Social Media Still Facing Stigma In Business

Leslie Poston,

on June 04, 2008,

business shackled by fear of web 2.0 In spite of the recent upswing in early adopters using social media sites like Twitter, FaceBook and FriendFeed to improve their businesses, a shockingly high number of companies are getting left behind as they refuse to embrace this new technology. Stuck in a rut based in misunderstanding, they cut employees off from the online world, a decision which leaves them trailing behind their more innovative competition.

The inspiration from this article came when I had to send a real, paper fax while at an office today. I realized how long it had been since I plugged in my own fax machine, let alone sent anything by fax at all. I have been scanning and sending documents for years now to operate a truly paperless home office.

I became curious, so I asked the business owner about internet time for his staff. I was told that the company discouraged internet use, going so far as to only have two email addresses for the entire company of 30 people. What would make him choose to keep his company so isolated, when he could benefit froma larger presence online? Fear. Granted, this person is an extreme example, but the fear of new media is very real, nonetheless.

Even after all this time, many old world employers not only don't understand new media, and they fear the impact it might have on employees. Because they can only focus on the small picture of office productivity and how much "ownership" they have of a person for 8 hours a day, they lose sight of the ways that new media and social applications can actually help their office become better.

Focusing on the big picture and how social media can help your business grow is becoming more and more essential. Is everyone on social sites like FaceBook, Twitter or FriendFeed ? No, but a business's up and coming target demographic is, and its employees most likely are. It's time for businesses to loose the fear and embrace the social.

I love using Gary Vaynerchuk as an example of someone in an old world business who is using social media in the best way possible to grow and expand his business and his brand, but he isn't the only one. Companies like Zappos are using social media as well. Will It Blend commercials by BlendTec have dominated YouTube for years. If these people can make wine, shoes and a high strength blender exciting for the young social media crowd, imagine what other companies could do if they were willing to try.

Other reasons companies give for eschewing social media include a fear of having sensitive data compromised, a fear that employees might do things online that reflect badly on the company, a fear that sensitive company secrets may leak, a fear that productivity will drop and more. Fear only serves to hold you back. I see social media as a way to get your brand out there, to weed out employees who are careless with their image and the company image, and upgrade security practices to embrace new technology.

The economy is changing at lightening speeds. It is global, it is fluctuating, in many places it is thriving in spite of (or perhaps because of) a slowdown in the United States economy, and it is within a company's reach if they are willing to stretch for it and try something new. Go ahead and let your employees spread the word about your company online. Develop a strategy for marketing that involves social medi, including creating pages for your company on exisiting site like FaceBook so that your demographic has a chance to embrace you on their own terms - take some risks. Companies will be surprised how fast they can grow their business by responsible social interaction that doesn't involve restrictions on their employees or spam to other internet users.

Image courtesy TechDigest.Tv

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15 Comments (Subscribe to rss)

Charlie Anzman - June 04, 2008 at 09:06 pm PDT

How true!
directeur - June 04, 2008 at 09:06 pm PDT

And so many get it wrong actually. IMHO social media is about users AND interests. Users left alone are like teens left alone in an orgy, or babies alone in a kindergarten, and content alone is just a monologue.
Melissa Chang - June 04, 2008 at 09:06 pm PDT

I keep seeing all these studies that say that social media is going to be the area of biggest growth (in spending) for companies in 2009 and I have no idea how they are going to spend their money - because, like you say in this article, so many businesses don’t have a clue about social media.
Zach Landes - June 04, 2008 at 10:06 pm PDT

@directeur nice metaphors! true, too!
directeur - June 04, 2008 at 10:06 pm PDT

Thanks Zachary!
Phil - June 05, 2008 at 07:27 am PDT

You’ve pretty much wrote what’s been on my mind lately. I find it mind-blowing (almost brain aneurysm-inducing) that so many businesses are oblivious to the tools that they not only could use to improve their operations but also participate in the creation of new tools that are appropriate for their market.

