Topic of the Week: Social Media – Friend or Foe?
“Social Media: Friend or Foe?” :: Listen to Shel Holtz, Mark Ragan and others discuss “concerns and objections around the adoption of social media communication channel.”
“Marketing says that we have control over what are customers are doing…but this is a great way to tap into your customers and your business in ways that has never been done before.” – Shel Holtz, ABC, principal of Holtz Communication + Technology.
The Web 2.0 revolution allows consumers the ability to get involved in a conversation, allowing customers to get involved in the process.
This can be a little nerve-wracking to have authentic communication. Indeed, one would think that this idea is exciting, but do companies really want consumers to know when they mess up? Not particularly.
Just ask Toyota.
However, when consumers start participating in outlets of communication that companies endorse, then it is very exciting for consumers. Suddenly, companies are in the arena and have provided forums for communicators to directly communicate with companies.
Therefore, the chatter that was going to take place anyway can now be directly supervised and responded to by each individual organization.
This is where the “ideas are being listened to,” as they speak about in the podcast, in the public arena.
Internally, employers have noted that social media could be counterproductive to the way people work. Instant messages, YouTube, Facebook, and other tools have been criticized as a timehog that isn’t productive to work.
However, business leaders are finding that the proper implementation of social media allows people to collaborate together with people across the world.
Of course, it’s true that some people abuse the system. It’s likely that people use social media for their own personal utilization’s, but on the whole, there is more to gain by engaging the conversation than shutting it down.
The idea is to hold a conversation, internal and external. It’s just a matter of using it the right way.
This is a great recap of the panel conversation. I really liked watching this because of the unique point of view it gave. The point of view of a CEO coming to terms with this social media phenomenon. I thought it was set up very honestly which makes watching it all the more riveting. I was wondering if you sensed any resistance from the Ragan CEO, Mark Ragan. I found at the beginning that Ragan would become almost frustrated with his panel of communications experts and even a little nervous about the astronomical change that is, inevitably, coming his way. Overall, I thought the panel gave very thoughful and insightful answers. Thanks for the great breakdown of the video!
Your post is a great way to view this topic. I think this is very important for CEOs to understand that social media is not just a waste of time for their employees. I too found Ragen was a little apprehensive to the change that social media has started. I thought that the panel provided a good insight into how CEOs felt about social media and this new way to reach people. Social media is definitely changing the way companies can communicate with their publics and I think companies should embrace this new change, but still continue the tradiional communication method as well.