@Mashable: Why Social Media Isn't For Everyone (Consider what can go wrong and why!)

Why Social Media Isn’t for Everyone

Original Post:  http://mashable.com/2010/01/18/social-media-not-for-everyone/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29

Social media has a loyal tribe of disciples. We follow each other on Twitter

, connect onFacebook , read each other’s blogs and listen to each other at conferences. We provide each other moral support and though we are a minority, we have religion and we are here to change the world (I’m not joking). Joshua-Michéle Ross is SVP of Digital Strategy with Fleishman Hillard. He blogs atopposableplanets.com.

Most importantly, we share stories. These stories are all about finding common ground and building a defensible position on the what/why/how of our new orthodoxy; what is “social”, why you need it, how it actually works and how you measure it.

In this giant food-mill of collective meaning making we are defining the significance of new terms and putting our arguments to the test. Like any self-interested group however, we easily slip into dogmas that serve our purposes but may not serve our clients. Lately I have become increasingly aware of the oversimplified answers that social media consultants apply, often regardless of business context.

So let me be the first to tell you: Social media may not be for you — yet.

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Are You Willing to Act? Can You?

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One of the most common issues big organizations have with social media is a reasonable fear that customers will air their grievances on a company-sponsored platform such as a blog, Twitter or Facebook page. The nearly universal response to this fear, one that has been hammered home at every conference, and in every blog post is, “your customers are already saying these things about you. Wouldn’t you rather have them talking on your site?” This response rings true because, by and large your customers are online –- and they do have the means to talk about you. If you are a sizable company and you look around it is very likely that someone, somewhere has said some pretty shocking things about you. Sometimes they even work for you.

The hackneyed “you better join the conversation” is often an appropriate response. But it isn’t always the appropriate response.

First, there is a difference between isolated criticism that a company may receive here and there on the Social Web from people of varying influence and veracity, and painting a target on your back by hosting that conversation.

Second, and more importantly, when an organization makes an investment in social media it is a constructive opportunity to consider not only what could go wrong, but why it could go wrong. In other words, what are the valid criticisms that customers and employees might have and what you are willing to do about it. If you aren’t willing to consider the former and have no power concerning the latter, social media might not be your best bet.

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Be Prepared to Change

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All too often the person making the social media investment has little control over (1) the quality of the product, (2) the pricing strategy, (3) the terms of use, (4) the company’s stance on cause-based issues (political, environmental, etc.), (5) the quality of customer service, and the list goes on. Yet these are often exactly what the customer wants to talk about.

All too often the person making the social media investment has a narrow mandate — quarterly growth — that exists within a parochial frame of reference (“it’s still marketing, isn’t it?”). All too often the company has not thought through (or perhaps willfully ignored) what its response to criticism will be.

So it might not be the best idea to “join the conversation” if you just want to make your quarterly numbers. Don’t create a Facebook Fan Page if your product is a letdown. Don’t use Twitter if your intern will be running the campaign. Above all, don’t engage in social media if you aren’t prepared to change in the bargain.

Ultimately if your company is willing to take the feedback and turn it into action, then social media is a competitive game changer. Connecting with customers, partners and employees can drive innovation, decrease cycle time, improve customer service and so on. This usually involves bringing various internal constituents to the table; marketing, customer service, product development, legal etc. But social media isn’t for every company or every situation. It has a transformative power but, like fire, not everyone is ready to wield it without getting burned.

Posted via email from LJJ Speaks!