The argument about how the way the younger generation is changing the English language is one for another book. However, if the way in which individuals – or generations – use the language is to express themselves then marketers must be prepared to react to those changes. This is never more valid than in social media.
It is common for the abbreviations, emoticons and idioms so popular in texting to seep into social media messages – particularly the likes of Twitter where there is a limit to the amount of characters that can be used. But it is not only the use of abbreviations to replace words or phrases that is impacting on the way the language is now used.
In an academic text such as the one you are reading now, for example, the full stop (or period if you are in the USA) is used to denote the end of a sentence. However, it is now commonplace for it to express an attitude or opinion, as in: Worst. Lecture. Ever.
The same goes for the hashtag. Until not-so-long ago the hash symbol on a keyboard went unused by people who weren’t working in IT. In Europe we didn’t even use it to denote ‘number’ as was common prac- tice in the USA (for example, #1 for number one). Then, in 2007, the hashtag was born and a couple of years later Twitter started to use it as a kind of identifi er for a subject or topic being tweeted about (for example, #AlanCharlesworth – and, no, I have never used or even seen that). However, it is now frequently misused, as in #Worst #Lecture #Ever.
Similarly, rather than simply standing for ‘laugh out loud’, ‘LOL’ is now used to convey empathy and accommodation. In linguistic terms it is referred to as a ‘pragmatic particle’ – that is, a word or phrase that has no semantic connection to the context of the sentence, but is used to indicate the writer’s attitude.
I wonder if in a second edition of this book I will use abbreviations, emoticons and idioms? That there is a smiley face later in this book suggests that perhaps even academic texts need to be written for their audience.
To end this chapter I am going off-subject slightly. I say repeatedly throughout the book that social media marketing is right for some products, brands or organizations and not so for others.
With that in mind, take a look John Kotter’s infl uential 8-Step Process for Leading Change which is generally accepted as a benchmark for implementing change within an organization. Before reading the steps, however, imagine you are the newly appointed marketing manager of an organization which is not naturally suited to social media engagement. Now consider how diffi cult these steps would be if you applied them to ‘your’ organization if you were seeking to adopt social media marketing as part of its strategic marketing efforts. Step 1: Establishing a sense of urgency. Help others see the need for change and they will be convinced of the importance of acting immediately.
Step 2: Creating the guiding coalition. Assemble a group with enough power to lead the change effort and encourage the group to work as a team.
Step 3: Developing a change vision. Create a vision to help direct the change effort, and develop strategies for achieving that vision.
Step 4: Communicating the vision for buy-in. Make sure as many people as possible hear about your vision – and you must also walk-the-walk.
Step 5: Empowering broad-based action. Remove obstacles to change, change systems or structures that seriously undermine the vision, and encourage risk- taking and non-traditional ideas, activities and actions.
Step 6: Generating short-term wins. Plan for achievements that can easily be made visible, follow through with those achievements and recognize and reward employees who were involved.
Step 7: Never letting up. Use increased credibility to change systems, structures and policies that don’t fi t the vision, also hire, promote and develop employees who can implement the vision and fi nally reinvigorate the process with new projects, themes and change agents.
102 Operational social media marketing
Step 8: Incorporating changes into the culture. Articulate the connections between the new behaviours and organizational success and develop the means to ensure leadership development and succession.
My conclusion is that the resistance to change from a group of employees who are working in a culture that is the opposite of what effective social media marketing requires would make the task not only diffi cult, but virtually impossible. As I say elsewhere, that organization should stick to other methods of marketing.
Chapter exercises
1. On the subject of using ‘covert replies’ in social media, see if you can fi nd any examples of marketers practising this poorly and so being caught out by users.
2. In this chapter on the subject of the product’s, brand’s or organization’s voice I say ‘compare that example with the failing attempts at social media marketing made by organizations that have – or had – no relationship with their customers’. See if you can fi nd any examples in social media where the product, brand or organization has simply not ‘got it’ and so their social media marketing is not only poor, but could well be detrimental to the product’s, brand’s or organization’s value in the eyes of consumers.
