Evey piece of research they have done is about what message shall we SEND, wht types of message do our customers want to RECEIVE, etc. What other social media messages do our customers GET from similar companies to us. Laudable but the re is no mention of the social part of social media. Another fairly base research objective is to ask what platforms people are on. Again necessary but not really useful on its own.

We’re working with them to encourage them to think about this in the whole. Ask not what platform someone is on, but who they listen to on these platforms. Ask not what shall we send but how can we best contribute to existing conversations and networks. Don’t identify platforms, identify influencers and work with them. The industry this company is in is one where much more credence is given to the thoughts of peers than that of the company. More so than other business areas even. It is also highly regulated with every single full stop of any communication being scrutinised by over zealous internal censors. This later point makes it almost impossible to partake in a SM conversation with any degree of spontaneity or fluidity. Which makes working with external, unregulated influencers all the more useful.

They are starting to buy in to the more holistic view of SM and indeed SEO. But like the article says, it is somewhat of a shock that simply spending a barrel of cash isnt going to meet their goals.