Reason Companies Fear Social Media and Blogs: Maybe It’s Communication Itself

Could it be that communication itself is a hindrance to corporations in adopting social media and blogs? Sounds counterintuitive but definitely possible. Consider the following.

What are some characteristics of getting involved in social media or maintaining a corporate blog? Is it being honest with your message? Is it being involved in the conversation regularly? Is it allowing comments, feedback and critiques to come back to you whether or not you want them? Is it having to take risks that you may lose trade secrets, private information, etc.? or is it all of the above?

Yes it’s communication itself. It’s the fear of getting or receiving something back unexpectedly – good is OK but what if it’s bad? It’s the fear of the unknown that’s outside of the normal outbound marketing, which marketers have control over. It’s the fear of the unknown and the what-ifs. It’s the fear of inbound marketing.

Admittedly, getting involved in corporate social media and blogs does require attention to the details mentioned above. These are in addition to the POST Method that I blogged about last November – People, Objectives, Strategy and Technology. But the reality is, if you have to take time thinking about each and every message or structuring and molding every communication piece before relating to your customers, then you may not understand your company, company culture, and value propositions as well as you should. Of course there are important and proper communication channels for corporate announcements, press releases and the like, but day-to-day relationship with your customers and prospects should be a tactical strategy in the same vein as public relations (PR). It should be constant.

So what ’s the solution? Maybe start with the following:

• Understand that social media and blogs can be valuable corporate tools.
• Create clear and flexible policies that foster more intimate communication with customers and prospects while minimizing risks to the company.
• Empower the right individual(s) to carry out social media and blogs, working closely with every other departments within the organization.
• Constantly monitor results (quantitatively and qualitatively) and be nimble to change direction as needed.

So what’s your experience? What have you found working successfully at your organization? Share with us in the comments.

 Loading ...

Related posts

• Must-Have Formula For Business Social Media Advertising
• Brands, Social Media, Authentic Relationships and Ultimate Success
• Corporate Blogging – Minimum Must-Have Elements For Successful Strategy
• Ford Gets Bloggers Involved in “What Women Want” for Instant Buzz
• Creating a Social Media Strategy? Don’t Forget the Legal Team
• How to Build a New Media Corporate Marketing Team
• Twitter’s Achilles’ Heels May Be Its Biggest Challenge
• Marketing and Customer Service Are Really One and the Same to Customers
• How to Write Relevant Content by Understanding Search Behaviors
• Viral Marketing: Create a World Wide Rave with David Meerman Scott

Tags: blog, Inbound Marketing, Outbound Marketing, Social Media