A New Way to Look at Social Media
A few months ago I was in an editorial meeting and tried to pitch some new ideas for our 1to1 Media website. I suggested things like an updated blog, added user feedback features, wikis; essentially Web 2.0 technology. At the time, most of what I came up with was dismissed because I couldn’t answer the question “Why should we implement those, other than because everyone else is experimenting with them?”
About a month later I was in another meeting, when we were discussing how to keep track of reader feedback in an organized way. The eventual solution was to use a white board that everyone could write notes on and keep a record of the insight we learned from talking to our customers. I came out of that meeting thinking, “Isn’t a white board that everyone can write on and read at any time the same thing as a wiki?” That’s when it hit me: don’t pitch this new technology for all the cool features and new things we can do, focus on how it can make what we already do more efficient.
Had I understood that subtle difference earlier, maybe more social media would have been adopted by 1to1 already. For many businesses, it has been. Whether they added things like blogs, social network profiles, and wikis because of the pressure to reinvent themselves or because they truly understood how to use them, social media is here to stay. Why? I believe because the technology fits into Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Theory.
For those unfamiliar with Rogers, in short he states that all new technology has to pass a certain set of tests to determine if it will enjoy widespread adoption. He requires that the new technology must have a relative advantage, compatibility with current technology, limited complexity, testability, and be observable, among other things. Social media fits those criteria, and thinking about the “new” ideas that accompany it based on Diffusion of Innovation Theory helps explain business uses more clearly.
So what does that mean? Think of a social network as a focus group, for example, and a branded profile on MySpace as an interactive in-store display. Or a wiki as an internal collaboration tool like an unending conference call. Used correctly, a comments section is like having a 24/7 customer service representative to listen to suggestions, and a ratings/reviews section is like having a salesperson present to offer recommendations. A blog? Depending how it’s used, it replaces a newsletter or an FAQ section, providing customers with searchable information and direct communication with executives.
I’m not suggesting that the terms have to be dumbed down for people from a previous era. But there’s no doubt that the way social media is presented and understood as a benefit is as important as the technology behind it. There’s no doubt that social networks, blogs, and wikis have become a part of customers’ lives, the only question left is whether businesses will tap into that fact to interact with them in a new way. If you, as a marketer, want your company to get on board with social media technology, do you think an analogy linking it to more familiar business concepts will help your cause?
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