Tirekickers & Converts
When I attend Social Media-oriented conferences, lately I tend to see two types of attendees.
They are either Social Media Converts, looking for additional ammunition with which to convince upper management of the need to “go social,” or, the attendees are new to (or skeptical about) Social Media; they’re at the event to get a 1–day education on all this “Social Media stuff.” These tirekickers were often sent by their bosses, as an advance scouting party.
Interestingly, most of these attendees, of both stripes, are “junior” or “middle” management. While VPs of Marketing, CEOs and CMOs sometimes show up, more often it’s the folks in an organization’s middle tier who register.
I am musing aloud here. I wonder what this means. We are talking about fundamental changes in how-to think about Marketing, so you’d think that the CEO and CMO would be pretty darned curious? That they would want firsthand experience with this earth-shaking and unstoppable trend? Guess they are too busy!
I actually do trust that the middle managers who become converts will faithfully and effectively evangelize the benefits of Social Media, and will get pilot projects off the ground.
But I also worry that the tirekickers who don’t have an epiphany at some conference will unduly and unfairly delay their corporation’s own forays into Social Media.
Posted on: June 10, 2009 at 10:14 am By Todd Defren
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The C-suite thinks of social media as tactical, and therefore it makes sense that the middle management is tasked with figuring out how to integrate. The junior staff is included because they can translate – their age makes them important to help separate real news from hype.
C’mon, Todd. You don’t really think us CEOs post our own Tweets, do you?
~ @PR_Results
I am in a public relations course in Toronto and we speak frequently about social media. It does seem apparent that social media is an activity practiced by younger individuals. However, I do feel a strong increase in use by senior management of organizations will occur in the next few years. This increase I believe will happen due to the sheer consequences of not knowing how to use social media. A similar example to this would be the use of the Internet. In the beginning it was only a select few using it, and within a few years of its presence everyone was using it. It became the norm for all businesses and organizations. Social media is an informational progression that I feel we should all be aware of and use.
I am pretty sure I read something about this this week. They are relying on lower level workers to communicate to the masses which does not make sense. I have done a presentation and they don’t have the time or effort to use all the social media sphere. So I told them to use everyone and to share the responsibility.
Great post! It would seem that some people are still suspicious of social media. With the changes taking place in the traditional media, social media no longer an option; it is a necessity. However, I heard arguments that the social media explosion may be similar to the dot com boom of the nineties. While a number of people are able to profit from their knowledge of social media today, their expertise will soon cease being profitable. Do you think this notion holds any merit?
I am in a public relations course in Toronto and we speak frequently about all types of social media. It does seem apparent that social media is an activity practiced by younger individuals. However, I do feel a strong increase in use by senior management of organizations will occur in the next few years. This increase I believe will happen due to the sheer consequences of not knowing how to use social media. The same example can be seen with internet use. In the beginning it was only a select few using it, and within a few years of its presence everyone was using it. It became the norm for all businesses and organizations. It is a informational progression that I feel we should all be aware of. It is also another great way to link us together as a human race.
Answer is very simple, in my mind – caution. Twitters, Facebooks, and other tools could be gone tomorrow. Yes, many is social media would dispute this, but I am a realist, I lean business operations for startups and in 12-year career I have seen more than my share of companies disappear overnight (though everyone was confident they were solid).
So yes, CMOs and other senior level executive will be cautious and will continue being that, because social media not only does not have serious track record, but ROI calculation methods are still being heavily debated.
Social media is a tool in a large toolbox.
Why don’t we see more CEO’s at social media conferences? Maybe they don’t “get it” yet. Check out @jessicalawrence to see a CEO who “gets it.” She just attended the NTEN Conf. in San Francisco.
According to the folks at the BMA event I attended the other night, only 30% of C-level folks are involved in social media.
Regarding Todd Defren’s musing about social media event attendees, could it also be a generational thing? The “older” crowd (speaking as one of that herd) don’t know or understand enough about the evolution of communication to see the value of learning about it. The question now raises: “How do we, as communicators, communicate to this decision-making audience?
Absolutely. However, most C-levels just assume that someone will be able to implement that “new social stuff” for their organization and that they won’t really need to learn anything new…
That’s the prevalent attitude I’ve run into anyway.
In my humble opinion, the reason you are not seeing The C-suite at the conferences is because many are peddling the Obi-wan Kenobi “This is not really the measurement you are seeking…” approach versus showing how to tie social media to bottom line or explain ROI in terms they can understand and are actionable.