Separating the Businesses from the Bots: What Social Media REALLY Means

by Greg Crandell and Jimmy Marks

If you're a CEO of a major credit union/business/non-profit, you're probably wondering

a) Do I make so much money that people are going to start picketing me at my house?
b) Am I really worth all that money if I'm wasting my time reading this blog all day?

and, most importantly: 

c) When are all these little DORKS going to stop pestering me about Web 2.0 and Social Media?!?

A and B, we can't help you. C, we know. 

We have already talked at length about how business professionals are sick and tired of hearing about Social Media (click here to read). So they hire these people...usually whippersnappers like Jimmy*...to sign them up for the holy triumverate of bad Web 2.0 decisions: 

1. A do-nothing Facebook page that has no actionable links or content
2. A Twitter account that pats itself on the back 
3. A YouTube channel with two videos which are poorly produced 

*Jimmy's Note: Being young has NOTHING to do with being good at social media. If young people were any good at managing content online and being good at representing a cause, they'd never get in trouble for having pictures of themselves smoking marijuana on their MySpace. Vet your online content managers/web specialists with the same jaundiced eye you'd use in selecting an accountant. 

Well, when that happens, it can go one of two ways. If you really want it to take off, you'll put up information and clips and stories that are relative to the lives of the people you are trying to reach. We'd like to highlight this blog, which you're reading now, as an example. We keep this blog going at a cost to our company because we wanted to show that we, as professionals, have something to say about the internet and technology and public interest. We have people that agree. We have people that disagree. And we have those that don't care. 

These are the illusions we had to do away with when we started writing for the public: 

1. We were never going to be the biggest and best. But we COULD be valuable to people who want to know more about the internet and are afraid to ask about it. 
2. We would get discouraged by a small readership, but it's the people who DO pay attention that matter. We're helping for free, let the people that need it take advantage.  
3. When people get upset, let them get upset. Talk with them, not at them, and don't ignore their critique. Merlin Mann, a true master of the web, had this to say about the misconceptions surrounding social media: 

Social media, when it's REALLY social media, is not about what you have to say. It's having a tolerance for what people have to say about YOU. [From Merlin's SXSW talk with John Gruber - Click here for Merlin's website, 43folders.com]

The time has come to accept that the Internet and all its little bits are only going to get more social in nature. People are going to want to reach out and talk to your business, let them do it. If they're mad at you, talk back to them and help them out - make converts out of your adversaries. The internet is not a billboard, it's not a bus ad, it's not a leaflet. People can send you messages and get offers from you on a personal level. Start treating social media like it matters to you. Updating and managing information on your website, in your e-mail offers, and on your various web 2.0 outlets needs to be somebody's JOB. 

There'll be a webinar at CreditUnions.com today, featuring Matt Davis (aka, "The Credit Union Warrior") and Industry Analyst/DMI blogs junkie Elliott Kashner. Be sure to check it out, if you've got the time. 

Comments

[Elliott]

Hey, thanks for the shout out! I was cracking up because I was getting updates from Matt and Alix when Paul Stull was tweeting about the event. It was a very curious combination, and I suddenly realized that the webinar was going out to more people than I realized.

I also made sure to thank my friends at DM and CCC.

Jimmy and I have talked before about having a Web 2.0 person at your CU/business. Here's the great thing about that: your Web 2.0 person can serve so many roles! They will interact and help service your existing members, cross sell, bring in new members, find out what people think of you, turn your members into brand advocates.

And here's the best part. If you find someone who loves their job, they'll keep doing it when they get home. They'll Facebook potential members, they'll tweet with new members and welcome them to the credit union, they'll answer questions, even at night because they're online and someone has a question. Sounds like a pretty good investment to me.

[Ron Shevlin]

Believe it or not...Jimmy actually alludes to one of the key issues out there regarding the deployment of social media. (C'mon, stop laughing)

Jimmy says: "Vet your online content managers/web specialists with the same jaundiced eye you'd use in selecting an accountant."

Problem is, you can't. There's something called GAAP, and people, with certifications, that we refer to as CPAs. Would you hire an accountant who wasn't CPA? Didn't think so.

But what qualifications do the hordes of social media consultants have? Typically, their own 9-12 months of experience on social networks.

The change in mindset that's needed here -- in my opinion, of course -- isn't about the acceptance of social media. It's a change in mindset from marketing as a customer persuasion discipline to marketing as an customer engagement discipline.

Social media is just one tool to help make that change. But as long as there are "social media experts" out there claiming that we need to use social media networks as marketing channels because "that's where people are" the underlying mindset will never change.

I think that's what Jimmy was trying to say. :)

[Jimmy Marks]

@Ron -

Funny.

That is, sort of, where I was going. My point was that you wouldn't hire an accountant who'd never done anything, and you wouldn't hire one that had no clue what he/she was talking about. Trouble being, most people you talk to who are higher-up at a CU or a business don't know what THEY'RE talking about either. So, it all comes down to price - who can get what done for the least money?

But with an accountant, you DO have certification. And you can ask where he/she has worked prior. And you can ask for references. And you can ask those references about whether or not who you'd like to hire has ever defrauded a company or a government organization or has embezzled millions of dollars. Because you're trusting them with something IMPORTANT. AND ONLINE INTERACTION IS IMPORTANT, PEOPLE. Your website, e-mails, and even your rinky-dink facebook pages all need upkeep. If you want to engage to deepen your relationship (rather than, as Ron said, just to advertise), you have to make time.

Which is why businesses talk themselves into taking short cuts - because who cares about online stuff when you have a whole BRANCH to worry about, right?

The people who care about whether or not your website works, and whether or not they can get their info on the go, are the ones who aren't coming into those branches. Elliott's talk showed that the younger generations are opening accounts online between 20 and 30% of the time. They don't care that you got new teller mats, they care that you send them the wrong e-mails and that they can't access their online banking when they want.

What I was trying to say is these decisions aren't just throw-away. If you think it's something someone can do in their spare time and it's not worth worry, you should quit trying to get there right now. Evaluate your website, your online presence, and the people who manage both.

[Credit Union Warrior]

@Ron You are exactly right when you say social media for business being is all about customer engagement. Honestly, though, how many businesses have been able to pull it off? Success with this channel can be tremendously powerful...but it's an amazingly rare accomplishment. Too many executives decide to jump in to Facebook, Twitter, etc. because "that's where everyone spends their online time" or "everyone else is doing it". Too few are honestly evaluating their value proposition to customers.

@Jimmy "Spare time" commitments are not commitments. So true.

@Elliott Fun times...I think the webinar went well. Thanks for having me.