engaging a community.

Developing online relationships is not "ghost writing." If the company holds to that belief, then I've not done my job and a social business campaign is doomed from the outset.

By: Todd Schnick

Todd Schnick — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 04:22:22 +0000

If you are going to hire an outside vendor to "execute" on social media, you better set clear definitions of what that really means. If that simply entails sending out a few one-way tweets here and there, then it won't work for you. It really is about building long-term relationships.

Your vendor needs to invest deeply into the organization to know it well, be committed to engaging with real people, and most importantly teach and encourage those within the organization about the process so they can contribute and learn.

By: @Brandon101

@Brandon101 — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 04:05:22 +0000

This gets to the heart of the matter for me James. I'm a big believer in business becoming more social overall, not just in Marketing. This is probably hardest to navigate in small businesses that have been established for many years and are resistant to change, but the concept of someone else 'doing it' only goes so far in my opinion. Ultimately, the stakeholders in the business need to dial in and pay attention to what's going on in the space and engage with the people that pay to keep the lights on. This is not to say that people can't be hired or contracted to be effective brand ambassadors, but it's not as easy as just throwing an intern into the role or farming everything out to an agency.

I do believe that agencies and consultants can provide tremendous value to businesses by being strategic guides and monitors of the brand online. Particularly in smaller businesses, very few people have the time or bandwidth to stay on top of the various opportunities that are emerging. Having a guiding hand along the journey is extremely important, and I believe is most effective when paired with some form of internal engagement.

Thanks for sharing the RFP – those are some excellent questions on the list!

By: James Ball

James Ball — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 01:14:52 +0000

Very good advice Todd. It's great to have you stop in and leave a comment!

By: James Ball

James Ball — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:11:45 +0000

Great input! I love that you point out "fostering reciprocity", this is something that I know you to champion personally, and it’s an excellent tactic. This is not to cheapen it or to say it’s an easy thing to do…far from it. To master the art (if I may call it so) of fostering reciprocity would be a worthy study for anyone interested in social media engagement. Thank you for stopping in and commenting Mike.

By: @WholeMind

@WholeMind — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:27:41 +0000

In my opinion, it is best for companies to have someone that is deeply involved with the business (not necessarily the business owner or a current employee) to handle the social media marketing efforts. The person needs to be someone that loves to (or would love to) work for the company. If the person does not believe in the company and doesn't want to engage with people both online and off, it will show.

There is only one reason a person wants to follow a company online, to benefit themselves in some way. You can develop your network by engaging with people, connecting with them, and fostering reciprocity. Or you can build that network by offering free stuff, discounts, boring updates people will ignore, and aggressively following people. Which one sounds better for your company?

Personally, I have only worked with a handful of companies on their social media marketing. I offer simple advice to most anyone willing to listen but to get me to actually role up my sleeves and help with strategy, implementation, risk management, monitoring, measurement and metrics you better have a product/service/company that I absolutely love.