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.
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:
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:
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.
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:
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.
The leaders of unstoppable organizations recognize that social media is first and foremost social, and as a result, they make sure that the platforms they use are those that their customers are engaged in, but also that the same platforms are managed in a way that allow customers to interact with employees to further support an exceptional customer experience.