Social Media - Excuses, Excuses

There was an interesting commentary recently by Doug Stevens over at Retail Wire.  Retail Wire is, by the way, a great resource for timely commentary and discussion of retail issues.  If you haven't visited, you should.  At any rate, the commentary was on "The Three Worst Excuses for Retailers NOT Using Social Media".  Doug's three worst were:

1. "We don't want everyone in the store slacking off and tweeting all day".
2. "We don't want people to say bad things about us".
3. "We're planning to get into it at a later date".

The commentary was followed by a rich set of comments.  This is definitely worth a read.

One of the biggest issues here is the ambivalence and resistance that senior retail leadership is exhibiting in getting involved in Social Media.  There's no question that CEOs have been slow to adopt, as evidenced by a recent survey at the UberCEO blog titled "Fortune 100 CEOs are Social Media Slackers".  My own sense of this is that there are two primary drivers, which are:

1. Social Media is the child of Gen X and Gen Y.  Senior retail leadership is largely from the boomer generation.  The boomers have heard about it, but, with a few notable exceptions, have not fully grasped the profound impact of this communication channel.
2. Social Media is about listening and collaboration.  Most senior executives grew up in retail organizations, particularly the large ones, that tended towards a top-down command and control organizational structure and a one-way approach (TV, Radio, Newspaper) to marketing.  The notion of employees representing the brand and/or engaging in a two-way dialogue with customers can make these senior executives very nervous.  The irony, of course, is that this is already happening, just without management involvement.

So if this is you or if you work in an organization where this is the case, what do you do?

Here's some thoughts:

• Get the facts.  There's a great 4 minute video out by Eric Qualman called "Social Media Revolution".  If you haven't seen it already (Over 800,000 views on YouTube), give it a look.  It has some extremely powerful statistics that may change your perspective.
• Look at what the exemplars are doing.  Start with Brian Dunn at Best Buy.  He is fully vested in this medium, both personally and organizationally for Best Buy.  There's also a great post by Amy Mengel on Social Media Today titled "Five Reasons that Corporations are Failing at Social Media".  The title is a little misleading as the bulk of the article is about success stories.  Worth a read.
• View this strategically.  If you've watched the video, you know the old forms of communicating with the customer (TV, Radio, and Newspapers) are rapidly losing effectiveness.  Make the use of Social Media a priority - as in specific accountabilities, funding, goals, timelines, etc.
• Engage the organization.  You'll probably be amazed at how many of your associates are active, expert users of Social Media.  Get them involved, along with the Marketing department, in defining uses, channels, and approaches that are best suited for your company.
• Jump in.  Start some pilot programs and pay close attention to the results.  The good news here is that these programs are easy to track since you are actively engaging both your customers and your associates.  There's plenty of feedback.
• Listen and adjust.  This is key.  The medium is changing rapidly, with new channels and uses every day.  A heuristic approach will yield the best results.

The Social Media phenomenon continues to explode in breadth and impact.  Ignore it at your peril.
 

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Social MediaSocial Media Excuses There was an interesting commentary recently by Doug Stevens over at Retail Wire.  The commentary was on "The Three Worst Excuses for Retailers NOT Using Social Media".  Doug's three worst were: "We don't want everyone in the store slacking off and tweeting all day". "We don't want people to say bad things about us". "We're planning to get into it at a later date". Social Media is having a profound impact on both communication and, increasingly, how brands are perceived.  There are reasons that senior retail executives are reluctant to embrace this medium.  If you are one of these or work in an organization like this, here are some tips on how to go forward.  Read More Guidelines for Social Media There's a terrific new post at the Harvard Business blog called "How to extend your customer experience through Social Media".  It was written by Peter Merholz, who is credited with coining the term "blog" and is a recognized thought leader in this topic.  Peter provides 4 basic principles for a successful Social Media execution, along with some links to examples and statistics.  Definitely worth a read.  Read More Still Not Sure about Social Media Still on the fence about Social Media?  If you think it's just for Gen X and the Millenials, you need to think again.  This is not just another fad.  It is becoming the cheapest and fastest way to bring in new customers and, if done well, build customer loyalty.  Read More Retailers and Social Media - Upside Down Marketing The conventional one-way approach to marketing - newspaper, radio, and TV are losing effectiveness.  On the other hand, Social Media is exploding.  The big questions facing retailers are 1) Can Social Media help drive business and, if so, 2) how to harness it effectively.   Read More