Hello readers, I am back I hope you are all
doing great. Today, as promised I am going to focus on
how individuals and businesses can use social media in a way, which brings true
value to them.
Recently I had a conversation with a friend mine
who is a senior manager in a mid-size company in Switzerland I asked him how
does your firm use social media? He told me that his firm does not makes any
use of this new technology. A large percentage of senior partners at
firms started working when the “old boy
network” was the way to grow your business. Things have changed
drastically, competition is fiercer than ever. So how do you go about
convincing a senior partner to understand the value that social technologies
can bring to your firm? I listed below a few suggestions that I came across
studying social media.
1. Provide Examples: One of the most effective strategies I was taught was we need to get senior partners to understand the value of social media meaning setting them up with a free Hootsuite account. Hootsuite provides both social media publishing and social media monitoring. In this instance, we can use Hootsuite to monitor the social media activity of individuals, companies and organisations that are of interest to senior partners. We actually have to sit down with the senior partner, and ask him to name companies and individuals he finds important or influential to his practice.
2. Benchmarking: Anyone who works in the finance industry knows that finance firms like to compare themselves to what their competitors are doing. Usually once a few finance firms start doing something and it proves worthwhile the rest will follow. Therefore, benchmarking your competition and showing senior partners what your competitors are doing usually causes senior partners to take action. Start by making a list of your closest competitors and research what they are doing on their website and on social media. Do they have a Facebook page? A Twitter account? A blog? How many followers do they have? What kind of engagement are they getting? Have they gotten press coverage as a result? This kind of information is always helpful in getting senior partners to understand the value of social media by showing what your competitors are already doing.
3. Examples of Success & Failures: Nothing is more powerful to demonstrate the value of something than showing actual examples of success or failure. If your firm is already active in social media, share with your senior partners the successes you have achieved.
4. Use Market Data: There are many publishers and research companies that are constantly publishing data on how different industries are using social media. Large organisations publish multiple reports throughout the year. Get a hold of these reports and find those that focus on the industries that are important to you.
5. Start Small: Rather than develop and deploy a social media strategy for the entire firm, begin with one or two practice groups. This allows firms to “test the waters” and get a sense for what works and what needs to be improved. Ask your clients to recommend one or two practice groups whom they believe will be most eager to embrace and experiment with social media. Another benefit of this approach is that as those practice groups begin to demonstrate some traction and success, it is very easy to share those success stories.
6. Have an Effective Social Media Policy: For many senior partners, the challenge is not so much conveying the value of social media as it is to allay their fears of this new medium. Senior partners usually avoid social media because they are afraid of losing control and something going array. Perhaps they have read negative stories in the press about what can happen with social media and are reluctant to try it no matter how much value you demonstrate. One of the techniques to overcome their fears is to help them craft an effective social media policy. A well crafted social media policy will help to reduce the risk inherent with social media while at the same time providing training and education to firm employees on how they should conduct themselves through social media.
7. Seek Outside Help: Sometimes it is necessary to enlist outside help in order to help you overcome a senior partners objections about social media and to properly explain the value. Sometimes external consultants can do a better job in convincing senior partners that this is something they need to do in order to be successful in the future.
8. Measure and Report: A critical success factor in demonstrating the value of social media to senior partners is to be able to properly measure and report on your success. Therefore it is critical to begin with setting up a set of key performance indicators you will use to measure the success of your social media efforts. Work with your senior partners to identify what success will look like and what is important to them. I hope the tips outlined above will help you make the case for social media at your firm and at an individual level a success.
1. Provide Examples: One of the most effective strategies I was taught was we need to get senior partners to understand the value of social media meaning setting them up with a free Hootsuite account. Hootsuite provides both social media publishing and social media monitoring. In this instance, we can use Hootsuite to monitor the social media activity of individuals, companies and organisations that are of interest to senior partners. We actually have to sit down with the senior partner, and ask him to name companies and individuals he finds important or influential to his practice.
2. Benchmarking: Anyone who works in the finance industry knows that finance firms like to compare themselves to what their competitors are doing. Usually once a few finance firms start doing something and it proves worthwhile the rest will follow. Therefore, benchmarking your competition and showing senior partners what your competitors are doing usually causes senior partners to take action. Start by making a list of your closest competitors and research what they are doing on their website and on social media. Do they have a Facebook page? A Twitter account? A blog? How many followers do they have? What kind of engagement are they getting? Have they gotten press coverage as a result? This kind of information is always helpful in getting senior partners to understand the value of social media by showing what your competitors are already doing.
3. Examples of Success & Failures: Nothing is more powerful to demonstrate the value of something than showing actual examples of success or failure. If your firm is already active in social media, share with your senior partners the successes you have achieved.
4. Use Market Data: There are many publishers and research companies that are constantly publishing data on how different industries are using social media. Large organisations publish multiple reports throughout the year. Get a hold of these reports and find those that focus on the industries that are important to you.
5. Start Small: Rather than develop and deploy a social media strategy for the entire firm, begin with one or two practice groups. This allows firms to “test the waters” and get a sense for what works and what needs to be improved. Ask your clients to recommend one or two practice groups whom they believe will be most eager to embrace and experiment with social media. Another benefit of this approach is that as those practice groups begin to demonstrate some traction and success, it is very easy to share those success stories.
6. Have an Effective Social Media Policy: For many senior partners, the challenge is not so much conveying the value of social media as it is to allay their fears of this new medium. Senior partners usually avoid social media because they are afraid of losing control and something going array. Perhaps they have read negative stories in the press about what can happen with social media and are reluctant to try it no matter how much value you demonstrate. One of the techniques to overcome their fears is to help them craft an effective social media policy. A well crafted social media policy will help to reduce the risk inherent with social media while at the same time providing training and education to firm employees on how they should conduct themselves through social media.
7. Seek Outside Help: Sometimes it is necessary to enlist outside help in order to help you overcome a senior partners objections about social media and to properly explain the value. Sometimes external consultants can do a better job in convincing senior partners that this is something they need to do in order to be successful in the future.
8. Measure and Report: A critical success factor in demonstrating the value of social media to senior partners is to be able to properly measure and report on your success. Therefore it is critical to begin with setting up a set of key performance indicators you will use to measure the success of your social media efforts. Work with your senior partners to identify what success will look like and what is important to them. I hope the tips outlined above will help you make the case for social media at your firm and at an individual level a success.
Thanks for reading! I wish you all an awesome day.
I will keep you updated!!
MARCO
MARCO
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