Mastering social media might be a challenge, but it definitely isn’t the most difficult part of creating a social media campaign. Many times, convincing your boss to embrace, fund, and champion social media can be the single hardest part of introducing social media to your company.
So how do you convince your boss to take you seriously, overcome their fears, and trust social media?
The Power of Case Studies
Show your boss the opportunities social media presents. This will help build your boss’ interest. Selling a strategy is no different than selling a product. Identify and express the advantages of social media, and highlight what your boss and the company can gain.
The best way to illustrate the opportunities is by explaining what others have done.
Some good case studies to refer to are:
1. Four Social Case Studies from Coca-Cola
2. Social Media Micro Case Study: “X-Men”
3. @DellOutlet: Raising awareness, increasing sales, measuring results
4. “Three Killer Social Media Case Studies from SMC San Francisco”
Be sure to show both the positives and negatives of social media; outlining what has happened to brand that engage in social media and those that did not.
Remember, case studies should only be used to gain an understanding of the new marketing medium. Don’t let your boss turn a case study into your next social media strategy.
Minimize Fear Through Knowledge
Most managers and marketers understand the opportunities social media offer, but don’t leverage it from fear of making mistakes. The fear stems from a lack of understanding and knowledge.
It’s your job to show that not only do you know what you’re doing, but that you’re capable of navigating the brand through the social web.
Show your expertise by building your own personal brand with social media. Nothing is more reassuring than being introduced to a new marketing technique by someone who has already proven themselves.
Highlight Competitors…
Competitive intelligence is a powerful tool for forcing a boss’ hand. If your company is asleep at the wheel, while competitors are passing you by, it’s time to prove it.
Present an audit of what your competitors are doing, what social media profiles they have reserved, and how active their community is.
Competitive reviews clearly define the potential social media holds in your industry and it highlights missed opportunities.
Be The First
If none of your competitors are using social media, you’re in an even better position. Online, innovation is rewarded and being first means getting the most press.
Those that act as early adopters receive a free press and end up building an early community quickly. Two companies that have used this free press well are Pepsi and Starbucks.
Starbucks most recently received a lot of press when they decided to work with Foursquare to offer all store “mayors” free lattes. Pepsi’s announcement to fully invest in non-traditional marketing, made a lot of waves too.
The promises of free press is a very convincing argument for getting your brand manager to invest in social media.
Build a Strategy
Outlining a comprehensive social media strategy illustrates your knowledge of the marketing medium and highlights the potential opportunities for the brand. It’s a great way to convince the brand manager that needs that extra nudge.
Most executives are afraid to fully commit to social media, so start small. Create a simple test campaign that you can use a case study for future endeavors.
The small campaign shouldn’t be the only strategy you create. As you’re creating the individual activation, building an overall brand strategy that explains the multiple ways the business can build and influence its online community.
Final Thoughts
Help your executives get over their fear of social media by outlining a clear road map to success. Online marketing doesn’t have to be difficult or scary – now convince everyone else.
What were the hardest obstacle you had to overcome? How did you do it? Who is the person most difficult to convince? Leave a comment now and share your thoughts.
It’s way better to go into a meeting with your boss with the information you’ve provided than just saying, “Hey we need to be on facebook because most of the world is”. Great info Samir, this was well organized.
Good article – and case-studies are key – but the challenge is to find some good ones for B2B. B2C articles aren’t that hard to find.
You also need to clearly define why you’re there; and how you’re going to measure – to be able to tell if you’ve been successful in your activities.
Thanks Joshua! I’m always surprised at how many people do exactly that though, “Hey we need something..Why? oh well because”. That kind of argument just can’t hold itself up.
Totally agree about the metrics part. I definitely forgot to add that. It’s really important to explicitly define your goals, how you’ll measure them, and then outline a timeline to show progress. Thanks for the comment!
Competitive analysis has been a huge part of securing executive buy-in for me. The rest of the market has a huge presence, and outlining how they are doing it, and how we can do it better was a great first step to developing a social strategy.
White Papers, Case Studies, Social Media Talks… research, research, research.
I love sending important white papers and talks to my executives. Especially if they only partially have to do with social media. For example, Moot’s TED talk was great and really highlights web culture. So was the Ohanian talk on Reddit: http://www.ted.com/talks/alexis_ohanian_how_to_make_a_splash_in_social_media.html
Can you share Metrics Part for SMM campaign ? We definitely need it to convince Higher Management.