3. Discuss the author’s premise that social media marketing is right for some products’s, brands’s and organizations’s and wrong – or at least not right – for others.
References
Hotchkiss, G. (2014) #Meaningless #Crap. Search Insider. Available online at www. mediapost.com/publications/article/223266/meaningless-crap.html
Kotter, J. (1996) The 8-Step Process for Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press. McClane, C. (2014) Six Reasons Why Your Brand Needs a Social Voice. MarketingProfs.
Available online at www.marketingprofs.com/opinions/2014/24280/six- reasons-why-your-brand-needs-a-social-voice
9 Management and staff
Although this chapter is included in the operational section of the book, it does include some aspects that are strategic in nature. However, with regard to the subjects addressed here, they are inextricably linked – and so they are covered here in one chapter. It is also the case that this chapter is a natural affi liate to the ‘ownership’ section in Chapter 2.
In my book Digital Marketing: A Practical Approach (Charlesworth 2014) I emphasize how important it is that for any website to be effective it must have input from people with a variety skills – my so-called ‘dream team’. The list of skills for the website dream team is extensive, being made up of programmers, graphic designers, usability experts, content writers, copy writers, search engine optimization specialists, sales staff, merchandisers and marketers. However, no dream team will be effective if its management is not addressed as a key component to social media marketing success.
As with all managerial decisions involving the operational development of a new strategy, the options are to either create a new position for it within the organization, or if the budget does not allow for this, delegate responsibilities to an exist- ing employee. However, with the exception of only the biggest of organizations, it will fall upon the social media manager to actu- ally participate in its operation, therefore they should have – at least – a working knowledge of social media marketing and expertise in at least one of its aspects. Appointing a manager to the department who does not ‘get’ social media will inevitably result in the strategy failing.
In a larger organization, particularly one with a marketing department, it may be possible to allocate an aspect of social media marketing to individuals who have relevant skills within the team, otherwise they will need to be recruited.
Over the years I have preached that with regard to online marketing, you are your website – meaning that as far as the customer (or potential customer) is concerned the website represents the organization, ergo, poor website = poor
“
appointing a manager to the department who does not ‘get’ social media will inevitably result in the strategy failing104 Operational social media marketing
organization. This is not only true for a Facebook or Pinterest presence but it is also true for every Facebook comment and tweet. What this means is that those staff tasked with writing on social media for the organization must have the skills, temperament, knowledge and common sense to be the voice of the organization, or product, or brand. Perhaps for social media I should update my mantra to ‘the product, brand or organization is what its conduct is, not what it says it is’.
It is for this reason that social media marketing is perceived by most to be best performed as an in-house function. Naturally, out of necessity, some organizations do out-source their social media functions to outside agencies that specialize in the task. However, unless the agency staff are very close to the product, brand or organization, they will struggle to truly represent it in a social media environment. Indeed, Nike was reported (in Marketing Week 1 October 2013) to have taken management of its social media marketing in-house in an effort to get closer to its fans.
From a human resource standpoint, recruitment into such positions is problem- atic in such a new area of business where few people possess the experience and nec- essary skills. Also challenging is the fact that many of the required skills are deemed soft skills, such as multitasking capabilities, patience, fl exibility, dedication and a good sense of humour. This means that even
some people with the requisite hard skills (covered in the next section) are not suitable for social media roles as their personalities do not match the job’s soft- skill requirements. Furthermore, determining the appropriate rewards for these employees is also likely to be challenging as they are unlikely to be driven purely by money – and yet remuneration should refl ect the role they have in the reputation of the brand, product or organization.
But it is not only recruitment that presents challenges in this regard, with there being a shortage of experienced staff to pass on their skills. Indeed, research for the Financial Executives Research Foundation found that 71 per cent of the executives polled said their company was con- cerned about possible risks posed by social media and yet only around half said their organization provided social media training (Thompson et al 2013).