Two years after social media really hit the mainstream, we’re still seeing people and companies fail to understand its importance and benefits.
The soundbites still doing the round are telling:
- What’s the ROI of social media?
- Why should I care?
- Why do I need strategy when I can have a high Klout score instead?
These are just some examples – there are countless others, and they all point to a lack of education, understanding, explaining, etc.
Which is why this presentation from Richard Becker is probably one of the best I’ve seen, period, on what social media is and how it can play into your strategy. This quote alone sums up the issue perfectly:
The fundamental challenge for most organizations is that social media is one environment where messages work on a one-to-many, one-to-some, and one-to-one scale across multiple technologies at the same time in real time, but most communication-related professionals do not have this experience.
From personal experience, this is definitely one of the biggest reasons social media continues to be misunderstood by, and fails to bring success to, so many businesses.
Richard’s presentation offers a lot of the answers to the question of “why social media?”.
Enjoy. Oh, and if you want more smart stuff like this on a regular basis, make sure you subscribe to Richard’s blog – you won’t be disappointed.