Tell Tale Signs A Company Does Not Get Social Media
Paul Holmes is hosting an e-mail discussion around social media with about a dozen experts from agencies. The discussion was trending a little too optimistic so Curtis Hougland (@attentionpr.com) suggested we share some frustrations. This morning I had a little time to generate this list for the discussion and thought it was worth posting. Here’s are 18 signs I could think of:
No one in the company is responsible for social media… in fact, marketing, communications, customer service and others are either 1) debating who owns the content and conversations or 2) not taking responsibility.
The newest hire in the company has been assigned to develop a social media strategy because they “grew up with social media.”
A firewall blocks all access to social networks, Facebook, some blogs, etc.
The company hired a “blog monitoring” company who submits a quarterly report full of great charts, but no action-oriented recommendations – but the company feels like they are covering social media as a result.
The company is getting bashed online for a bad product or service, etc., but either 1) no one knows about it or 2) no one knows what to do.
A search on the company’s brand name is full of negative entries on page 1-3, but either 1) no one knows about it or 2) no one knows what to do.
Counsel has prepared a letter to send to a blogger or forum asking them to “cease and desist…”
Counsel wants to review all blogs posts, plus they want all comments left on blogs by employees to include a disclaimer.
Employees are leaving comments on a popular bloggers’ blog without identifying themselves.
The company wants all the agencies employees to leave comments on the same bloggers’ blog.
The company’s “interactive agency of record” is assigned to design and program a site we’ve conceived, but they don’t want to use readily available software, they think blogs are ugly and represent a bad user experience… they don’t consider RSS feeds… they are really concerned about comments and how to manage it – in short, they don’t really get social media.
They company wants a blog, but the objectives are not clear. Even worse, they need some help setting up a Twitter account, but are not clear on why they are doing it…
We’ve launched a social media program, but the client cuts the budget for activities to make it a success hoping that it would just happen organically…
The brand invested $1m in a social network initiative (on MySpace or Facebook), but there is no new content or any momentum since the launch because no one is thinking about it.
The company has a successful blog under its belt and now dictates 50 plug ins that must be include on the next blog, including a “tag cloud” (which I lovingly refer to as the mullet of social mediaJ).
No one looks at analytics for social media property – no one knows even where to find the analytics….. some guy in IT is not readily willing to share the data.
There’s a new social media project kick-off each week, but no one is clear on how they relate to each other.
No one person is responsible for managing the brand’s “digital ecosystem.”
Any other tell tale signs you would add?
7 Responses to “Tell Tale Signs A Company Does Not Get Social Media”
1 Andrew Foote 12 June 2008 @ 11:10 am
The company is stuck in a traditional PR mindset of “pitching” and “hits.” They perceive social media as just another channel for generating media coverage. They don’t fully understand the larger opportunity of building a meaningful dialogue.
2 Paul Walker 12 June 2008 @ 11:16 am
That’s a good one, brother.
3 Martin 12 June 2008 @ 11:59 am
The company is so obsessed with product focused demand generation that instead of using social media investments for building good relations with key online audiences they scare people off by (over-)selling.
The not-for-us-excuse for those who’re not really interested in changing their communications MO: “This social media stuff is really interesting. Too bad our key target groups arent aged 15-24.”
4 Mike Presson 13 June 2008 @ 6:24 am
Coming from a traditional PR background, I think I’ve experienced or heard about most of these signs from previous clients.
Three more to add:
- they try implementing various social media initiatives but don’t hire an agency with experience in managing such initiatives, but rather force fit the programs onto existing agencies because that’s what “makes sense”
- when engaging in social media, as with any communications program, strategy is number one - you can’t begin the communications process without understanding your audience and their needs
- if they don’t begin a social media program right away they will never catch up with their competitors - it’s not about speed, but rather purpose
5 Steve 16 June 2008 @ 1:46 am
Here’s a few more for you:
The company has simply added bloggers to its standard media distribution list for all press releases
Having digital expertise is referenced on the company’s website but never mentioned during recruitment interviews…..
6 Mike Spataro 16 June 2008 @ 8:29 am
Paul,
Here’s one I hear a lot in certain industries… “we would rather not know what consumers are saying because it could get us in trouble from a legal standpoint.”
Sticking your head in the sand can kill your business, but it’s more common than one might imagine.
See you soon.
7 Wilson 17 June 2008 @ 3:16 am
1. Allows in-house developers to overreach by playing Web 2.0 (graphic) designers.
2. Joins the conversation with stolid, uninspired writing. Must as well issue a run-of-the-mill press release.
3. Has no qualms about buying social media coverage.
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