You hit on the key trap that’s holding most businesses back: fear. Protecting data and ensuring employees behave ethically is one thing; but to let it be handicapping stumbling block, I just don’t get it.

Well, I suppose that just leaves a huge industrial opportunity for those of us who are passionate enough to learn and make our world a funner and more productive place. Bravo!
Leslie Poston - June 05, 2008 at 09:06 am PDT

Thanks guys. I keep seeing businesses missing the boat and it has been really bothering me. Letting fear hold you back is so damaging to the psyche AND the wallet.
Drama 2.0 - June 05, 2008 at 03:42 pm PDT

Warren Buffett once said “There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult” and I think that’s the case when it comes to the agony of social media proponents.

I really don’t know where this notion that companies “fear” social media comes from. To be sure, many companies are bureaucratic and most comfortable with the status quo, but my experience is that most business executives are quite open to anything that can help their businesses succeed.

This is the problem: there’s very little quantitative evidence that companies are, on a large scale and in a consistent manner, using social media to make tangible, non-negligible impacts on their businesses.

How much quantitative evidence is there that “Companies will be surprised how fast they can grow their business by responsible social interaction that doesn’t involve restrictions on their employees or spam to other internet users”?

I’ve yet to see more than the occassional anecdote and I certainly haven’t seen any publicly-traded companies come out an announce that they’ve grown their businesses and/or reduced their marketing costs significantly through the use of social media.

I won’t argue that there isn’t some qualitative value in “conversing” with consumers and customers. There always has been and companies have been doing this in a variety of ways for decades.

That said, I think social media isn’t being taken seriously by many business executives because it’s being sold improperly. It would receive a warmer reception if people involved with it didn’t make claims about how it can boost the bottom line before there’s any evidence it can. Most executives aren’t stupid - they understand when somebody is selling them on something that isn’t realistic and can’t be backed up.

The cost of a Facebook page, for instance, may be a drop in the bucket for a large brand, but when you look at most Facebook pages, they’re like ghost towns. Even those that have more than a few thousand members typically have very limited activity, which makes sense. Users are not going to spend hours interacting on the Tide Facebook page, for instance. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to run the numbers and watch the activity levels to figure out that there’s no way the page is going to do anything for the brand.

The bottom line is that if you try to sell me a Toyota Corolla and describe it as a sports car, I’m natually going to call BS. Either tell me you’re selling a compact car or show me the Ferrari 430 Scuderia.
Phil - June 05, 2008 at 04:09 pm PDT

@Drama 2.0 You’re right in that companies don’t fear social media, but I do think that a lot of the decision-making styles, which were established last century, involve an amount of fear of: risk, legal trouble, mistakes, etc. These are legit concerns but there’s a much larger social revolution that’s taking place.

Customers are going to have a lot more relationship tools available to them. Maybe there are a lot of laggards right now, but that will change. If companies don’t provide their customers with remarkable products and services, they won’t be able to sustain themselves in the long tail of a virtually infinite field of choices.

Companies shouldn’t just get into social media just because some tech geeks think it’s the thing to do. Rather, they should realize the opportunity they have to establish relationships with their customers un-dreamed of years ago.

And my experience is that many very smart business executives sometimes miss the plane because they’re focused on keeping their giant ship afloat.
Drama 2.0 - June 05, 2008 at 06:40 pm PDT

Phil: humor me for just a moment. Have you ever considered that there is no “social revolution”?

Clearly, we agree that most businesses have not embraced social media. You can approach this fact two ways:

1. You can beat your head against the wall trying to figure out why they haven’t and how they can be convinced.
2. You can go back and reevaluate your assumptions (i.e. maybe they’re not embracing it because I’m overestimating social media’s value proposition to them).

