Getting Support for Social Media Marketing (or any other)
When asked for examples of B2B successes in social media, an esteemed panel of the industry’s who’s who in social media seemed stumped, offering few examples. They were terrific, and it’s not that these folks aren’t working with a good number of top brands. It’s just that we are not yet at the point where social media marketing – heck, even interactive itself – is a well-established component of the marketing mix.
It seems to me that before panelists are comfortable rattling off a list of top B2B brands engaged in social media marketing, companies will need a concerted effort to achieve the paradigm shift. Based on my experience, the following is crucial:
- Executive support: Nothing says let’s do it like a tops-down mandate. When HP’s then CMO tied 3 of her 6 annual goals to interactive skills development, use of emerging media and metrics, it was a rallying cry to marketers throughout the company to learn, adopt and measure.
Getting execs on board requires a thoughtful approach. What’s the business case, the value in business terms, impact on the company? Sales upside? Cost savings? Improved employee morale? Customer loyalty?
Things that may help convince management of the merits of any new form of digital marketing include bringing in a peer-level expert for a 1:1 conversation giving execs a chance to learn and network at the same time. Share a top-ranked book or two on the subject gives people the chance to get a base of knowledge on his/her own. Above all, you can’t communicate consistently or often enough on progress, results, best practices.
Once management are passionate about change – at least supportive – it’s easier to get everyone else on board. Chances are, management will do all they can to promote change, so have a plan to make it happen and get support from management for that. It helps to do the following:
- Set clear goals: Tell employees what the end game is. Increase customer satisfaction ratings via direct channels to customers? Reduce support costs? Increase points of contact with customers directly? Direct feedback from customers? All the better if the goal is quantified. To shift advertising mix to online at HP, we suggested an aggressive goal leading all other tech marketers. We were blown away when the U.S. team exceeded the goal in less than 2 quarters.
- Offer opportunities to learn: A speaker series featuring vendors, industry pundits or internal experts should give employees the chance to increase their comfort, familiarity and knowledge with new forms of marketing. Plus it’s usually a good environment to ask questions. Depending on the culture, webinars might work just as well as face-to-face.
- Tie to performance: If you have quarterly MBOs, why not make one of them acquisition of digital marketing skills? If I recall correctly, IBM used to insist employees take 16 days of education each year, a sure way to grow knowledge and expertise. Having an organizational system support change is change management 101.
- Cheer on successes: If people are doing good work, highlight it, recognize it, applaud the effort and spread the word. Success breeds success.
Just a few of my thoughts. What do you think? What else has worked for you?