Friday, September 9, 2011

Fud Buster Friday #67: Social Media Should be Outsourced

In conversation with friends last night we discussed the idea that using or creating something within the social media era is not for everyone.

Many companies hire out their social media efforts...why?

Is it really so difficult to type 140 characters? Sculpt a blog post? Send a missive to Facebook? No, of course not. But, what if your employees are not good at it? What if they don't use these things? Or what if they say the wrong thing the wrong way?

In steps the Social Media guru people or company. Sadly they exist because others think it is like advertising or marketing and since they have other people do that, they should have this outsourced as well.

You can spend a lot of money that way, monthly, and not get anywhere. Or maybe you hired the right people and it works for you. Roll the dice.

Having the tools in house as part of your core IT helps as people get used to using them. You also have the benefit of passion and clarity of vision for your company or product.

It makes no difference if you use IBM Connections, IBM Quickr or Wordpress for blogging but just do it.

Simple steps at first. Don't expect anything.
Plan for once a week to post anything anywhere.
Expand into audio or video once in a while, with different people in the office, not every one wants to be heard or seen or write.

Don't get me wrong, you should have a plan in place for a consistent message for your product or company, but extending the brand through employees is key to extending your reach to others outside of your offices.

Embrace the interaction, your fans are out there, they love you, do you really want them talking to people that don't care about your business?

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