Where do we find the resources?

This question pops up in every seminar on social media, but someone articulated it particularly well and succinctly to me last week:

Where do we find the time/people/money to embrace social media?

My instinct replies, "that’s an organizational, not a social media question". But it’s not entirely.

The question stabs right to the heart of what social media is actually about: people.

They’re the most difficult part of the equation.

You’re working with two major issues here:

1. Gaining Buy-In: Getting your team (including those both above and below you on the hierarchy) to embrace social media.
2. Getting social media to become a priority.

On Gaining Buy-In

One of the major barriers to embracing a new tool/technology is understanding it. People resist. Might be your CEO, the HR director, or even you. Social media is a particularly weighted by this issue. There is a learning curve before individuals truly grasp the concepts. At the same time, the tools themselves are still proving themselves. The interesting element here is that these tools—particularly in the hands of an individual or organization willing to experiment—are both inexpensive to engage/experiment AND are showing themselves capable to producing real results during the experimentation.

It echoes the late 1990s as companies were figuring out whether this new “web” thing was worth investing in. Managers scream for measurement—for ROI—before they’ll budge. Call it fear. Call it a conservative approach. Call it other priorities. Truth is, articulation of social media ROI is still being figured out. One of my favorite discussion of this is the econsultancy blog’s 10 ways to measure social media success. Note that I said ARTICULATION of ROI... NOT that social media lacks ROI. Important distinction. You will want to read through it yourself, including the comments. The best summary is a paragraph from the discussion itself:

Rather than focusing on the smaller, campaign-specific metrics, such as traffic from Twitter or the number of fans on Facebook, wouldn’t it be better to look at how it helps to shift the most important business KPIs, such as sales, profits, as well as customer retention and satisfaction rates?

In many cases, organizations and companies put “new idea” blinders on until the idea proves itself, endlessly frustrating the enterprising individuals inside. This ying-yang battle between the conservative and the enterprising frameworks/approaches exists in virtually any group of humans you assemble. Families, organizations, companies... even religions and governments. It's the root of all politics. Think Copernicus battling the Catholic Church over whether Earth orbited the sun. Think Abraham Lincoln declaring the end of slavery in the U.S. Think Bill Gates realizing that the operating system would have more value than the IBM PC itself.

Every new idea has to survive this battle between the angel and the devil. The conservative side keeps us from running amok and blowing resources on every whim that occurs. The enterprising side keeps us from becoming dinosaurs. As much as they are contentious, each side relies on the other for survival of the organization.

Chink in the armor: Often, the conservatives among us find erecting the ROI barrier is a handy means of keeping the enterprising from distracting or annoying them with a new idea. The enterpriser backs down and everyone can be on their merry way. When used without truly considering your idea, it verges on a level of conservative laziness. One of my favorite forms of this is reciting all the bad stuff online... from crazy people who might criticize the organization, to the questionable nature of blog content/authors, to dismissing it as “toys for kids”. (Really, I heard a VP or HR director dismiss the entire Internet for that reason.)

The trick is that you, as the enterprising individual, need to find a way short of grand-scale ROI to illustrate for the conservatives among us the value of engaging in social media. I suggest two solid starting points:

1. Think in their interest. Think selfishly on behalf of those you have to convince. Were you them, what interests and resources available via social media would be of the most interest to them? A hobby or passion? Something that makes their job easier? Something that can better connect them with loved ones? How can you get them to sample this? The idea is to pull them in. Get them to experience it first-hand.
2. Start a small-scale experiment. Try just one platform for a moment. Are there pictures you need to share from a recent event? Flickr them. Do you have an existing newsletter? Begin sharing it through a Facebook group... and suggest to readers that they can find you there. Do you have a following of passionate volunteers? See if they are willing to connect through the same group. This isn’t a big project. It doesn’t take a lot of your time. You’re just giving it a try and using the social media tools for their efficiency.... This builds a tiny little case study. Then two... and so on.

Bottom line: In absence of “official” ROI, getting small buy-in can help you move your case forward. (BTW, I'd love to hear your variations on these two ideas.)


Raising Priorities

Back to the original question: Where do we find the time/people/money to embrace social media?

Not that I want to answer with a question, but the most poignant response I have is: How does your organization find the resources for everything else? If you see the social media light... it might be an opportunity for you to expand your own skills of persuasion and political maneuvering.

Do you have a strategic planning process? When is it? How do you get something discussed/considered in this process? What elements discussed above could lend themselves to being included?

What other organizational endeavors could social media efforts augment or even displace?

For example, where could social media help you or your organization realize efficiencies? I know from a public relations standpoint it is exceptional in that it connects directly with your audience/market rather than going through another resource, such as the media. You can receive direct feedback. Your friends/followers are individuals who have specifically said they would like to know more and interact... to a point that makes even opt-in email newsletters pale by comparison.

A well-run Twitter account allows you to both regularly share company announcements and resources with a large circle of people... but also to solicit your followers for feedback (instant focus group).

Facebook, MySpace, even blogs allow you to share information you would normally share via a newsletter or press release... but with an audience who has asked to be included. (This goes beyond the opt-in newsletter concept.)

Flickr and YouTube (and similar image/video sharing sites) allow you to visually bring your audience/market into your fold. In a skilled communicator's hands, this adds power to your ability to share your story with them. Again, this builds relationships with those who are most connected to your organization... which lead to business. (And funding, in the case of nonprofits.)

Brought together--and used with a smart calendar (for efficiency and topic organization)--these social media elements help you effectively manage the conversations with your organization and participate in the ones that are already happening without you. Your working through this might actually make your whole organization more efficient in the way it interacts with those it serves. Big thought... but new technology tools can often have this kind of an effect.

In your organization, where does that fit in the list of priorities you plan for?