Everyone, it seems, is doing social media these days. It’s the silver bullet to every organization’s woes. It’s going to create more demand, increase sales, increase customer loyalty and crush the competition. Not only that but it costs nothing to do and, after all, if teenagers can sign up for a Facebook page, how hard can it be?
Ok, enough of the fantasy and back to reality. The reality is, Social Media is all of those things and none of those things. Yes, many companies and organizations have experienced success with using social media but that wasn’t because of social media, it was because of the nature of the organization.
One of the success stories everyone likes to tell when they are trying to prove that social media works is that of Zappos. But lets really look at Zappos before we all run out and start Twittering. Zappos’ mission statement is to be the best service company there is and to sell shoes and clothes. A company whose stated goal is to provide outstanding customer experience is already aligned with the expectations of users of social media. They came to social media not as a last hope but as a natural extension of their internal culture.
This is where social media starts. It is about people. It is about the importance of people to the organization and the recognition of that fact. Those people are both internal and external. Aligning the culture is the first step in any social media strategy. An organization can’t hope to project an image of caring, customer-centric engagement if the reality is the opposite.
So before entering social media, review the internal culture. Ensure that the individuals that will be the social media users for the organization are in fact prepared for handling this and are your best brand ambassadors.
Do you really believe you are ready for social media?