{"id":6940,"date":"2012-08-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insulation.org\/io\/articles\/unleashing-the-power-of-the-social-media-revolution-in-your-organization\/"},"modified":"2012-08-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-08-01T00:00:00","slug":"unleashing-the-power-of-the-social-media-revolution-in-your-organization","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/insulation.org\/io\/articles\/unleashing-the-power-of-the-social-media-revolution-in-your-organization\/","title":{"rendered":"Unleashing the Power of the Social Media Revolution in Your Organization"},"content":{"rendered":"

We Live in a New World – the World of Social Media.<\/span><\/i>
\nSocial media changes how
\nwe interact and engage with one another. It is now the number one activity on
\nthe Internet. Facebook reports that it has over 900 million active monthly
\nusers\u0097a number that would constitute the third-largest country in the world behind
\nChina and India. In the United Kingdom alone, 50% of mobile Internet traffic is
\nfor Facebook. More than 95% of companies using social media for recruitment use
\nLinkedIn, growing at a rate of two new members per second. YouTube is the
\nsecond-largest search engine in the world, with more than 25 hours of video
\nuploaded every minute. Twitter is growing faster than Facebook and adds more
\nthan 320 new accounts and almost 100,000 tweets every minute. More than 34% of
\nbloggers post opinions about companies and products, which is important to
\nbusinesses because only 14% of the public trust advertisements, while 90% rely
\non the recommendations of others. <\/span><\/p>\n

As electronic communication increasingly drives how we do
\nbusiness, companies not leveraging these tools risk being left behind. Think of
\nwhere your business will be in 5 years if you use social media wisely, and
\nconsider what could happen if you don’t. The true return on investment (ROI)
\nlies in the difference between those two scenarios.<\/span><\/p>\n

With this mass adoption of social media, it is critical to
\nunderstand how you can use it to unleash its power for your business. This
\narticle will describe what I have seen over the past 5 years that works for
\ncompanies who use social media successfully to grow their businesses and lower
\ntheir risks. These critical factors help organizations to get powerful results
\nfrom social media. <\/span><\/p>\n

Anyone in leadership, regardless of the type of organization
\n(for profit, not-for-profit, public, or private) should view these Five
\nCritical Factors as a roadmap for leading their organization through what can
\nseem a confusing maze. In addition to identifying how powerful and beneficial
\nthis new form of media can be for your organization, this article aims to help
\nyou avoid critical mistakes that could harm your brand or drive away your
\ncustomers. <\/span><\/p>\n

Critical Factor #1:
\nIf You Don’t Know Why, Don’t Do It<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

It is critical to answer
\nthe “why” question before you do anything with social media. I frequently get
\nasked to help companies take what they started and turn it around to generate
\nresults. In our first meeting, I always ask “Why do you want to use social
\nmedia?” The answer, which often comes after several productive hours of
\ndiscussion, helps focus the leadership team on the right issues to help their
\nbusiness.<\/span><\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, I met with a company whose leadership
\ndecided they needed a “social media strategy.” They said, “Whatever we are
\ndoing isn’t working and is confusing our customers. We talked about it as a
\nmanagement team and came to the conclusion that we jumped into using the \u0091free
\nand easy’ tools and really didn’t have a strategy for what we expected to
\naccomplish. We now realize we need one before we do any more damage to our
\nbrand and our company. Can you help?”<\/i> While you might think my immediate
\nanswer was, “But of course, let’s get started!” Actually, I said, “I don’t
\nknow. I have to first understand why you even want to use it.” <\/span><\/p>\n

When asked what they had done to get to this point, the CEO
\nsaid:<\/span><\/p>\n

We wanted to do
\nsomething in social media so we put together a team of younger people from our
\nmarketing group because they understood Facebook and some other tools. We
\nthought they could set things up and get us in the game. As it turns out, they
\nknew how to work Facebook and Twitter, but really had limited knowledge on what
\nour business or brand was about, so our communications were random and usually
\noff point. It was no fault of theirs; it was a leadership issue and I take full
\nresponsibility for seeking the easy way out. Now I see how much it could cost
\nus\u0097losing customers or having our brand tarnished. I want to turn this into a
\ncompetitive advantage for us but what we are doing isn’t connected to our
\nbusiness strategy.<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

They wanted help to get back on track. Unfortunately, their
\nstory isn’t unique. Starting with an understanding of why<\/i> you want to
\nuse social media (more difficult than most people realize) will give you
\nclarity, purpose, and direction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Critical Factor #2:
\nGet Engaged – Create a Business Engagement Strategy<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

