In everyday life, admitting to being anti social can be a wonderful thing. It means you are never expected to take part in a charity fun run, it can excuse you from the post work pub quiz every Tuesday and can even get you out of the odd Christmas outing. At worst you will be labelled a miserable bore but of course you can live with that if it guarantees a night in with a box set and blissful solitude. In business however, being anti social has much greater consequences.
You will have spotted that the behaviour of companies is under the spotlight like never before. Transparency and authenticity are the buzz words of 2011 and despite feeling that social media does not fit the ‘personality’ of your company, I’m afraid that you are still expected to get involved and open up. This can be a tricky transition for any company, but is especially uncomfortable for those who are steeped in the traditions of the City. There is a reason that you have chosen an office on Bishopsgate as opposed to Soho, and why your receptionist greets visitors with integrity and professionalism as opposed to an overly familiar high five. You have never considered putting a pool table in the canteen or hosting online poker tournaments with your clients because you are not a marketing agency or a cheeky young tech start up. Finance is a serious business and the idea of using social networks to communicate your wisdom and achievements seems, at best, inappropriate and at worst a waste of valuable time.
But companies are increasingly judged on their ability to embrace and respond to comment and criticism and it is hard to control public and shareholder perception from behind an oak paneled door. A carefully worded press release and glossy annual report are no longer sufficient to communicate your corporate message and although you might find the idea of social media a little vulgar, you may be surprised at its potential, and what a serious business it can be.
Imagine some crazed, embittered employee bursting in on a crucial meeting with potential investors and ranting on about conspiracy theories. You could control that scenario because you would be there, explaining away the employee’s behaviour with claims of insanity and alcohol abuse. But if that employee took to Twitter to share his opinions, who would be there to act in your defence and escort him quietly away? And don’t be comforted in the knowledge that your investors are not the type to spend hours online, because even more terrifying is that journalists are. If you have been blissfully ignoring a conversation taking place under your Twitter nose then you’ll soon spot it when it appears in the business headlines.
A brilliant example of this happened as far back as 2004 when an enthusiastic blogger reported how he had managed to pick a ‘Kryptonite’ bicycle lock with a Bic pen. This was ignored by Kryptonite but picked up by the New York Times, resulting in $15m worth of product recalls and immeasurable damage to reputation.
More recently of course we must not forget BP who spent a reported £93m on advertising to counteract the colossal impact of the Mexican oil spill whilst a fake Twitter account pretending to represent the company was quietly amassing followers and no less than 350 Facebook groups sprung up to boycott the brand, turning their online PR into a laughing stock.
These examples of social media ‘fails’ are all over the internet and companies are finally wising up to the relevance of joining online communities but many are still dipping their toe in and hoping that to be seen to be making an effort is enough (a bit like attending a networking event and slinking off after the first glass of champagne).
Information is knowledge and our unprecedented access to information presents as many opportunities for business as it does threats. For example, market research must no longer be a lengthy and expensive undertaking as you can now get a snapshot of opinion in seconds using online networks and it is how you respond to that intelligence that will define you as successfully social.
In 2011 the fundamental shift in how we communicate is well underway and thankfully the tools for business to not only keep up but also lead this social revolution are readily available. If you normally host a drinks reception for your most treasured shareholders, carefully compiling a guest list to ensure no troublemakers are invited, you must now accept that you do not control who attends your metaphorical online soiree and even the most nuisance blogger can gatecrash and be seated in between your well behaved guests. Or worse, the nuisance blogger can throw the party and not invite you. It is time to stop being anti social. Make sure you host the party and control the conversation about your business. Become a veritable party animal and represent yourself at every social gathering thrown by your industry on the web because this is where the people with the most influence over your business could be spending time and is the only place you can avoid a social faux pas and becoming yet another ‘fail’ statistic.
Oh, and don’t forget you can attend these metaphorical parties from the comfort of your desk or even better your own home, where you choose the wine and there is no chance of missing the last train. It is social for even the most anti social. Perfect.
Contributer: Paul Newman – Director – Ultraknowledge ( www.ultraknowledge.com ).
For a demo of our content web technology contact paul@ultraknowledge.com or for social strategy and training contact Jenni@ultrasocial.co.uk.