I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Aaron Strout’s toothpaste post made me think about it but Mark Wallace’s blog post prompted me to write it down.
It isn’t always a good idea to create a social media strategy or an online community.
- Offline Workforce: If a workforce is not online on a regular basis, and would never go home and connect to the internet to learn more about their job, a community won’t work. Think retail jobs or office cleaning workers. Ok, this one’s obvious.
- Poor Customer Communication: Opening the doors to conversation means you actually have to be ready to listen. The company doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t even have to be great at listening to have a great community, but if the company’s not ready to listen at all, don’t start. Your company will just open itself to criticism it’s just not ready for.
- Siloed Organization: When there’s a community being built around customer’s having better interaction with company employees, but the company is built in silos, and there’s no clear reward for employees participating, social media, specifically communities, don’t work. A great example of this is consulting firms.
Eventually, most companies will figure it out, most employees, partners, colleagues and customers will expect to have direct access to a company but right now, not everyone’s ready. Like Facebook, social media and online communities are trains that have left the station and there’s no turning back.
Think I’m wrong? Tell me why.
Heather – I like your thinking here. I am firm agreement regarding points one and two. Point three is a little tricky, however. I’d argue that consulting firms aren’t so much siloed but rather they are 1) afraid of bleeding out their IP and 2) are like a thousand little islands that are hard to connect. In that second regard, they could actually use community more than anyone. The same can be said about a siloed organization. While it may be more difficult for them to break down the walls, engaging in “social” — maybe just by using an internal tool like Yammer — may facilitate this process.
Either way, this is a good conversation stimulator.
Best,
Aaron | @aaronstrout
Aaron, thanks for your comment. I guess I speak from personal experience in #3 and I think it’s possible to be successful but I think many of those types of organizations are far away from being ready. As you mention, breaking out of their IP is tough. Even more important, there needs to be a culture shift.
I’m sure I just scratched the surface on companies who aren’t ready to build. Many companies who aren’t ready don’t fit into categories. Their structural organization or culture makes them poor candidates. Maybe I’ll write a post on that too.
Excellent points, Heather — especially #2.
An analogy: You wouldn’t (or at least you SHOULDN’T) put your CEO on camera or on stage at a big event without thorough preparation, including media training. He or she might be the most brilliant and capable person in the world, but that’s a separate question from whether he/she is ready for the particular pressures of the limelight.
Similarly, a company that doesn’t have its act together in terms of customer focus . . . social media/community exposure is only going to highlight or exacerbate that weakness, not improve it — at least not initially.
You’ve got my gears turning with this one. Thanks!
Absolutely Heather. One more too: Don’t do it if you aren’t prepared to do the work.
Tim, great analogy and it ties nicely into Isaac’s point. If you’re not prepared, don’t expose yourself until you are. Even if you have prepared, sometimes your CEO is just not a great public speaker. Find a new way of approaching the opportunity. Maybe your CEO is a great writer, or maybe she does well in interviews.
This also applies to Social Media. There are lots of ways to help your audience reach you and each other. Think about what will best fit your company structure and start there. Focus your efforts on what your good at and prepare, prepare, prepare.