On a separate note, I would point out unless you’re a social media company, providing a remarkable product and service has nothing to do with social media.
Phil - June 05, 2008 at 07:14 pm PDT

@Drama 2.0

Fair enough. On the last point, I think when I typed remarkable product I had intended to refer to service only (social tools could be used to enhance customer service; products, of course, are on their own). My bad.

As far as “social revolution”, I do think there is one going on; maybe call it a transformation. Surely people aren’t changing, nor are the rules governing the universe. Telephones didn’t change anything per se; but people used them; they communicated through them; entire businesses were evolved around them. The adoption of the telephone did cause a shift in social behaviors and it networked people through information with a rapidity never seen before. The phone was (and still is) a social medium. That’s a social revolution.

My view is that if businesses can have better interfaces with their customers, it makes sense for them to adopt relevant social media. But the key problem is what *kinds* of media to use. Throwing up a blog and stamping an RSS or Twitter icon just doesn’t make sense if it really doesn’t mean anything or provides no value. And not every social medium is appropriate for every business. For some businesses a blog might be a waste of time and effort. For others it could be a sparkling showcase for new products, customer service, or even entertainment that infuses customers with a sense of loyalty and passion for the company. It’s all case by case.

Perhaps businesses are having a tough time because the right kinds of media just aren’t here yet. Digg probably doesn’t make sense for Fidelity. But RSS feeds for financial tips, etc. could make a lot of sense.

A hundred years ago, a lot of people didn’t know what to do with a telephone. I’m sure a lot of folks banged their head against the proverbial wall trying to get them to adopt. But eventually the phone won; and so did the adopters. Networking and conversation created wealth back then and it will create it now. But it takes mindfulness and purposefulness to do so.

Right now there’s just such an insanity of social media overload; I can understand why *intelligent* adoption is slow because maybe the options aren’t sufficiently viable–yet.

Nice back-and-forth; I’m learning here. You’ve giving me some nutritious fodder.
Wayne Smallman - June 06, 2008 at 02:38 pm PDT

“Granted, this person is an extreme example, but the fear of new media is very real, nonetheless.”

By my own experiences, this is neither an extreme nor isolated case.

Sadly, despite the many advantages social media confers, until the existing “old guard” of senior management is replaced by those of our generation, this ignorance and resistance in going to be a part of business process and standard practice for some time.

I’m due to speak in early September to a bunch of business people who know next to nothing about social media. As well as discussing the many benefits and strengths of social media, I’ll also be talking about the negatives, such as leaks / disclosures, office party photos and other potentially damaging incidents.

However, even though there are those businesses that can make social media work for them, I have clients who simply couldn’t hope to enjoy similar success, simply because of what it is that they do.

Fundamentally, some businesses just can’t be made sexy…
George Wright - June 06, 2008 at 03:25 pm PDT

I believe that the biggest fear is the fear of the unknown.

Lesson #1 for social media - Be Honest! If you attempt to mislead the public or exaggerate your claims, you have plenty to be afraid of.

If you are justifying not participating in the social realm because you are afraid that you will be attacked - you do not understand social media. The truth is that people are talking about your brand. (The truth is that they always have. Just because they can communicate on the web changes nothing)

Basically you have two choices - 1 - participate with them, or 2 - relenquish control of your online brand.

My advice - jump in! Give it a shot….

If nothing else, you will learn something that maybe you can refine for future success…
Nicole - June 11, 2008 at 12:15 pm PDT

Excellent post. I think businesses will be increasingly relying on the new Web 2.0 applications that are increasingly targeted specifically towards business communities. Sites like OctopusCity.com are offering incredibly valuable services for business, such as free CRM and contact management, free teleconferencing, etc. in addition to a business network. I think that pretty soon, the businesses that are operating outside of this framework will be facing fierce competition from those that are.
Addison - May 21, 2009 at 10:54 am PDT

Greeting. In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.
I am from Qatar and now teach English, tell me right I wrote the following sentence: “Lobby hours on saturday - effective april.”

THX 8), Addison.

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