Study: Organizations Still Fear Social Media
Social media originated in the early internet age as items of interest were posted online and interaction first happened. The environment for social media engagement thus existed long before GeoCities, MySpace and Facebook. Yet fear persists.
The Harvard Business Review Blog Network article titled "Most Organizations Still Fear Social Media" by Anthony J. Bradley, group vice president, Gartner Research, and Mark P. McDonald, group vice president and Gartner Fellow, Gartner Executive Programs reported on social media attitudes.
In the blog article, more than 250 organizations took their social rediness assessment. They reported on six social media attitudes. Fifty percent of respondents showed flipped (14%), fearful (35%) and folly (1%) attitude whole the other fifty percent fell into the fusing, forging and formulating categories and were considered more positive attitudes.
Image credit FreeDigitalPhotos.net by Stuart Miles
Haven't you seen the fear of business in social media? I have and as the blog reports "The fearful, folly and flippant attitudes to keep business from realizing the benefits when the social media solutions generating likes may be easier to embrace but they offer little in the way of meaningful change".
Stifling social media effort also diminishes business value that may be gained from the opportunity offered by social media. Social search is here and now. Your stagnant misinterpreted business profile will give the impression that you are closed in this I need it fast net savvy environment.
Social media actions seek to move beyond negative attitudes to create capability in two ways: it's used to demonstrate executive support and build confidence throughout the organization or start small with a narrow and specific purpose. Each is beneficial.
I appreciated how the authors recommend to "Consider a starter set of social media purposes that are highly magnetic to individuals to attract them into collaborative communities. Purposes related to employee health and safety, customer support or even organizing the company picnic have all been used to move beyond fear and into action and experience".
Move beyond social media fear how to:
- Start small and remain focused
- Post location, phone number and ever important business name
- Consistently provide value and social proof to increase opportunity
- Follow competitors social profiles
- Maintain quality interaction, ask questions and give answers
- Use photos to promote your niche or brand
- Seek the similar in your outreach
- Curate policies encouraging professionalism
What steps has your business organization done to move beyond the fear of social media. Company picnic - yes indeed. Share your experience in the comments below.
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