Two Large Objects, Social Media and the Marketplace, Can Exert a Predictable Force on Each Other. How Relative That Force is Depends on How Effectively the Social Media is Integrated into Business Operations.
The Theory of Relativity says that two objects can exert a force of attraction on each other, which is as deep as this discussion will get into physics. Although Albert Einstein was talking about mass of objects and acceleration, the concepts seem relevant to introducing social media into an organization. Social media is like a moving object thrown into marketplace space, but in this case, there can be unpredictable results without good planning. The goal is to create some “gravity” in which social media exerts a pull on the market with a force so great that people become dedicated customers, sharing information, ideas, and thoughts.
Unfortunately, many social media implementations are more reminiscent of M. C. Escher’s Relativity lithograph which has six sets of stairs, limits inhabitant access to the stairways, and results in characters passing each other going in opposite directions. Social media is an excellent marketing tool but only if it is designed to fully engage the marketplace, is integrated into business operations, and provides information that can be used to competitive advantage.
The truth is that all social media has marketplace pull, but that force can be positive or negative. Before social media, dissatisfied customers would tell a finite network of friends and family that a company performed poorly (push). Now they can tell the world (push harder). In the United States, over 58 percent of companies already use social media. Therefore, discussing effective implementation includes companies already using social media that need to “re-implement” better and more efficient management.
The most effective organizational users of social media have a formalized strategy that is an important component in the overall marketing strategy. Social media should be fully integrated into marketing efforts and tied back to the bottom line. Linking social media results to a return on investment (ROI) ensures the invested resources are worth the commitment. Though many large companies have grasped this concept, smaller companies often do not realize the full power of well-constructed social media. Most companies should have dedicated staff, a reporting structure, and regular management review of social media results. Ultimately, the goal is to develop a loyal and growing customer base that gives business insight into the next market moves. The smallest companies may not have dedicated staff, but they still need to tie effort to the bottom line.
Social media also gives companies a means of finding out what the competition is doing. Companies do not want to chase competition. They want to be ahead of it; monitoring of the competition should be looking for clues to their next moves. That is only possible if tools and technologies are used in a way that gives feedback to management in the form of data and information gleaned across the web.
One of the most powerful benefits of social media is that it gives companies a way to monitor trends among customers and identify potential product and service ideas. Collecting the data is key to having an integrative social media marketing program. However, interpretation and use of the data as a competitive strategy is light years beyond mere data collection. Social media is a window on the marketplace, giving businesses unparalleled direct access to what people are thinking, doing, wanting, and needing. As such, social media can be used to raise awareness of a brand or products, increase traffic to the website, develop a favorable “buzz” about the company online, attract new business, give early warnings of potential issues, in addition to enabling marketplace monitoring.
Dynamic Technology
How does a company choose the tools and technologies, collect and track information, and build a dedicated customer base? Reams could be written on each of these topics. First, social media is a dynamic technology, and integrating it into the business infrastructure is not necessarily easy. Currently, many businesses have started stand-alone blogs, forums, or social media pages where people can post and someone can respond. However, it ends there, leaving a void where the gravitational pull does not exist. That is a far cry from integrating social media technology as a core component of the business.
It is likely that unless a business has an IT department, professional help will be needed to integrate the most sophisticated social media technologies. There are many today that most people are unaware of. For example, work flow technologies exist that help companies spot social media events on sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, or even across the web, that need attention. The workflow technologies can also track responses to ensure the event is well managed. There are text analytics programs for data extraction and statistical analyzation that enable businesses to monitor chatter, comments, and opinions expressed by marketplace members.
In addition to text analytics, there are tools for measuring, mapping and monitoring trendy topics, customer sentiments, competition, customer profiles, and much more. The value of all these statistics lies in the integration of social media into the bigger marketing program, from email programs to sales to marketing campaigns. Full integration includes the social dashboard making it possible to monitor and report on how well customer problems are addressed and centralized moderation so that content can be monitored across social media channels.
Online Relativity
Companies without the resources to invest in sophisticated integrated social media monitoring and measuring programs should take heart. It is applying the principles of effective social media use that matters. The first principle is to engage customers through empowerment. For example, a customer forum gives people direct access to the company and will centralize the most important information the company needs to serve its current clients. However, the social media should not create silos of information that are read and managed only by a select group of isolated people. The information in the forum should be analyzed, assessed, and used by the organization.
The pull between social media and the company should be strong, and that strength is created through a feedback system that is built on the monitoring, measuring, and reporting of activity related to the business and the industry of operation. Social media integration into business processes represents the next stage of online relativity.
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