Stop Hiring Social Media Specialists
After seeing several people in my Twitter stream talk about how they were in the process of creating keynotes on social media, I sent out one of my classic hyperbolic tweets.
Is there anyone who is NOT giving presentations on social media these days?
Seriously. It seems like everyone is in the business of telling people how to be in the business of social media. Apparently the monetization strategy for this is being hired as a social media consultant and masterminding a social media synergy of awesome for the most social mediaist social media ever.
The problem with that approach is that it completely misses the point.
Here’s how most companies address their social media campaign needs:
- Find out from FOX & Friends that they should probably be getting on board this whole social internet train.
- Attend the nearest conference and attend a keynote about “Using Social Media to Grow Your Business 5000% in 20 Days of Less!”
- Get excited about all the buzz words and hire a “Social Media Specialist” (usually this seems to be the keynote speaker getting hired, actually).
- Pay said Specialist a monthly retainer to handle expert socialization branding viral magic.
What’s the missing component here? You.
You’ve hired yourself out of the most fundamentally important roles you can have in your business and thus missed the point of developing a social media strategy. There’s no one you could possibly retain on a consultancy basis who knows your business better than the people who are in the trenches dealing with customers, moving boxes, filing forms, answering phones and making shit happen day-to-day.
That’s not to say everyone in your business needs to be intimately involved in your social media strategy (although that’s the way it should be), but I know without a doubt who it shouldn’t be: anyone else.
Of course, it might be that you, as the CEO, do not have time to dedicate to such a mundane task as responding to people on Twitter.
Well, that’s ok, I’ll shop somewhere else. It’s safe to say that if you’re reading this blog, companies bigger and CEOs busier than you are making the effort and pulling it off. You need to have a layer in place to handle returns if you’re really getting a very high level of response but that is rare.
I’m not talking about companies like Comcast and Dell who have full-time Twitter customer support people monitoring their accounts. That’s fine and understandable. I’m talking to you though, the small business guy or girl who isn’t sure how to break in and feels like the results aren’t coming fast enough. When your goal is to just participate in the interactions happening in your market space because you’re genuinely interested, you will find that a social media strategy comes natural.
If you’re selling tax services in West Palm Beach, you should be participating in those conversations. As I write this, I found four people doing their taxes right this very second on Twitter. They’re probably struggling and annoyed.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if you sent them a reply and told them if they had any quick questions or needed a 140 character tip that they could send a note? That would kick total ass and you would be a rock star to them. You’re not sending them automated messages looking for “doing my taxes” and shooting over your URL. Screw that.
So that’s the key. Social media strategy is simply availability to [potential] customers. Pretend you’re a normal user (because you are) and you just want to participate in the conversations that happen to also be inline with what you’re selling.
Social Media Hit List
If you’d like to save some money on conference badges, here’s a quick-and-dirty hit list. This is all you need to know.
- Create a Twitter and Facebook account.
- Add a Twitter and Facebook app to your phone and give access to anyone in the company who can act as a conduit to real customer relationships.
- Talk about what’s going on in your business and the industry (your space). What are you working on right now? What is coming up that gets you excited?
- Use search to inject your brand’s voice into other conversations that are happening in your industry (don’t spam, interact!).
I know it sounds simple. I know you may have just written a check to someone who set up your Facebook page for you. However, if you simply treat your social media experience as your experience and not an extension of some nameless marketing campaign, you will get excellent, slow and steady results.
Tags: consulting, gurus, hiring, specialists, strategy, Twitter
Travis hits the proverbial nail right on the head! It seems that everyone who knows how to set up a Facebook or Twitter page considers themselves an expert on social media. And for people who are not as media savvy as they should be, fear is created that they are missing the social media boat. So rather than take the time to learn or experiment, they “farm it out” to an “expert.” The myth becomes self-perpetuating. Just like the myth that my 4 year-old cousin can build an awesome website because of all the “tools” available. Or the kid up the street is a “pro” because he has a video camera and an “editing system.”
Interesting stuff. I agree that a lot of companies need to get into social networking, and not hire it out to someone else. Its great if you get a personal response from someone high up in the company who is taking their time out to help you. Kind of like Steve Jobs replying to customers who email him directly.
I can’t really be surprised that every C-level exec doesn’t spend their time developing their own social media. They have their own jobs to do running their companies. That’s why companies hire staff to do the work for them. The CEO doesn’t write the training manuals, code the interface or make the HR decisions. They run the company. Jobs are a good thing. It is a new field, so “Experts” come in all shapes and sizes, but social media will be a job now and in the future.