Set Realistic Expectations
Because social media revolves around so many free tools, and because it has become the darling of marketing hipsters everywhere, expectations run high. So you also need to help your team understand there’s no guarantee it will be a silver bullet. Tell them things like:
- Social media is not a panacea: if your company or product sucks, social media is not going to make that go away
- While many of the tools are free, it can take a substantial investment in time and consistent effort to build up a loyal following on the main social media sites
- Social media is not just another advertising channel – old-school product messages will go down in flames
- There is a substantial learning curve of the technology, language, and culture of the various social media sites
- Social media is always evolving, so successful methods can stop working
- Success may require effort from a team, not just one person
Getting this plan accomplished will require resources. Don’t be shy, ask for help, be it training, people’s time, or budget to pay for consultants, website hosting fees, a video camera, or useful web applications you later determine you need. Because social media requires near constant attention, tell them you need a laptop with broadband access, and a smart phone with an unlimited web access plan, too.
And ask for something free but priceless: For your top management to share their buy-in with your plan to help you get more cooperation from the rest of your company.
Some more recent information is found on this infographic. Click the thumbnail to enlarge:
- 41% of the class of 2011 used social media in their job search.
- 4 out of 5 internet users visit social networks and blogs.
- Twitter gets 170 million Tweets a day.
- Users spend 53.5 Billion minutes on Facebook a day.
See previous and future segments in the links below.
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