Social Media Marketing has moved from an interesting idea to an essential part of the marketing arsenal in the last couple of years.
It was nearly a year ago that I wrote an article on why the CEO Is afraid of Social Media and followed that up with a post that provide some answers on why he should be using social media in the 21st century that highlighted the frustration a lot of marketers were suffering due to the traditional and conservative approach to marketing.
Yet despite social media marketing’s maturing from a noisy infant to an arrogant adolescent in the marketing department, over the last 12 months the resistance to taking it seriously and apply and implement appropriate resources is still ever present.
Recently 150 of the top senior marketing executives in the UK met at the IDM (The Institute of Direct Marketing is Europe’s leading body for the professional development of direct, data and digital marketing) B2B Conference to discuss what they felt were the threats and challenges to having social media marketing implemented in an organisation. Here is a summary of what they found to be the threats to social media marketing adoption in companies they worked and consulted for and how it applied to their digital marketing plan.
1. Having the time to make the most of it
2. Having the time to keep up with the latest trends in social media
3. Deciphering the gold from the dross to ensure you are using the most effective methods to get optimal results
4, Getting buy in from senior managers and CEO’s
5.Measuring the ROI so as to be able to justify resources and efforts for your Social Media Marketing
6. Finding the right talent resource that have the appropriate experience to plan and develop content
7. Managing the social media marketing internally so as to ensure its effectiveness
8. Perceived lack of control over the messages exchanged
9. Resistance to buy-in by colleagues due to a continued and deliberate lack of understanding and interest
10. Disconnect due to generational barriers
11. Social Media Marketing is seen as a risk rather than an opportunity so nothing happens especially in conservative industries such as financial services
12. Less control over what the company is saying
13. Creating consistent flow of great content whether that be text, video or images
14. Lack of evidence and history to validate its value
15. Overcoming the gap between personal use of social media and its power as a business marketing tool
16. Not able to target the right audience
17. The perception that social media is a fashionable fad
18. Corporate apathy
19 Lack of guidelines and procedures
20. Fear of the unknown
What are some of the threats to implementing social media marketing at your organisation?