The social media Zoo

As I've been discussing social media just lately, visions of animals keep cropping up!

I've observed 5 levels of corporate engagement when it comes to Social Media and they can be described in ways that are similar to some popular (past and present) animals -

Level 1 - The Dodo - "what is social media?"
Level 2 - The Ostrich - "we've heard of it, but are ignoring it and hoping it will go away"
Level 3 - The Sloth - "we've had a quick look at it, its very confusing and don't know where to start, so we may put something in next years budget....."
Level 4 - The Elephant - "we've had a good look at it and after consideration can see that it might be a problem. We are collecting lots of data and are analysing it to death to ensure that we have everything on record. Customers could bad-mouth us and we need to manage our reputation!"
Level 5 - The Dolphin - "we've really got our heads around this and are planning and initiating some exciting campaigns to leverage the benefits and grow our reputation. This will be major part of our customer engagement strategy"

I supect that many are at levels 1 or 2; some are at 3 and are likely to stay there for months unless they are pushed.

What's really interesting are the ones at Levels 4 & 5 - these different approaches are intriguing. Many established, large organisations seem to be in the level 4 mode of damage-limitation and data gathering; they recognise that stuff is being said about them and are putting in systems and procedures to gather the info and try to avert crisis, but don't seem to have seen the potential benefits that a pro-active approach could deliver.

Organisations at level 5 are potentially the winners, they have seen the opportunities, are moving swiftly, see this as a great new channel and way of enhancing reputation and are already allocating resource to maximise the benefits.

I think the real opportunity comes when SM content can be integrated with other customer feedback and then managed to drive business improvements and also be used as a springboard to launch referral marketing and word-of-mouth campaigns.

Which animal best describes your organisation?

Who manages Social Media for ACME Ltd?

I see a 'land-grab' going on. There is a fight happening on who is best to manage 'social media' for ACME Ltd?

ACME's PR's agency are offering themselves up as the right people (with seemingly good credentials). ACME's ad agency don't seem to get it and are a bit sniffy about this social stuff. Bob in ACME's accounts dept and Hayley in ACME's telesales dept both use social media sites for personal use and seem to "get-it", so they could probably do a good job. The Marketing dept see it as their domain, but they are too busy to keep on top of it and they are only interested in 'controlling' the message. Sales are looking for referrals from existing customers, so they are focused on other reasons. Customer service dept are always in the front-line managing complaints and seem to know whats happening on the street, so they could easily manage some of the issues.......

Mmmmmm......who do we choose?

Well, a good starting point is to say "What are we trying to achieve"? Managing reputation is a worthy objective and maybe PR's are best skilled for this. Talking to customers about specific issues is something that the customer service dept are best equipped to handle. Getting referral sales needs creative strategies. Talking about new products and new initiatives is marketing depts forte. Explaining company procedures and how things are done around here can be managed by many 'back-room' staff.

And that's the point - it shouldn't be the responsibility of one single dept of ACME. Many people can contribute - and should. Create a Code of Conduct and let as many ACME staff as possible (and are willing) interact with the 'market'. It adds authenticity and real character. After all - we gave them all a telephone and an email account, so I guess they are free to "talk" to the outside world if they want!!!!

The phrase horses for courses springs to mind. Decide on your objectives and then who is best to deliver the message.

It might well be 'Bob' from accounts....!!