Social Media: Is your company social media Image suffering as a result of stinking thinking?

Social Media: Is your company social media Image suffering as a result of stinking thinking?

Social media has changed the way companies do business, leveling the playing field for everyone in the marketplace. It has created a nightmare for public relations experts, making them have to regroup and relearn everything that they thought they knew about public relations. Imagine graduating from some fancy high priced university, with a journalism degree, marketing degree or business administration degree, only to get a job as some head of marketing in charge of business development for some corporation, and now you have the responsibility of setting up the company’s social media marketing strategy. Suddenly you are overcome with anxiety; because you realize that you do not have a clue about social media, how it works, what drives it, how the cogs in the system move and how to maintain them to get the results you are looking for.

Disclaimer, this is not a blog about bashing people with credentials, if you have taken the time and spent the money to get an education you ought to be commended and congratulated and respected for your accomplishments, congratulations to you. The truth of the matter is that many people even those who have credentials from some of the worlds top learning institutions have no clue when it comes to social media. This is one reason why there is such a demand for Social Media consultants, social media community managers, social media evangelists and the list goes on. Many companies when seeking for social media talent, have no clue what to ask for, they expect the social media consultant that they are looking for, to have all the skills in the world, but then do not want to pay them for their skills.

It amazes me that billion dollar companies would rather seek to retain the services of an unpaid social media intern, handing them their most prized possession, which is their companies brand to experiment with online, in the social media market place, then act surprised when their brands image is damaged. Would you take your Bentley and let a drunken person drive it? If not, why take your companies brand and hand it over to an unpaid intern, giving them unrestrained access to your company’s sensitive information because you do not want to invest in the services of qualified social media professional?

Some companies now have decided to “empower” their employees by allowing them to tweet on behalf of the company, indiscriminately in the name of extremely fast customer service. All companies would like to humanize their brand, but there is a difference between portraying a dynamic image for your brand and, just being crazy. Having 10,000 corporate spokes persons on twitter in the name of expedited customer service just does not sound like a sound idea to me. This is a recipe for a disaster if you have no sound social media plan to implement such a strategy.

The reality of the new social media marketplace, demands for company public relations experts to have an open mind. The rules of the game have changed, its not about who has the most credentials from which university, at the end of the day social media marketing is all about these two things

1)      Who has access to the most social media tools

2)      Who knows how to use his tools the most

You might argue that, I am over simplifying the case, and you are entitled to your opinion, but when you look at social media today, that is what it comes down to. It does not matter if you have a PHD, in whatever field, if you do not know which social media tools to use for which social media strategy, your PHD, is of no use.  If you cannot identify ways to curate SEO compliant content for your blog, your PHD, cannot help you when it comes to social media. If you cannot come up with a social media strategy that can distribute your blog articles over 800 blog submission portals, it does not matter what your credentials are. If you cannot tell me how to manage unlimited social media personas at the same time, your credentials do not mean anything. If you cannot come up with a strategy to distribute your YouTube videos to hundreds of video submission sites at the same time, to increase traffic to your website via social media tools, then it does not matter if you have the title of CEO behind your name, you still have to hire a social media consultant who knows what they are talking about.

It’s time for businesses to recognize that social media is critical to their companies online health. Too many businesses are suffering online because of stinking thinking, this notion that demands for social media consultants to be their panacea for all their woes. When your car breaks down, you do not call the nanny to come and repair the car. Social media consultants specialize in different things; it would be wise to do your due diligence when hiring a social media consultant. A social media consultant is not necessarily an SEO expert, nor are they website designers. Take your time and find out what they specialize in, and pay them for it. Do not let your brand die, in the social media market place because you are too scared to act. Doing nothing about your brands social media persona, will do nothing for your sales. Don’t delay the surgery any longer, act now.

Graham Odenyo is the Social Media Strategist and Project Manager of a successful Digital Marketing Social Media Mobile App Marketing Agency located in North Carolina. We work with companies to help them create and manage their own customized Global Social Mobile footprint plans for their businesses. We are a full services Social Mobile Marketing firm, offering fully customizable Global Social Mobile Footprint plans, from the conception of Mobile Apps to email marketing, to blogging, search engine optimization and YouTube video optimization keyword domination. For more information please go to
>> http://goo.gl/QWtKRy