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Social media is not for the weak of heart. It requires a certain level of risk taking and willingness to experiment. The success of social media is based on contribution, connections and community. There is no one way to identify what tools within social media are relevant to your business objectives. This has not stopped companies and individuals to adapt to these tools and some have successfully harnessed the raw power of social media. No doubt, there are many people and companies who are still resisting this new social phenomenon. Like it OR not – this is here to stay.
I have spoken to many people in different organizations and some have shared with me their concerns of using social media.
Here are a few that I want to share with you all:
1. We can’t have a Youtube video. If the advertisement on RHS of the video is of adult content, it will dilute our brand.
2. We can’t open up Facebook to our employees since we are a Financial services company and have to protect client information.
3. We really are interested but don’t know the best practices around what works and what doesn’t work.
These are all valid concerns. Just recently, an article in the wired blog mentioned that Military may ban Twitter, Facebook as security ‘Headaches’.
And yet there are other companies who have transcended to leverage social media in a compelling and effective manner. In my previous post, I committed to sharing some stories of companies who are using social media in a creative and innovative manner.
Here are a few stories:
COOL factor: Held a series of highly effective recruiting fairs in Second Life, a 3D virtual world, that showed EMC the undeniable power of social platforms for business.
ROI: EMC’s employment brand operation has a zero spend budget. The number of followers on EMC Careers Twitter channel and Facebook are growing. There is a spike in the number of resumes per job opening. Therefore, ROI is positive.
COOL factor: A unique JetBlue promotion called, yes, “All You Can Jet” offering people a $599 ticket for unlimited travel between Sept. 8 through Oct. 8 to 57 cities where JetBlue flies. Main promotional components appear to have been a release over PR Newswire and a tweet sent out by JetBlue at around noon that day.
ROI: Total PR buzz of the effort at 31 million search results and 10 million blog posts in seven hours.
I believe that we live in a new world where we are all connected. We can leverage these connections to create new possibilities. Truly, there has never been a time when things changed so dynamically. This does not mean that traditional media is dead. It is a great resource for mass distribution – like selling a book, launching a product or a career. The idea that your competitor has more connections and has the ability to hurt your business has driven companies to adapt social media. I believe it is the new Socioeconomy (study of the relationship between economic activity and social life) – a shift more profound than the launch of an automobile or the cell phone.
Contributed by Deepika Bajaj, President and Founder, Invincibelle, LLC. Invincibelle helps women who live and work in a multicultural world to accelerate their professional growth. You can follow Deepika on Twitter at invincibelle