Is social media important to the future success of your business? Yes, said 78% of participating executives in the recent study from Jive Software and Penn, Schoen, & Berland. These execs see social media as a key factor in business strategy and direction.
Businesses are avidly chasing the 3Fs – friends, fans and followers. And there is indeed value in a community – but it’s not enough just to collect them.
“What they underestimate is the power of people. It’s not so much about technology as much as it is about the democratization of information and the equalization of societal influence. People are now part of the equation and are willingly shedding their “audience” moniker and vacating the branded auditoriums of yore in favor of building their own stages, their own personal theaters. Consequently, customers are becoming influential as they fill the seats to their performance. They’re creating dedicated information networks and as a result, consumers have evolved into a connected and more discerning audience with an ‘audience of audiences’ “ Fast Company
You should definitely be building and engaging a core community of loyal fans on Facebook, Twitter and G+. Do it sooner rather than later.
The Burson-Marstellar Crisis Preparedness Survey highlighted some scary numbers:
Only 20% of companies are well prepared to deal with an online crisis, 45% are somewhat prepared, but vulnerable and 35% are totally unprepared. They are not even doing the most rudimentary monitoring online mentions of the brand and have no idea who the influencers in their space are.
According the eMarketer consumers do want deeper engagement with the brands and products they care about. And companies that have embraced a culture and philosophy of co-creation are realizing that this gives them a competitive edge.
“It’s not enough to be present on social networks. It’s not enough to engage in customer conversations. Leadership organizations, not just marketing departments, must realize that social media are not a cure for the ills of common business malpractices. The rules of relationships still apply and in fact are only amplified. In social media and in the real world, the pillars of any great business must embody service, innovation, experiences, performance, value, and now co-creation. Remember, customers are not looking to build a community with your company simply because they can. Community rules require the cultivation of affinity and belonging through relevance, empathy and the consistent delivery of tangible and intangible benefits“. eMarketer
The best way to get started is to learn the skills needed to monitor the online conversations, do a social media audit and map your social graph.
While you are doing that write a social media policy and arrange for some social media training.
