Spending the balance of the year posting items that didn’t make it out of our “Drafts” folder. You’ll thank us later.
You are not alone in hating busy work. Busy work is not cool, a real downer, very unhip.
We had great dialogue recently with a guy named Mike Cassidy, also known as Membership Jedi. Mike tells us that he likes to ask WTFF – or, to be more Rated G, “Why Are We Doing This Again?”
Actually, Mike’s thoughts are really good ones – and, when applied to Social Media Marketing, really timely. Here’s an example, “ripped from the headlines,” using a hypothetical company that is ready to “dabble” in Social Media.
Executive Team: “Let’s Get On Tweeter.”
You: “Why?” (NOTE: Don’t correct the executive team at this juncture.)
ET: “It’s what every other [insert industry] company is doing.”
You: “Why?”
ET: “It will allow us to connect with our customers.”
You: “Why?”
ET: “So they can tell us what they like about us.”
You: NOW it’s time to stop asking “Why?” And here’s why.
Depending on your industry, you’re going to have a varying degree of “like” of your products. If you are a mobile phone company and you have a spotty network, the “likes” will be focused on issues centered around things that don’t matter to the user experience, like how pretty your logo is.
And in just about any industry, your likes are going to be ratcheted up higher and higher depending upon what level of bounty you are putting on the like. “Like us and get a $5 coupon.” “Like us and be entered for a chance to win a spanking new vehicle.” The execs need to know that the like has to be attached to something – and they may not like what they’re hearing.
Be prepared, young Jedi, with a solution, too.
If you’re in a high-volume customer interaction universe, it could be possible that the “dislikes” are already being registered when the customer is on the phone with a rep, or in the store at the cash register. Solution: get hold of that feedback. Measure what that would mean to your department if you had to act on it on behalf of the organization. Provide an alternative – even if that alternative means “doing nothing.”
In most cases, the knee-jerk reaction from the Executive Team is “get us on the Flavor of the Week.” That Flavor right now is Social Media, but in a few months it could be something entirely different. If you ask why, and you do so in an insightful way, and you provide solutions to the potential problems, you’ll be well on your way to selling this social thing. IF it makes sense for your company.
