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As I See It...

In my new book Marketing 2.0, I write about the importance of adopting a mindset for social media marketing. I encourage businesses to embrace social media as a communication channel. I urge businesses to use social media as a channel to listen to conversations in the communities that matter. I invite businesses to get engaged in online communities to build relationships and measure the outcome of those relationships.

However, I still encounter many skeptics. I still encounter business executives who say “show me the money.” While this is a legitimate question to ask, I submit that they are asking it the wrong way.

Sure, business executives want to understand their ROI in social media. But, the question is asked in the context of how to use social media to make a buck. I submit that they might better be able to perceive the benefits of social media if they asked the question this way: How will social media help me build relationships with my customers so that I can maximize the revenue potential of those relationships? And, how can I strengthen trust between my customers and my company to keep their business and to win new customers?

If you think this recasting of the question is just word-smithing and therefore really the same, hear me out. It’s not…Social media is a communication channel. Your customers, employees and partners are there. If you think they’re not, go there. You’ll be surprised.

Consider these examples. When the telephone was invented businesses quickly adopted it as a communication channel. When the personal computer was invented businesses quickly adopted it as a productivity tool. When the Internet became commercially available businesses quickly adopted it as communication and marketing platform (among many other purposes). When email was invented businesses quickly adopted it as a communication channel.

The truth is that all of the examples above are breakthrough technologies that were adopted by businesses slowly, not quickly. But, consider that no business would operate today without a telephone, a personal computer, the Internet or email.

Are your competitors listening to these conversations? Worse yet, are your competitors participating in these conversations? Are your competitors leading these conversations? As a result of leadership in key social media, perhaps they are building relationships with your customers. Perhaps your customers are wondering why you are absent from these conversations.

Consider the risk of social media abstinence. Would you think of operating your business without email or any other effective communication channel that is widely used by your current and future customers?

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