Social media: Getting buy-in from others

Ask any business about their biggest social media challenges and you’ll hear:

“Not enough time!”

“Creating original content!”

“Measuring ROI!”

But for others, the biggest challenge can often be convincing other people in the business that they should be investing time and money in social media in the first place. Whether that’s their MD or their peers, this can be quite a tough job so putting together a compelling case first time is key.

So here are some ideas to help you…

Social Media Facts

Facts and statistics are extremely powerful at very quickly getting people’s attention. By regularly exposing people to them, you will often find that they come to their own conclusion about a particular issue; you have simply provided them with unbiased information to subtly influence their decision-making process. Here are some great social media stats* that should make the most hardened of anti-social media heads turn:

• Twitter has 140 million active users who post 400 million tweets every single day
• Facebook’s weekly traffic is greater than Google’s
• YouTube is the world’s 2nd largest search engine
• Facebook has over 483 million daily active users
• 34% of marketers have generated leads using Twitter and 20% have closed deals
• 25% of search results are user-generated content

Seek out missed opportunities

Whether you’re active on social media or not, it’s likely that people will be talking about your brand anyway (if they’re not then that’s surely a worry in itself!).  You can’t prevent them from talking about your brand but you can be part of the conversation which puts you in a much stronger position.

So, start monitoring whether people are indeed already talking about your brand on social media. What are they saying? Is it positive or negative? Showcase missed opportunities where you could be getting involved in conversations and present these to your colleagues. Remind them that companies no longer have 100% control of their brands; the ‘people’ are increasingly taking the wheel.

Track your competitors

Likewise, monitor what people are saying about your competitors. Showcase what conversations they are having and any leads or purchases that result. Feeling ‘left behind your competitors’ is probably one of the most powerful drivers when it comes to adopting something new.

Want more tips?

Then download our ‘Beginner’s Guide to Social Media‘ which has loads more practical advice on getting buy-in from others, setting goals and objectives, sharing the workload, putting together a content plan and engaging your audience.

* Source: Mindjumpers