14

SOCIAL MEDIA: STRATEGY VERSUS DISTRACTION

Distracted from distraction by distraction.

Thomas Stearns Elliot, Literary and Social Critic

I would be remiss if I wrote this book about how unstoppable organizations are growing with and through their people and didn’t make a brief mention of social media, a powerful tool that many of the organizations I interviewed and interacted with during the past several years are using in various ways. What I’ve learned is that, as social media platforms come and go, it has become increasingly difficult for most CEOs, executives, and leaders to assess which platforms work best, and more importantly, where and how they should deploy a platform in order to reap a quantifiable benefit of some sort. In this chapter, I discuss how to determine which platforms unstoppable organizations are deploying, how they are using them to support their growth, and what risks or pitfalls they have experienced.

How Unstoppable Organizations Use Social Media

To begin with, there are generally three ways in which the unstoppable organizations I work with are using social media: as a marketing tool to attract and connect with customers; a tool to engage with and increase communication amongst their employees; and as a method to connect with and appeal to potential employees. The most common use is in marketing. In a time when more and more customers are researching, comparing, and buying online, social media offers an often cost-effective means of engaging with customers. The powerhouse tools that most unstoppable organizations use, in no particular order, include the following:

1. LinkedIn: Having a company page that their customers can visit to learn more about the organization, its affiliations, and initiatives, as well as its products or services. As a free version, the information that is contained on a company page is generic, but some organizations are using the paid versions of LinkedIn to build up a better profile with images, links, video, and written content that is more appealing and interactive.
2. Twitter: Providing frequent tweets on company updates, customer successes, and product or service initiatives means Twitter provides a free method of sending out information in a brief format, which can include images and hyperlinks back to the organization’s Website or other relevant online platforms.
3. Facebook: Typically the more controversial platform, it is seen by some organizations as more retail-oriented versus supporting relationships in a business-to-business market. Yet having a company page on Facebook is free, and it offers a way to share content and images that are more personalized, allowing organizations to connect with their customers on a one-to-one basis.
4. Instagram: Typically used as a tool to share images only, it allows organizations to share exciting news on their products, services, customers, and even office shenanigans in a way that can be enticing to customers as it builds a stronger connection with the culture and offerings of an organization.
5. YouTube: Continually becoming more popular as organizations incorporate it to share product or service features and functions, YouTube is often seen as a great tool for creating “how-to” videos and sharing them with customers at virtually no cost other than video production or editing.

As you can imagine, the common theme amongst the unstoppable organizations throughout this book is that they are active on social media. Less common are which platforms organizations prefer to use, and specifically, how they are incorporating these and others which I haven’t included, such as Snapchat or Pinterest.

Being active, of course, means different things to different organizations and different people, but when I asked many of the CEOs why they were active on social media, their responses were almost identical:

• Social media is a way to get in front of our customers and employees at virtually no cost.
• Social media is a key strategy when considering how to build a brand and community in today’s online marketplace.
• As future generations grow up with the Internet as their preferred communication means, being present and active on social media is critical to long-term growth and success.

Creating Stronger Customer-Employee Connections Through Social Media

What is also common amongst the unstoppable organizations that I interact with is their preference to be active on social media, rather than just have a presence. If they were using Twitter, for example, they didn’t just schedule tweets to go out each day or week, but always ensured that someone monitored Twitter to respond to anyone who made an inquiry. Presence, when it comes to social media, is what ensures the “social” aspect is something that can be capitalized on. Not being active and social online is the fastest way to ruin a customer relationship. Consider that there are more and more customers online today and that, to them, sending a tweet with a request or “shout-out” to their favorite brand that goes unanswered or ignored, is no different than failing to respond to an e-mail or not answering the phone. The CEOs, executives, and leaders of unstoppable organizations recognize that being active on social media is increasingly a given as younger generations adapt and shift their communication preferences. Where someone older is just as likely to send an e-mail or call if their Facebook message goes unanswered, someone of a younger generation is more likely to simply stop pursuing or interacting with an organization.

On the positive side, being active on social media, organizations can create stronger connections with their customers, who share their excitement and pride. This is where the power of social media comes into play, becoming a marketing force to be reckoned with. Where an organization might have once invested from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars on marketing in radio or television ads, which are one-directional, they can now invest mere hundreds of dollars to sponsor ads on Facebook or Snapchat, reaching just as broad an audience. Moreover, they have the chance to engage directly in dialogue with customers by posing questions and responding to inquiries.

Social media marketing is, in fact, one of the best interactive media tools for marketing to and interacting with customers that exist today, helping organizations to create the stronger customer-employee connections that I referenced in earlier chapters.

Engaging Employees on Social Media

In addition to the benefits social media can have in supporting engagement and dialogue with customers, it also offers the very same benefits to engage with employees. To help foster a culture built around purpose and employees, Rachel Mielke’s team uses a simple (and free) Facebook group to engage and entice employees to work, collaborate, and celebrate together. The Facebook group offers a way for employees to engage in a dynamic environment rather than a static one, meaning information that is shared is live, current, and can contain multiple media forms to improve communication between team members. Although Mielke says they are now looking closely at Facebook’s new “workplace” platform¹ to further the benefits that Facebook offers, she and her team stand behind using social media to engage existing employees in ways that were never possible before by allowing them to open up and share a more personal connection not only with coworkers, but also with leaders across the organization, including Mielke herself.

In addition to incorporating social media as a tool to replace historically popular communication methods such as e-mail, the benefits that social media provides in creating a stronger team also extend externally. Consider, for example, that LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends reported as recently as 2015 the following statistics as they relate to the potential employee’s use of social media in finding a new job:

• “Social professional networks are the number one source of quality hires.”
• “Over 75% of people who recently changed jobs used LinkedIn to inform their career decision.”
• “New employees sourced through LinkedIn are 40% less likely to leave the company within the first six months.”²

In addition to the direct benefits that a platform like LinkedIn can offer to attract and identify new hires, involving employees in your social media strategy can assist in building an online presence that not only appeals to potential customers, but also potential employees. A close friend of mine is quite active on Facebook, posting personal stories and pictures several times each day. At least once each week she shares a post her employer has published on their Facebook page, invariably touting the achievements the organization has had, the success of its employees, and the organization’s involvement in the community. She also shares “we’re hiring” posts to her entire network of at least 200 friends. Consider the power this has, because the 200 friends who see these posts can also share with their friends, who can share with their friends, and so on. Engaging on social media both directly and indirectly with your employees is a great way to build public recognition of the benefits and positive attributes of your organization, as well as solicit support and assistance from the public. This, in turn, can lead to attracting new talent—and all at a cost of $0, with the exception of having someone actually publish the posts.

If you want to become an unstoppable organization, then social media is a tool that you need to introduce, be active on, and use to interact with both your customers and employees. Not doing so, particularly as we continue to be connected more and more online, can be detrimental to your growth and even your survival.

For additional tips and bonus resources, make sure to visit www.unstoppableorganization.com.