Evangelism is a Slog
I am lucky that my circle of friends includes many of the Social Media industry’s most enduring innovators. We meet for coffees, dinners, brainstorms, dealmaking, etc.
Inevitably the talk turns to the state of Social Media in general, and its adoption (or lack thereof) within large corporations.
At this point in the conversations, opinions start to diverge.
Some thought leaders are encouraged to see that Corporate America is no longer ignoring Social Media, and look forward to seeing seismic changes happen – even if they occur incrementally.
Other brainiacs are discouraged because Social Media COULD (and maybe SHOULD) bring earth-shattering changes to the hidebound hierarchical thinking of corporations … but instead, they see Social Media being relegated to silo status: it’s being viewed as “a marketing thing,” akin to a media buy.
Meanwhile, some folks are simply ready to move on all together. My pal Geoff Livingston exemplifies this thought process. For Geoff, the shine is off the apple. As a dyed-in-the-wool early adopter, he’s looking for the Next Big Thing and is also a bit discouraged to see some of the hail-fellow-well-met camaraderie of yore give way to competitive professionalization in the space.
Of course, on any given day, moods change. On some days, these evangelists are all charged up to give that “Social Media 101” presentation for the umpteenth time … Other days? Not so much. Let’s face it: evangelism is a slog. Given the massive changes represented by the new modes of marketing, these early evangelists will probably need to present on “Social Media 101” topics for the next DECADE. It’s an uphill climb.
As for me? I fall in the middle camp, but do skew towards optimism.
I am not happy to see Social Media viewed as “a marketing thing,” but let’s face it, it ain’t a bad place to start — Social Media is primarily about having genuine & relevant dialogue with all stakeholders, and that’s historically been where PR/Marketing rule the roost. (And, yea, that’s also the arena where I make my living.)
And, I think that if marketers do a good job of demonstrating how/why Social Media is positively impacting the corporation, overall acceptance of its tenets will allow the Social Media seed to grow into an unstoppable weed — one that finds its way into every crack in the hierarchy.
That would be a good thing. But it takes a while.
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@TDefren says evangelism is a slog. Amen, brother! Social media is not marketing and it’s not a campaign. Read on. http://tinyurl.com/mqh8r2
The Gladwell model of early adopters leaving the idea before the laggards catch on needs to change in the world of social media. At least that is my hope.
Social media is not one thing, campaign, site, widget, gadget or tool. It is about humans, patience and ideas.
Keep the faith, brother!
@knealemann
Evangelism is like planting, growing and eventually serving food to your family.
Campaigns are like eating at Taco Bell.
I’ve been heartened in the last day or so to see more “Hang in there” posts like this one emerging. Thanks for jumping in there, Todd.
It seems we have this conversation every few months. Chalk it up to battle weariness or economic fatigue or summer boredom — the natives are restless again.
I’m with you in the “Have faith, keep up the good fight, a little give and take is okay” camp. We begged and pleaded for the rest of the world to see the transformative potential of social media. Now they’re here, but they’re not quite playing by the rules we wanted them to play by. That’s okay! Even the evil, ne’er-do-well, nefarious forces of corporate America are allowed to play with our shiny toy.
Who knows, maybe all this fumbling and abuse we’re so afraid of will yield a few nuggest of creativity, innovation and success. What’s that bit about a blind squirrel finding a nut?
Thank you for this post.
How about a dose of patience in this “social media” discussion. If the benefits for companies (being part of the conversation) will be so great, those benefits will shine even from within a silo, or as part of marketing, or as part of customer service. At that point, companies will rush to move social media into the mainstream of their operations.
If you don’t see the rush yet- it’s because the companies don’t see the benefits versus other activities.
Wow Todd, I’m surprised to read this post given the stunning growth of companies like VT and R6, to name just a few. Perhaps because you sit so close to the marketing side of the house you don’t always see everything going on, but from where I sit the interest in social media has been nothing short of staggering.
I think you might need to broaden your definition of social media a bit because in many companies the global market insights or customer service group, for example, are driving adoption far away from the marketing and communcations areas. Social media doesn’t always start in marketing.
However, what I find interesting is that somewhere along the line it moves to a point where the entire enterprise is involved. The next big thing in social media is full integration in every corporate function.
Mike Spataro
SVP, Client Strategy
Visible Technologies