Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Social Media Frustrations

I'm frustrated today. My office is working on a Social Media campaign and my boss STILL does not get the difference between Facebook, Twitter, a blog and Linked In. He keeps claiming he knows all about Twitter, but does not. He still does not realize he has to contribute to this effort, he is the one with the contacts in our industry, not me. I can only access a small number of contact and clients.  He has been in the business for 35 years with the Rolodex to prove it.
I've arranged three meetings with individuals who help companies and businesses with Social Media and they all pretty much present the same information and the same business plan and they are all within the same price range.  My boss is under the impression that these folks will do it all and he just has to sit back and get the leads, etc.  He just does not realized he has to be proactive in this venture as well.  The last meeting we had with a consultant he pretty much kept telling the consultant how great he was in his field and not answering the consutlants questions about the business.  Annoying, embarrassing and frustrating.

Today he sent me yet another link to an article that states he should be on Facebook, Twitter and Linked In.  My response was go set up your Linked In profile and I'll steal information from that for the Company Facebook page.

I know alot of the issues my boss is having with Social Media is because he does not fully grasp what it is and how it works.  He still does not understand that Twitter limits you to 140 characters and he needs to us it to link to his web site or the company blog.  That is where he can wax poetic. I know he is not as comfortable as he claims to be with these new technologies.  Ugh, I just feel lik we have the same discussion over and over and I write the same response over and over to the same questions.

2 comments:

MW said...

I work in PR and am in charge of my organization's social media, and I often feel like my bosses don't really get it. Part of what has helped is sitting down and taking the time to SHOW them what it's all about. Find some similar companies or competitors and show your boss what they're doing. Don't just send him the links-- sit down with him and walk him through: Twitter is 140 characters and is good for X; LinkedIn is good for Y; stuff like that. That will help crystallize it for him and hopefully make your job easier.

CJ said...

What comes easy enough for me, doesn't always come easy for everyone else. I work in SEO at my agency and feel like we, as a team, constantly have to prove ourselves and our worth to the company. So I know where you're coming from. When the top boss doesn't quite understand something, they might write it off like it's not beneficial, but really it is something they should learn.