October 20th, 2008
Social media consultants: snake oil or value add?
Ask yourself:
- What is the profile of your ideal customer / sales prospect?
- Where are these ideal customers / prospects spending their time online? (Note: It might be worth purchasing a market research study on your customer demographic and Web presence before hiring a consultant)
- What are other companies in your space doing? Can you get your hands on success metrics?
- How educated is your management team when it comes to Web presence and Internet branding? If you push them hard to sell the concept, what measures must you take to prove value?
- Can you do any of this for free? Are there people on your team or other teams who are social media savvy who would love the visibility of a cutting edge project?
- Can you really measure the ROI of what is being recommended? If it’s not clear, how else will you measure success?
There are many more questions that a decision-maker could ask him- or herself when considering social media for business. The other thing to consider is, where will these consultants be in five years? Many were born out of public relations roles and, having successes managing media initiatives or blogger relations or pitching via social networks, have dubbed themselves business consultants. Especially in the face of a downward spiraling economy, many of these consultants may be weeded out just as several fly-by-night Web 2.0 startups will.
“By embracing social media, PR goes from authors of corporate character and advocates in the court of public opinion to smarmy shills on the midway,” said “Amanda Chapel,” the Web personality notorious for trying to put PR and social media in its place. “We are in the business of presentation NOT conversation. Keep in mind, in a competitive situation, the guy who’s chatty… he ain’t your friend and he ain’t talkin’ to you other than for a reason.”
Another thing to consider is that regardless of how much planning you do in regard to a social media strategy, the end result needs to be an authentic line of communication between your company and your constituents. Parking a Twitter ID and dishing out blog posts is not engaging with customers. Creating a static Facebook group isn’t, either. Companies who engage in social media practices need to accept two very important things: 1) You need to get a little warm and fuzzy and 2) You need to give up a bit of the marketing control.
“We don’t really think of social media as a marketing channel; that would be kind of like asking about ROI on answering phones,” said Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. “It’s really about making our connection with our customers more personal. We’re not just another company and there are real people behind it.”
Hsieh’s philosophy is one of the reasons his company has become such a social media darling. Lacy points out that Hsieh and Zappos.com understand the simple nuances of social media, which also contributes to a large part of their success.
“Companies are over-complicating things and social media strategists are being opportunistic,” she said. “So much of this boils down to common sense. I think a lot of strategists are opportunistic but also know a lot of good strategists who rightfully say it’s about a mindset and the work they are doing is helping to turn around that mindset.”
Overall, while there are a lot of consultants selling snake oil, the pushiness of the salesman should not scare companies off of social media completely. It can be a tremendous — and free — resource for branding and customer engagement if used in the right way. It does not need to overtake your business objectives and it does not need to cost a fortune. It does, however, need to be strategic and it needs to be done right.
“If companies ignore this medium it’s only going to get worse for them,” Lacy said. “Companies can no longer bury their heads in the sound, they have to start becoming part of the conversation. It’s going to be way worse if they don’t engage but the days of controlling your image are completely over.”
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Jennifer Leggio, aka "Mediaphyter," writes about the "social business" side of social media - including enterprise, security and reputation issues. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
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| 10/21/08
