Choosing to Use Social Media Marketing Means Choosing to Update Corporate Culture–and sometimes Policies
Man, that’s a long title. So long that I’m going to dissect it for a (hopefully) very concise blog post.
Please note this is not a complete list. I invite readers to make additions in the comments!
“Choosing to use social media marketing”
Does not mean:
- Throwing up a company blog for newsletter items and press releases
- Using Twitter to syndicate your RSS feeds
- Placing ads on Facebook
- Anything that requires little or no human company representative to interact
Does mean:
- Engaging stakeholders on a one-to-one and one-to-many basis
- Making a time investment in social media
- Sharing content and offering others to use it on your behalf
- Letting go of controlling the message
“–means choosing to update corporate culture”
Does not mean:
- Hippies, cowboys, or exclusively Gen Y’ers running and participating in your media relations
- Your company can continue ignoring what may or may not be said about it
- You will be disrespecting your brand
Does mean:
- Agility (by which I use the wiki reference for agility: the power of moving the limbs quickly and easily; nimbleness; activity; quickness of motion; as, strength and agility of body; A faculty of being agile in body, mind, or figuratively)
- Listening to other users–with our ears more than our mouths
- Increasing transparency; not company secrets, but certainly sharing more than you’re used to
- Realizing the market is bigger than your control
- Better integrating your PR and/or marketing professionals into your team’s daily activities
“–and sometimes policies”
Does not mean:
- Lawsuits will be flying at your company left and right
- Sneaking around different departments to gain approval
- Your list of “rules” can/will be all enclosing
- Your lawyers will have a coronary
Does mean:
- Policies disallowing company’s expressing opinions might be altered (Quit shuddering; it’ll be okay. I promise.)
- Sharing media (Really, I mean giving it away. No charging. No rules. Just allowing straight embeddable media.)
- Opening your mind a little more
