A smart move today by the IoD in Guernsey as they hosted a social media seminar for local businesses. A full house showed the interest locally in getting a better handle on the topic and there were good presentations from Katherine Salt, a social media consultant based in Jersey, and Nick Masters, head of digital for big four accountancy firm PWC. There was also an outing for the excellent Socialnomics video – jampacked full of great social media related stats.
Significantly however both speakers focused not on how amazing technology is, or how clever you can be with social media but rather on the people using social media. It’s part of their everyday lives, it’s useful and it’s fun. Businesses have to recognise that fact first of all before they can hope to devise a social media strategy that can bring them some benefits. The consensus (amongst the main speakers anyway) was that the key thing to recognise about social media is that it is a fundamental change in the way we communicate, not in the actual physical act of communication being online rather than in person, or through the media, but the way we act and react. Communication in a social media world is not a one way street – listening, as well as talking, is a vital skill.
Too many businesses spend too much time talking and broadcasting and not enough time listening to their customers, seeing what they are doing, seeing what they want and engaging with them on that level.
In terms of convincing Channel Island’s businesses that they should be making more concerted efforts in this area, the presence of Nick Masters will have persuaded a lot of people. To see a big four accountancy firm advocating the use of social in their business plan was great, and Nick had some very positive things to say about the benefits of a social approach to communication, both for the business and for their 150,000 employees.
My favourite comment of the day came from Nick who said having a static website with no social integration and no strategy for engaging communities was like pitching a tent outside Disneyland and expecting people to just come out and play with you. Social media is about jumping in and getting involved, communicating with your peers and listening to what they have to say. If you understand them better, understand their motivations and expectations better, you can provide a better service to them in the long run.
Posted by Chris.
