I recently had a conversation with a friend on Twitter about social media and the need for having a strategy. He held a firm stance that not all companies should care about social media.
Here’s how part of the conversation played out,
Me – “Just read a comment saying it might not b time for all bus to have a soc med strat. Disagree. How do u handle neg soc PR w/out a plan?”
Him – “Not every business will have the same needs and requirements. Social Media isn’t imperative for all. It’s value added.”
Me – “I actually think it is quite crucial to know how you would handle a sudden wave of neg online PR. Could happen to anyone.”
Him – “But for a company that doesn’t deal with the public, public opinion matters less.”
I’ve not been tested against this, but I feel like I could make a good case as to why just about any company would need a social media strategy.
Having a strategy doesn’t necessarily mean a company will be actively using social media, but there’s nothing wrong with being prepared should a need arise. And that “need’ could be very broad. For instance, if company X learns of a negative online comment do they address it or choose to leave it alone? If they respond, who responds?
A perfect example would be my previous post about trying to use a local travel agency, A Way To Go Travel. My inclination is that they don’t monitor the Web (would love it if I was wrong) which means they have no clue that I wrote a blog post that mentions them. And the mention itself wasn’t necessarily negative, but it wouldn’t be listed as positive either.
If they received Web alerts someone could take prompt action and completely turn the experience around (again, not that it has been negative, just not really responsive). Heck, they could even leave a comment saying something like, “We are working on your itinerary right this second.”
In my opinion not having a strategy means a company is choosing to ignore social media (including blogs/Web sites) or that they are taking part, but doing so recklessly.
PS – In regards to my friends last comment from the short Twitter conversation, all businesses have customers no matter if they are consumer or b2b. Customer opinion should matter – if it doesn’t something is wrong.
Tweet this: “Can some companies ignore social media? http://bit.ly/13JY2C“
