Putting the cart before the horse, tech wise!

I have mentioned previously how fascinating I find organizations who wish to jump on the social media bandwagon and want to hire "experts" in the field. Given that we're talking about a technology that is probably 3 years old at best, that would be similar to finding a preschool age child who can type or do math. What we are dealing with now is people who have some theories as to what will work best and really it is the person who can sell the best dream that will win the race, not necessarily the person who has the best qualifications.

I was speaking to a senior communications person recently who asked me for my ideas on how to use social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Wikipedia to enhance their communications programs. I gave my own thoughts on the matter and we had a discussion regarding these thoughts on the issue. When it came time for me to ask questions, I asked this person, "How do you see social media working with your marketing programs and how will you quantify success regarding social media?" Well, going by the flow of blood and skin tone out of this person's face you would have thought I asked them to calculate Pi to the 800th number.

The sad fact is that there is a mad scramble to jump on the social media band wagon but there is very little thought given as to why or what advantage might be reaped for the least investment. Now lets be clear, I am NOT advocating that social media has no place in a business environment. Quite the opposite, done properly I believe social media can greatly enhance the brand, but we need to pick the technology innovation because it enhances the brand, not because we think it is cool and fun. World of Warcraft is still the biggest online community last time I checked, yet I don't see businesses rushing to set up avatars on WOW.

So the goal here is that before we all decide to jump onto the social media bandwagon, we need to decide how we can use it to grow brand recognition and ultimately sales. We shouldn't jump in out of fear that we are missing the boat. A measured and concentrated advance into social media, like we would approach any new media, would seem the obvious outcome. But it falls to all of us communications professionals to not only provide the necessary guidance as we head into this new communications arena, but also to provide a braking mechanism if necessary. Proceed with both caution and purpose and you will most likely succeed.