While
\nanswering why<\/i> is the best way to understand your purpose, creating a
\nBusiness Engagement Strategy is the best way to start planning for the what<\/i>
\nand how<\/i> of using social media. This step truly drives your success or
\nfailure in implementing social media in your organization. If you don’t have a
\nstrategy, or you have the wrong strategy, the implementation will not deliver
\nthe results you want. Defining strategy helps you avoid creating brand
\nconfusion or brand erosion\u0097like what the company in my earlier example
\nexperienced\u0097because your communications will match your organization’s actions
\nand direction.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

A confused customer defects quickly since there are so many
\nchoices available. I can’t emphasize enough how important having a solid
\nengagement strategy is to your success at incorporating social media into your
\ncompany and achieving results. It is so critical that I have never engaged with
\na client where we didn’t start with some level of strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n

An “engagement strategy” is linked to
\nbut different from a business strategy or a marketing strategy. Every business
\nshould have a business strategy\u0097i.e., what you are planning to do in the next 2
\nto 5 years. Ideally, you should have a marketing strategy as well\u0097knowing what
\nyou are going to say about yourself in advertisements, brochures, mailings,
\netc. (your promotion strategy).<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

An engagement strategy identifies how you are going to
\ninteract and engage with your current and future audiences. Its purpose is
\ntwofold: on one hand, it means having your audience engage\/interact with you;
\non the other, it means having your company interact and share with people who
\nare connected to your community. An engagement strategy incorporates three
\ncomponents: 1) your business strategy; 2) your chosen methods for interacting
\nwith your audience; and 3) your methods for encouraging others to share
\ninformation about your company with people in their communities. Knowing these
\ncomponents separates you from your competition and gives you an edge on getting
\nyour audience to communicate these differences to others. <\/span><\/p>\n

Creating a successful engagement
\nstrategy involves developing an in-depth understanding of your audience,
\nincluding knowledge of who<\/i> your audience base is, what channels your
\naudience listens to, what themes help your audience, educating them on what
\nmakes you different from your competitors, and how you can help your audience
\nto improve their businesses<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Critical Factor #3:
\nWord of Mouth Always Has Been, and Still Is, Your Biggest Asset<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

When my grandfather needed
\nto buy a cow, he went down to the end of his fence and asked his next-door
\nneighbor Bob for the name of a trusted cow seller. Bob told him it was Jack.
\nAfter that, my grandfather bought his cows from Jack. This marketing is called
\nword of mouth (WOM), and it is how business has been done for as long as we
\nhave had the means to communicate. Today, it is still the best way to do
\nbusiness. <\/span><\/p>\n

WOM marketing has several key
\ningredients. It starts with keeping the promises you make. If you don’t do
\nthis, not even social media will save you. When you keep your promises, you
\ncreate trust with your customers, employees, and others. Continue doing this
\nand over a period of time you will build a relationship with these people. As
\nyour relationship grows and trust continues to build, these people will become
\nyour advocates in the market\u0097people who proactively tells others about you.
\nThis is WOM marketing. <\/span><\/p>\n

The primary benefit of an advocate is that he\/she takes
\naction on your behalf and spreads the word about you to others. Social media
\nuses the same process for WOM. The main difference with social media is that it
\nallows your advocates to amplify or share what they are saying to many other
\npotential customers, instead of just one person or a small group. This is WOM
\non steroids! As you read earlier, only 14% of our society believe an
\nadvertisement, whereas 90% believe the recommendations of others. In which
\nworld would you prefer to do business?<\/span><\/p>\n

Companies spend fortunes on search engine optimization (SEO)
\nfor the purpose of getting on the first page of a search engine, such as Google
\nor Yahoo. Here’s another perspective. If you are primarily found because your
\nadvocates and others are telling their friends, followers, or connections to go
\ndirectly to your site, do you care about your page rank? No. Your customers
\naren’t searching for you; they are going directly to your front door and
\nengaging with you without using a search engine. While SEO is important for
\nother reasons, it becomes a lot less critical when people show up at your
\ndoorstep because an advocate or someone else told them to go there. Think of
\nwhat this means in terms of improving your conversion and closing rates, and
\nlowering your cost of sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is a hint for you: Stop collecting friends\/followers and
\nspend more time building advocates. Arm your advocates with great content and
\nhelp them in any way that you can. This process alone will generate more buzz
\nfor your company and deliver more results than broadcasting how great your
\nproducts\/services are. <\/span><\/p>\n

As you focus on building advocates, it is important to
\nunderstand the difference between selling and helping. Selling is the world
\nmost companies live in, telling everyone how great they are and that people
\nshould buy, buy, buy from them. This is how most traditional “push” media is
\nused today. <\/span><\/p>\n

Helping, on the other hand, is where the true power of social
\nmedia lies: Finding ways to be relevant, interesting, thoughtful, compelling,
\nand insightful to your audience so their business will grow. That’s what
\ntoday’s audience wants. Ask yourself if you are selling or helping. You can
\nonly live on one side or the other\u0097and social media lives on the helping side.
\nProvide this type of content and your audience will engage more with you, build
\na trusted relationship, and tell others about you! <\/span><\/p>\n

