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No doubt that there is a lot of articles and blog posts out there about how businesses either don’t use social media the right way (according to us – the so called experts, guru’s and ninja’s) or that they just haven’t seen the light and the importance yet.
For the last three weeks, I have been visiting about 5-8 companies a week, a nice mix of big corporate Danish or international companies, small companies and even a pair of governmental and non-governmental organisations.
Some of the companies have 100 employees and some more than 10,000.
Social media for both internal and external use
First of all, I am on a positive note and a bit surprised about the willingness to listen to the possibilities of new media. Almost every time a meeting is planned for one hour it lasts more than two hours. The interest is not only on marketing and sales, people are generally interested in hearing about ways to involve and collaborate, both internal and external.
So external is about selling products – marketing, branding, PR, communication, product development – it’s about selling products or beliefs. But remember for not so long ago, well not more than a few years – most companies were all about telling their buyers more than listening and collaborating – this paradigm shift has a fast evolution.
When it comes to internal communication, most of the people I have talked to, are interested in finding better ways to collaborate, share knowledge etc. They are very interested in the possibilities of shifting from email dialogue and communication on the intranet to the new ways of social media tools.
The challenges!
First of all – the people I meet are often the dedicated believers i.e. the first ones inside the companies that have seen the light. At a meeting with six people from an organisation of 8,000 people, their reply when I said, “It’s impressive how far you are in your thoughts” were “don’t be to excited – besides us, you might find a handful of believers within this company”. Or as said on another meeting – ‘we know this will work, but people are scared and annoyed about the changes’.
No doubt that it’s a challenge – but I believe that it starts with those dedicated people passionate about the possibilities – they will with their passion change their organisations!
Another challenges – budgets!
The use of social media, internal or external – need to move up the budget latter. It’s not free to use – who has told the companies that the great thing about social media is that it’s not budget demanding – it is!
What’s the chance of success without investing in making a strategy, planning, building the right thing for your specific challenges and priorities within the corporate strategy – what’s the chances of success, if you don’t invest in monitoring and analysing, having a KPI system to visualise your success or lack of it!
On a positive note – there are a lot of dedicated people working within large and small companies who try to make this change. I think they will succeed in the end. All they need is back-up from management and money to make more money!
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