Why Your Business Needs Flexibility To Do Social Media Well
It’s an unusually windy day in Nashville today. I can tell because the huge trees in the woods behind my house are blowing around like crazy. It’s interesting to observe them, though, in light of their size and flexibility. After all, these trees are huge. They tower over my house yet when it’s really windy like today, they bend and flex and don’t break. They’ve been doing that for several decades now.
When we think about flexibility in business it’s easy to think that small companies are more likely to be flexible but I wonder if flexibility has less to do with size and more to do with how you grow. These trees behind my house didn’t stay small and flexible. They grew huge. That’s what trees do. They grow. They don’t stay small just to remain flexible. Isn’t that what we hope for our businesses too?
The wind, then, is like changes in the market or technology. One of the big reasons companies are having a hard time right now with social media isn’t their size, but their lack of flexibility. They may be strong companies with what they’ve always done, but they’re far too rigid to flex when the winds of business change blow. For all the importance placed on business growth, it seems there’s far too little discussion about business flexibility, and on this windy day in Nashville, I’m reminded not to lose site of the need and importance of flexibility.
If there’s anything we can learn from the trees it is this: Grow strong and grow flexible. The winds will come from every direction. Sometimes they’ll be stronger than others, but when you’re both strong and flexible, you’re going to be able to keep on growing long after the winds have passed.
Tags: business flexibility, social media flexibility, social media Nashville
December 11th, 2009 at 7:56 am
I think this is a very important issue to bring up in regards to companies and social media. One of my most spoken phrases to my colleagues in regards to strategic social media planning is, “Well, we very likely will have to revise our plan down the road.” Communicating this need for flexibility seems to come down to a level of trust and understanding of how social media works. What have you seen in your experience with helping people to “get it” has been the most successful or eye opening? Awesome post, Bill!
December 11th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Thanks for the comment Lynsay. The thing about social media discussions in most companies is that they reveal other issues that haven’t been dealt with for a while, if ever. For instance, if a company doesn’t trust its employees, they’ve never really had a reason to reveal that attitude until social media came along. If a company doesn’t really want to listen to customers, it’s more obvious now than ever because of social media.
I think the dirty little secret of social media in corporations is that it shines a light on areas the company may not have wanted to look at. To me, that’s a great opportunity for change, but not everyone likes change for any number of reasons.
So, to answer your question, there really isn’t a sure-fire approach to convincing people to trust social media. I start with trying to help people understand that the world of marketing and business has changed and that their need to change is necessary to be successful. When/if they believe that the business world has changed and is continuing to change, I start to talk about how social media plays a part of that and that with social media, there are some wonderful opportunities that never existed before. Beyond this basic approach, I try to listen to pain-points, challenges, concerns, etc. and go from there with specific answers.
December 11th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Thanks for your response! That is an excellent point about how marketing and business, especially interaction with customers has completely changed. I think all of the “buzz” around social media creates a frenzy in business communities. They hear all of the great opportunities and think that social media magically makes their business successful. So it’s a constant balance - getting people excited about venturing into new territories with social media, but alss educated on how it will bring about change within the company. The change is definitely for the better, but the process may be grueling.
December 12th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Lynsay, well said. The balance between generating internal excitement to bring people on board while also educating in the process is a delicate one. The process may, indeed, be grueling…but I think it’s worth it.