On the face of this, this could imply a lack of skills or confidence (amongst those surveyed) or a feeling that outsourcing Social Media is strategically more effective. With that in mind, here are some thoughts from us about possible sticking points when approaching the question of how to manage B2B Social Media, by looking across the key areas of Time, Quality and Cost.
TIME - Social media – it’s in the name. Social Media involves seeking out which networks your target audiences are following and joining the conversation. It involves chatting to people, listening to what they are saying, empathising and engaging with them on their level. Like any friendship, engagement evolves over time and people need to keep in regular contact to maintain the levels of trust earned. Social Media therefore needs considerable time, good communication skills and a "genuine" voice. For B2Bs this also means achieving key business outcomes and having clear metrics. Social Media Policies are also key to control and monitor activity and behaviour in order to prevent abuse to the system and to minimise damage to company reputations from staff wittingly or unwittingly using Social Media networks to air their views. If this all sounds a lot to take in, it is !
QUALITY- Social Media is a blend of creativity, intuition and ... science. Social Media works most effectively by telling a story about you, your products and your company in a way that makes people want to listen and join in. (But remember there is no place for blatant sales with Social Media, you will be found out at your peril). Social Media can be thought of as starting movements and not campaigns. The key is to integrate social media messaging across a range of communication channels and to always monitor the reach and impact of your conversations on the people that matter with relevant tools.
COST - But the big question is how can you link your Social Media performance to ROI? For your business, this could be done by setting customer centric metrics (i.e retention, customer satisfaction, customer referrals targets), through increased brand value, or financial, productivity or employee morale measures. But you may well ask, where do I start? If your resources are already being stretched and you don't have the competencies in house, it's definitely worth considerating the benefits of engaging an external agency or another specialist team. Benefits are likely to be a) their clear advantage in terms of the SM learning curve - this means they will hit the ground running on your behalf, b) you will be able to measure and pay them for achieving agreed key outcomes that matter for your business, your customers and other stakeholders, and c) you will be able to learn a lot from them in terms of technical and communication skills which will add to your competency base for the future.
If you do decide to go in this direction, your next dilemma is going to be convincing your board to run with your proposal, and finding the right partner to manage Social Media for your business, but according to PR Week, it seems that 57% of Comms Directors are taking this route.