5 Strategies for Leaders to Ride the Social Media Wave and Boost Performance
Researched and Edited by Jeff Meyers
Social media is at the center of 2 big headlines in the business press in early February. The first is the much-anticipated IPO filing by Facebook. The second is the announcement that Procter and Gamble (P&G) is laying off 1,600 marketers as a result of slashing its advertising budget. These two stories have a tremendous impact for all employers: embrace social media for your business or risk fading away.
The rise (and maturity?) of the Internet has changed the way traditional marketing behemoths such as P&G go to reach their customers. Consider how quickly this transformation has happened in less than 2 decades:
- Websites and blogs: The ability to create and maintain a comprehensive website was the beginning of a shift in marketing and branding tactics for companies of all sizes. “Brochure-wear” soon gave way to more interactive features and online commerce. In recent years, blogs have made it possible for anyone company or person to have their voice heard. The combination of easy access to publishing sites such as Blogger and WordPress, along with ever-refined search engine optimization, has made it possible to share content as fast as you’re able to produce it.
- Email and PDFs: Until about 10 years ago, the direct mail business was massive with virtually all communications being designed, printed, and mailed. At first email for many was restricted to those within their own company, but it only took a few years to grow into the preferred method of communication, which was further helped by the ease and convenience of PDFs. Email is bringing the US Postal Service to its knees.
- Broadband speed and mobile devices: The infrastructure for supporting all of our online traffic has dramatically improved in the last decade. Can you imagine YouTube being successful in the days of dial-up? In addition to faster and more reliable connectivity, we’re also tethered to our online existence through our smart phones.
- Social media dominance: There’s certainly still a place for email, but the kings of the day are the social media networks Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. According to the company’s website, “Facebook has an average of 845 million monthly active users, 483 million of whom log into the social network daily.” Those figures are larger than the populations of many countries in the world.
It is inevitable that the web and social media will continue to have an impact on marketing departments. But when bellwether P&G lays off 1,600, that’s a sign of things to come.
As is discussed in the Wall Street Journal video, the pace of Facebook’s growth is uncertain since their penetration is already high. The next logical place for them to grow and increase their revenue stream is through corporate advertising, which one could speculate is already evidenced by the layoffs of marketing staff at P&G.
Stop Being Afraid! Make Social Media Work for Your Company
If you’ve taken a defensive stance towards social media until now, with these headlines, you should rethink your position. Here are 5 considerations for developing or enhancing your social media efforts:
1. Create a strong online employer brand. Sites such as vault.com and glassdoor.com allow users to research employers and provide candid, sometimes snarky, feedback. Those who are job searching certainly review these sites for insights into prospective employers. I’d bet that savvy B2B buyers review those sites, too.
There will always be someone with something negative to say about your company or your employees. Whether or not the complaints or criticisms are valid is irrelevant. What’s more important is that you create a strong online brand that enables the good to outshine the bad.
2. Engage your customers. As social media strengthens its grip on consumers, we’re also witnessing decline of traditional channels of advertising, marketing, and branding:
- Newspaper and magazine subscriptions have suffered in recent years and will continue to decline. Print advertising is diminishing in favor of online sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial as well as coupon apps and online discount codes.
- As I mentioned above, direct mail has been replaced by email and other forms of communications to the detriment of the postal service.
- DVRs allow TV watchers to record their shows and then skip over commercials. They probably won’t do that during the Super Bowl, but don’t expect TV ad revenue to be what it once was.
If 845 million users are on Facebook, then companies would be wise to go where their customers and potential buyers are. It’s no longer a one-way street—use social media to gather feedback that can help your business.
3. Engage your employees. Hopefully your employees are proud of what they do and the company for whom they do it. Many companies still restrict access to social media sites while at work and some don’t have official social media sites for their brands. Your employees can be your best brand ambassadors if given the right tools and direction (see #5 below).
4. Social recruiting. Still collecting résumés through snail mail? Get with the times. “Help wanted” ads in newspapers are a thing of the past. (Do people even say “help wanted” anymore?) If you want to find old-fashioned employees, continue this charming tactic.
Online recruiting sites such as Monster.com that debuted more than a decade ago now have stiff competition and are flooded with profiles and résumés of the many job seekers still looking for work. In order to cut through the clutter and get to the best candidates, some companies are recruiting exclusively through social media sites like Facebook and YouTube. They want to see that your skills and abilities are current and that you have the personality to match.
5. Establish and enforce social media policies. Legal and HR departments should collaborate on policies that support your company’s goals, but which also prohibits foolish behavior that can tarnish your brand. When crafting your policies, work with marketing, PR, and communications teams to ensure that everyone’s needs are met. Make sure it is sound and reasonable, and then communicate it often. Encourage positive behavior and revise and recommunicate policy updates as often as necessary to keep up with the times.
I’m not suggesting that you dive in blindly. Rather, make informed decisions with caution and with prudence (that’s why #5 above is critical). However, don’t take too long, because before you know it, the progressive companies will have moved on to the next whiz-bang phenomenon and you’ll still be trying to figure out the difference between a post and a Tweet.
Image credit: http://bit.ly/x1CCB7