Yesterday, I was on the
phone with my financial manager to get an update on my retirement
portfolio. Surprisingly, he had some
positive news to report – I actually had some cash generate from dividends
being paid out on some of my assets.
Immediately he posed the question, “how do you want me to invest those
funds so they keep working for you?” My
options were: invest the lump sum in a single, growing stock that currently was
generating over 9% return; spread the investment over the rest of my existing
mutual funds, or keep it in my reserves and do nothing. Not being the “do nothing type”, I knew I had
only 2 options to consider. Either I
wanted to be “all in” and really commit to the stock in hopes of a big payoff,
or I wanted to help augment all of my existing efforts and reap a slow, steady
growth down the road.
I think my investment
dilemma above is very illustrative of the scenarios brand marketers are facing
today. Do they take the limited cash
they have and put it all into social media, or augment their existing offline
and online efforts? “Do they invest in
one particular social media channel, or in multiple ones? The answers, of course, will always depend on
the goals and objectives of the business.
Knowing why you need to do something should guide what you need to
do.
At last night’s Social Media
Club Atlanta meeting, our panelists, Jeannie Ericson, Director of Lens on
Atlanta with PBA and Tony Conway, Development Director for the Atlanta
Children’s Shelter and Kashi Atlanta led by moderator, Diane Deseta of White
Knight, both discussed their approaches to developing “The Case for Investment”
within their respective organizations.
They also shared their views on measuring success and the challenges
they each faced in bringing their social media investment to life.
It was a fast-paced and
highly engaging conversation between the panelists and standing-room only
crowd. Below are a few key excerpts I
took away from the discussion:
Which brands did you look at
when you were developing your Case for Investment?
Jeannie Ericson (Lens on Atlanta) – National
Public Radio (NPR) because they have a dedicated social media strategist and
they are not afraid to experiment.
Tony Conway (ATL Children’s
Shelter) – New York Times because they really understand how to incorporate multiple voices through
blogs and engage the community in conversation.
How did you present the
investment to your internal stakeholders?
What worked, didn’t work?
Jeannie Ericson – we were
fortunate because the vision and mandate was being led top-down by our CEO who
says, “Tv and radio are not dying tomorrow, but they are evolving and changing
with digital”. It wasn’t a question; we
were going to do it. However, we focused
initially on communicating that message externally and did not communicate it
enough within our own organization so everyone would know what was going on.
Tony Conway – several of our
decision makers were familiar with social media, so we were able to get them on
board fairly quickly. With the rest, we
explained that our initial investment would be a controlled experiment around a
specific set of communication goals. We
made sure we had a consensus in order to take that critical step.
What is your commitment
level to social media?
Jeannie Ericson – we are
never going to quit – we view ourselves not just in social media, but in a
relationship where we engage our community.
Right now, we have an integrated plan for Lens on Atlanta that will focus on Facebook, Twitter
and LinkedIn initially to help cultivate the base community. Eventually, we’ll amplify that using our
broadcasting assets in radio and television.
Tony Conway – for us, social
media is not about a one-night stand. We
see it as a key method in being informational and cultivational with our
audience. We’ve exploded out our initial
investment (which generated 2x the expected goal) and have architected an
annual social media campaign.
What are some of the key
elements of your investment plan that brand marketers need to account for?
Jeannie Ericson – having
someone dedicated to coaching and cultivating your community base. Although stakeholders say they will
participate, you need to have someone come along side of them to encourage and
partner with them to do it.
Sherry Heyl (Concept Hub) –
focus on teaching the benefits of the social media platform and tools first,
then the actual tools with your community ambassadors.
Tony Conway – having the
RIGHT consultants to help shape your strategy and plan, help you find and tap
into the influencers and tools, is essential.
Also, you need to find the right people who can help develop key
relationships within the community to participate as well as operationalize
your platform. We were able to do that
with Georgia State and Oglethorpe and now have a commitment for interns to handle the publishing for us across seven social media channels at 50 hours per week over the next year.
How are you defining success
for your investment? Internally as well
as Externally?
Jeannie Ericson – Success
externally is cultivating stories of users who get something accomplished using
the Lens platform and permeating that out to their peers on the network. Internally, we’ve defined it as being
self-sustaining within four years.
Tony Conway – We see social
media as the medium to reach people in an intimate way that is unpurchasable. Externally, we define success as connecting
with people and bringing them face to face with the physical experience of
volunteering in our organization.
No matter who you are, making
an investment decision is never simple; there are always complex factors across
business, process, organizational and technical aspects. Failing to invest, however, is a decision brands
cannot afford to make.
For more highlights on this
conversation, go to Social Media Club Atlanta or search for the conversation
thread via #smcatl in Google and Twitter.
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