Why Corporates Still Don't Get Social Media Right?

I am not sure how many of you have watched recently released “The Social Network” a sort of fictional biopic on Mark Zuckerberg , Facebook's founder. Adapted from Ben Mezrich 's novel - The Accidental Billionaires, it delivers a strange but intense experience as it makes you watch your present as a phased out piece of history. The Social Network, has all the thrills, excitement and wow moments, which you would expect from any A grade hollywood movie and undoubtedly it is one of the finest movies made this year.

Facebook has changed the way world used to communicate. Google treats it as its most formidable competitor and Bing sees them as their partner in success (notice, Bing powered Facebook search). Like a pied piper Facebook is leading the wave of social media making it one of the most exciting communication platform of our times.

There was early scepticism about social media that it wouldn't work for businesses and can not be used specially for b2b segment. Now it has been proved through numerous case studies that, this is one stereotype which has outlived its validity. No matter which business you are in, you have to use social media as it is one of the fastest growing medium of all times across the globe.

As more and more folks are getting on the net , corporates too have joined the bandwagon. Most of the IT companies have got their branding right specially in the big three sites viz. facebook, twitter and linkedin. Corporate news, videos, images etc. all adds up to their online reputation enhancement and management. Having said that, there are still many of those, who are all dressed up, standing in the middle, confused and clueless about where to go. This applies to most of the non IT companies.

The non IT corporates are in fix on how to maximise ROI out of their social media efforts. If companies like Dell can makes millions through Twitter, then there must be something which Dell is doing right and others are not. Below are the few probable reasons.

Corporates often fail to identify four key issues

1.Who their target audience is (age group, demographics, income levels etc.)?

2.Where they are (business sites, personal sites, news sites , forums etc.)?

3.What do they click most (their click behavioral pattern)?

4.Identify their own end goal ( sales, queries or something else...)

It is not necessary to hit the bull's eye in the first go. Multiple attempts are required to dust off what doesn't works and to discover what actually works. Continuous testing and evaluation is the key to succeed in B2B marketplace

All that one needs to take care of is that, you aren't dealing with the bots here, you are dealing with real time human beings.So, your blatant sales pitch wouldn't work, constructive and consistent communication will. Remember, SMO is a slow but immensely rewarding strategy !

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