I’m fortunate I work for senior executives that believe in the power of social media. But, what happens if your ideas are a tough sell because your superiors don’t see the benefit? Can you blame them, really? After all, you’re not proposing a solution with concrete ROI figures. They may not see the word “engagement” as a reason to move forward.
But, to move this medium forward and realize it’s benefits, you need to make a compelling case. An article I recently read called How to Market Social Media to Execs talks about selling your social media plans:
Resistance to new strategies is usually due to opportunity costs (prioritization) and lack of predictability of impact. Corporations, and the managers, have a need to drive predictable growth and mitigate risk. Priorities are driven based on familiarity of strategies that drive confident results. Something that can be proved to drive better results and meet or beat forecast excites executives.
We don’t have alot of concrete data yet supporting social media and the impact on ROI. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t get approval. The article goes on to talk about common questions and potential responses.
The author, Sam Decker, also makes another valid point. He talks about three emotions that drive executive decision making - Fear, Excitement, Pride. Fear of competitors pulling off a similar concept or pride at being the first to market are big drivers.
I’ll throw in a couple of suggestions of my own for making your case:
- Depending on the social medium, the cost to enter could be low enough that the perceived risk is also lower.
- The viral momentum of a social marketing campaign can provide advertising that is far less expensive than traditional ad mediums.
- Done correctly, positive PR from social media is invaluable and virtually free.
- Networking from social media can result in speaking opportunities and panel participation which position your company as industry experts.
My point is that not every case has to be made with ROI dollar figures. There are other benefits that are just as valuable that will also lead to sales conversions.
Any other suggestions for selling social media?
Many Execs are being told by their marketing teams that Social Media is the new ‘thing’. And one of the key benefits of being able to interact and engage with customers is not only seen as scary, but way too fluffy for many senior people.
My experience is that many Execs are indeed keen to explore the new media, but want evidence of its power and - wait for it - numbers.
Some recent test Blogs on Ecademy for Nokia and others produced a staggering result, and was enough to convince a couple of other Brands to get started straight away.
I also have am excellent contact who specialises in Blog Mining, who can extract the hard data from any blog or social network - revealing a wealth of numbers that would satisfy the most cautious of Execs.
Philip Calvert
Keynote Speaker on The Business of Social Networking
http://www.ecademy.com/user/philipcalvert&xref=53930
Outstanding post, Patrick! With your permission (and authorization and credit back to your site), I’d like to add these bullet points to my presentation on Social Media.
[…] How to Pitch Social Media to Execs There are a number of reasons to utilize social media if you’re a corporation. This is a fantastic post on the breakdown of reasons for companies to turn to social media to further their marketing efforts. (tags: marketing corporations socialmedia blogging strategy) […]
Philip,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. It sounds like you have great information on social networking and the impact on business.
I think in two years the power of this medium will speak for itself, but right now upper level execs want numbers. With each passing day those numbers get easier to find.
-Pat
Doug,
Thanks so much for nice comment and the link to the post. Of course you have my permission!
Is your social media presentation live on your site so my readers can check it out?
-Pat
We live in a Google world and in that world it is all about “findability”. Social media is top of the heap when it pertains to search and findability. If you are note findable your company will soon be dead.
Jim,
Great thought! I love the use of the word “findability” in this discussion. Social media is and will become even more of an important tool in being found.
-Pat
I wish I could take credit for the word, but my friend Dave Taylor wrote a book around the premise. You can find it here at http://www.findability.info/