Link to original article

PRWeek recently released the results of their CEO Survey. While the majority of those surveyed planned on using WOM and digital more this year, when asked “How likely is your company to use social media to communicate with stakeholder groups in the next 12 months?” 44% still said they would probably/definitely not use it. In fact, the survey also pointed out that only 18% had used social media to communicate with stakeholders in the past. This number is growing obviously when you compare these two stats and also reflect on the fact that 63% agreed that social media outreach can be very/somewhat effective as a corporate communications tool and that around 61% feel that social media can have a very large impact on a company’s over all reputation.

But what of those 44% that are still stubbornly holding on to old views and not embracing the potential that social media provides? Well, PRWeek asked them what they considered to be the most serious barriers holding them back from participating in social media. I thought I’d share these perceived barriers below and give you my take on why I think these barriers should not pose a stumbling block for those companies by debunking each one of them.

Social Media Barriers*

Results: 44.5% said they’d consider it lack of relevance to target stakeholder groups

Debunked: Yes, can see why people might answer this way. They could be seeing that the number of conversations online about certain topic is low. Or perhaps the number of people based on certain age groups could be relatively small for their product target markets. However, if social media conversations are the “cause” then consider the “effect” - being what shows up when you google your product or your product category. Search engines love the fresh content social media serves up and as a result social media posts, tweets, pics, videos all can end up in key shelf space on the first page of a Google search. And what most of you can agree on is that almost all stakeholders use search as one of the primary ways to find and research products they want to buy. So, while a large part of your audience may not be participating in social media it only takes a small but influencial portion of it to comment on your brand in social media and seriously impact your brand’s search results. If you aren’t part of those conversations and are not building relationships with those that are talking about your brand in social media then you are rolling the dice on your search results.

Results: 37% said they are concerned about losing control of the message

Debunked: I hate to be the one to break the bad news but you never did control the message. Sure in the “good old days” the amount of “water cooler” brand discussion was isolated and didn’t spread very far or quickly thus appearing like you could control it. In fact, with the advent of easy-to-use Web 2.0 tools and social networks not only can every Joe Citizen publish their opinions easily but they spread fast and they are permanently cached for all time and indexed on your favorite search engine. Search engines don’t care where they content on a brand comes from just that they find it and aggregate it together for those interested in it. You can always “control the message” on the properties you own but with the sheer volume of consumer generated content out there (and it’s growing) you have less and less of a percentage of the total aggregated brand story. And since you can never “control” what others write about you the best you can do is to join their conversations and develop genuine relationships with them and hope for the best.

Image credit - rainmakerbestpractices.com

Results: 28.% said they were concerned about return on investment (ROI)

Debunked: Yes, those of us in the social media field need to find some formulas and equations that we can all agree on but consider this: traditional media has lots of calculations.. but for what - eyeballs? impressions? clickthroughs? And how do these actually translate to the bottom line of a company? Well, for a formal translation, there’s nothing I know of. Now, if you picture the lead funnel, all of these traditional media metrics lie up in the top, wider end of the funnel, far away from the final relationships with customers. So what of metrics in social media? Well, they revolve around the narrower end of the funnel, near the bottom and very close to customers. Social media is about building relationships, plain and simple, be it partners, influencers, fans, advocates, future customers, or current buying customers. It’s not about lots of eyeballs it’s about the right set of eyeballs. As such the numbers are smaller, as they should be, because they are in the narrow part of the funnel and closer to the customer. Wouldn’t you rather be talking about metrics that are easier to tie to actual sales?

Results: 22.5% said they were concerned about lack of knowledge and capability within the company

Debunked: This is a valid concern for most companies because indeed the role is a bit of a hybrid between a PR professional and a customer service expert. However, both of those departments would probably already have individuals who are knee deep in social networking and would understand how to apply their jobs to the new frontier. As well, I know of over 200 firms, agencies willing to help and companies willing to share their best practices, that have already developed a large amount of knowledge in social media. You could reach out to them, they’d love to help.

Results: 19% said they were concerned about the lack of knowledge and capability within the public relations, advertising, and/or other marketing agencies the company works with

Debunked: While I would say this may have been a concern a year ago, I have personally seen a major uptick in the amount of agencies now offering social media related services. So, as I mentioned above I know of approximately 200 companies offering social media services and many more on the cusp of doing so. And if the firm you use clearly doesn’t want to go down that path then you know there are plenty more firms out their that probably would.

So with 67% of those surveyed saying they plan on spending “much more” on digital marketing in 2009 hopefully I helped in debunking some of the issues they may have had holding them back. The economic times are causing a market disruption. As with any distruption you can decide to shrink and hold on or expand the take the market share of those who are shrinking. The choice is yours and employing social media could be the best way to get there.

* taken from The PRWeek CEO Survey conducted by PRWeek and Millward Brown using the ERI panel. E-mail notification was sent to approximately 53,180 corporate professionals and a total of 200 CEOs completed the survey online between September 24 and September 29, 2008.

David Alston is VP Marketing at Radian6, a New Brunswick software firm providing a social media monitoring solution for advertising and PR professionals. He is a senior-level, marketing strategist with a background in marketing and technology. He’s worked with a number of companies to introduce products to the market through market research, product innovation, creative communications, strategic planning, and the development of new business ventures.