A guide to overcoming
today’s corporate phobias.
“For every moment of triumph,\"
for every instance of beauty,
many souls must be trampled.”
— Hunter S. Thompson

Part I
Crossroads are where \"
collisions happen

The only thing more popular than \"
using social media marketing \"
is questioning social media marketing.
And that's a good thing.

Companies know they should \"
use social media.
They just don’t know how.

A recent survey of marketers’ \"
priorities for 2009 included:
o Social media (68%)
o E-mail marketing (60%)
o Blogs (56%)
o Online video (51%)
o Microsites (43%)
Source: Junta42 e-mail survey, December 2008

But…
75 percent of marketers have \"
budgeted less than $100,000 \"
for social media efforts in ’09.
Source: “Social media outlay still small,” Adweek, March 16, 2009

Social media is forcing companies \"
to confront the difference between \"
what they say \"
and what they believe.

How companies should \"
see their customers:

Source: KOP on Flickr

How companies actually \"
see their customers:

How companies should \"
see their employees:

How companies actually \"
see their employees:

Social media is the ultimate reality check.
And usually, \"
reality’s not as bad as we think.

Part II
Confronting corporate fears.

Corporate Fear No. 1
The public will eat us alive.

The blunt answer:\"
If so, they're doing it already.
You're just not there to hear it.
Or defend yourself.

The practical answer:\"
Your critics aren't waiting for you
to use social media.
Your customers are.

Client case study:\"
Bloggers give Little Debbie a warm
reception — and get some record
traffic in return.

The idea:
Send sample boxes to 50 mom
bloggers, no strings attached.
Give away 3 identical boxes \"
to each blogger’s readers.

Source: Petroville.com

In just five weeks, Little Debbie’s \"
100 Calorie Snack outreach sparked:
o 98 posts on 71 blogs
o More than 5,000 reader comments
o 830 new followers on Twitter

More importantly,
it created a real and rewarding relationship \"
between Little Debbie and its audience.

Corporate Fear No. 2
We can’t trust our employees.

The blunt answer:\"
Then why are you paying them?

The practical answer:\"
If you trust someone to talk to your
customers, you can trust them
to use social media.

Intel encourages smart use of social media
by empowering employees to:
“Provide unique, individual perspectives on what's going on at
Intel and in the world.”
“Post meaningful, respectful comments”
“Reply to comments quickly, when a response is appropriate.”
“Respect proprietary information and confidentiality.”

The keys are:\"
Training
Flexibility
Empowerment

Corporate Fear No. 3
We’ll lose control of our brand.

The blunt answer:\"
You’re more likely to find out
what your brand really is.

The practical answer:\"
Social media is the ultimate way
to prove your brand promise
and make it a reality.

Launched in 2008, BrandTags.net
asks users to describe companies
with one word, then creates a “cloud”
to show which words are used most.\"

Client case study:\"
How one destination uses social
media to prove its brand promise on
a global stage.

“We guarantee you a life enriching
experience each and every time
you visit Asheville. It's personal,
personal to you. And it is also
personal to us.”

Asheville’s social-powered \"
Five Day Weekend campaign
sparked the nation to question
today’s work-life balance.

Corporate Fear No. 4
If we screw up, \"
it’ll haunt us on the Web forever.

The blunt answer:\"
That’s called accountability.

The practical answer:\"
True, the Web has a long memory.
But it's never too late to improve.

Comcast, Dell and Wal-Mart have each
used social media to recover from
embarrassing missteps and become
role models for other companies.

Corporate Fear No. 5
Our audience doesn’t use \"
social media.

The blunt answer:
Then your audience must be
deceased.

The practical answer:\"
Every generation is embracing
social media, but not in the
same ways.

Nearly a third of
Facebook’s users are
between 35 and 55.
There are more than \"
2 million users
over the age 55
Source: Facebook, March 2009

Corporate Fear No. 6
We don’t have the time or staffing
for social media.

The blunt answer:\"
Then start small and let the work
prove its own value.

The practical answer:\"
It takes less time than \"
you’d think. Soon, it’s just \"
part of your daily life.

Social media is just a communication tool.
As with radios, televisions and phones, \"
you can’t adapt without trying it out.

Corporate Fear No. 7
We can’t predict the ROI.

The blunt answer:
You can’t predict the return on
an investment you don’t make.

The practical answer:\"
Social media is one of the most
measurable marketing tools in
existence. You just have to
decide what to measure.

HP’s “31 Days of the Dragon”
o Gave laptops to 31 bloggers
o Laptops then given away to readers
o 84% increase in HDX Dragon sales
o 10% increase in overall PC sales
Source: The Viral Garden, Sept. 29, 2008

In December 2008, \"
Dell estimated it had made \"
$1 million in sales thanks to Twitter.

What else can be measured?
Blog posts
Inbound traffic
Reader comments
Clickthroughs
Twitter mentions
Video views
Twitter followers
Channel subscribers
Facebook fans
Video embeds
Links
SlideShare views
RSS subscribers
Tags
Google trends
Diggs
Alexa rankings
Stumbles
Search results
App downloads
Nielsen BuzzMetrics
Podcast subscribers

If you can learn what’s important \"
to your customers,
you can learn what’s important \"
to your business.

Thanks for your time.
david.griner@luckie.com
Twitter.com/griner
TheSocialPath.com
Slideshare.net/Griner