A great example of how this works is
\nright in NIA’s backyard. NIA President Rick Smith, CEO and President of E.J.
\nBartells, and Brian Farnsworth, Vice President of E.J. Bartells, started a blog
\nlast year called “Simplivative.” Their engagement strategy was to create a blog
\nto share stories and insights to help their customers, employees, vendors,
\nmanufacturers, and others in their industry embrace innovation. In creating
\nthis blog, they started a community for those interested in learning more about
\ninnovation, allowing people from all areas to interact and share their stories.
\nNormally this approach would be one-to-one, but with the power of social media,
\ntheir message can reach a global audience.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Critical Factor #4:
\nThe Tools of Social Media Are Cool, But They Will Change on You<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

While social media tools
\nare critical for delivering your messages, the tools (and all of their
\nintricacies) should be your lowest priority. They are important channels for
\ncommunicating your messages, but they aren’t the driver of success, contrary to
\nmany opinions. <\/span><\/p>\n

The primary purpose of the tools is to deliver your content
\nand engage people through the channel(s) your audience is listening to or
\nengaging with. For example, some executives are not big Facebook users (unless
\nthey need to stay in touch with kids who are away at college or their
\ngrandkids), but they are big LinkedIn users. Sharing content through Facebook
\nwon’t reach those executive target audience because they aren’t engaging with
\nthat particular channel or tool. Putting the same message and content on
\nLinkedIn will have a significantly higher chance of reaching that executive
\ntarget audience and allow them to engage with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Executives are also rapidly embracing Twitter as a channel
\nthey use for real-time, fresh content. To adapt, we stay on strategy and
\ndeliver our message through the Twitter channel, in addition to the others.
\nTomorrow it could be YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, or any of a host of other
\ntools and channels. The beauty of social media tools is that they are easy to
\nuse, so you can always be where your audience is interacting and engaging. Get
\nwedded to one channel and you risk the chance of losing your audience. <\/span><\/p>\n

The tools are free and relatively easy to set up, and this is
\nwhere the majority of social media experts consult. This, however, is not the
\narea of greatest value to you or your company. Unfortunately, like the company
\nin the earlier example, executives often “throw social media over the wall” to
\ntheir younger employees and put them in charge because they know the tools.
\nThis generally misses the mark because they aren’t the employees who understand
\nthe depth of the company’s strategy or brand\u0097they just know how to execute the
\ntools and communicate over the channels. Bottom line: The tools are clearly
\nimportant, but they are only the means of distributing the messages created
\nbased on your company’s strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Critical Factor #5:
\nThink and Act Small if You Want To Get Big<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

The future of being
\nsuccessful using social media resides in being able to identify and talk to a
\nsmall, specific, niche-based audience called a community. One size doesn’t fit
\nall in social media, which is one of the key reasons why traditional media is
\nfailing so rapidly\u0097broad-based promotion and broadcasting falls on deaf ears.
\nCasting the big net to catch a few fish no longer works because your audience
\nis listening to specific channels on narrow topics.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, I work with a national group of attorneys who
\nprovide legal services to gun owners. Their strategy, theme, content, blog
\nposts, tweets, and messages on all channels are narrow and only<\/i> relate
\nto the legal aspects of owning firearms. Any gun owner interested in learning
\nabout the legal aspects of owning a firearm tunes into their channels and
\nengages. The attorneys provide helpful, relevant, compelling, insightful, and
\nthoughtful content to their audience, and then the audience shares this content
\nwith their fellow gun owners\u0097i.e., other members of their community. Every
\naudience is part of some community when it comes to content. <\/span><\/p>\n

Blogs are the key to being able to talk to your community and
\ngive them the content they want. When you help them get what they need, they
\nshare your information with other members of their community. This is how
\nwebsites and information go viral. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wrapping up<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

These
\nare the Five Critical Factors that every organization needs to understand
\nbefore stepping into social media. Using social media the right way gives you a
\nrecipe for success and the opportunity to achieve results. Follow these steps
\nand you will be able to leverage the true power of the revolution today!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We Live in a New World – the World of Social Media. Social media changes how we interact and engage with one another. It is now the number one activity on the Internet. Facebook reports that it has over 900 million active monthly users\u0097a number that would constitute the third-largest country in the world behind<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":[],"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[294,21],"class_list":["post-6940","articles","type-articles","status-publish","hentry","category-training","category-business-managment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUnleashing the Power of the Social Media Revolution in Your Organization - Insulation Outlook Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/insulation.org\/io\/articles\/unleashing-the-power-of-the-social-media-revolution-in-your-organization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unleashing the Power of the Social Media Revolution in Your Organization\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We Live in a New World – the World of Social Media. 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