Social Media Takes Center Stage at BlogWell
Posted by Dave McCue on January 23rd, 2009
For anyone still unsure if social media fits into their company model, yesterday’s BlogWell event in Chicago made it abundantly clear that, at the least, it’s a path worth exploring.
Speakers from The Home Depot, Mayo Clinic, Procter & Gamble, Sharpie, Allstate, Molson and H&R Block (recognize any of those names?) shared their stories about social media use at their companies and the challenges they faced.
One of the most common themes among the case studies seemed to be overcoming an initial resistance within the company from individuals who were not well-versed in social media. Susan Wassel of Sharpie (a Newell-Rubbermaid brand) mentioned the importance of explaining that a foray into social media can produce great word-of-mouth results with a relatively minor investment.
What social media is not, as mentioned by Home Depot’s Nick Ayres, is a tool for driving sales. Rather than promoting special offers or pushing products, some of the Home Depot’s greatest social media successes have involved the use of Twitter to communicate with customers in the southern U.S. during hurricane season—which THD locations would be open extended hours, where certain supplies could be found for home repair, etc. According to Ayres, the goal of social media should be engagement, rather than short-term sales, and sites such as Twitter allow a large corporate brand to take on a more personal tone.
Other notes:
- Andy Sernovitz from GasPedal (hosts of the event) gave an interesting talk about the importance of honesty in social media. Like anything else, those who abuse social media or operate within the “grey area” reflect poorly on all those who attempt to use social media for its true purpose—personal connection.
- Sernovitz also mentioned the 10 magic words that should be used (literally or implied) during social media interaction, in the interest of full disclosure: “I work for ____ and this is my personal opinion.”
- Interesting point from P&G’s Stan Joosten (paraphrasing): Your brand is no longer what you tell your audience it is, it is what they tell each other it is.
- Rather than arbitrarily saying “you there, you are now responsible for our company’s social media identity,” the best way to have social media success is to identify qualified individuals within your company—individuals who are passionate about social media and see its potential—to contribute to social media efforts.
