1. 1
Top Social Media
Objections/Concerns
& How to Successfully Mitigate Them
Monday, April 4, 2011

2. 2
Monday, April 4, 2011

3. 3
Monday, April 4, 2011

4. Objection #4: 4
Social media is
great for
companies
trying to reach
teens... but our
customers
aren’t using it.
Monday, April 4, 2011

5. The average age of
users on every
major social
network... over 35.
Women outnumber
men on nearly
every social
network and social
media site.
5
Monday, April 4, 2011

6. 6
The Marketing Funnel
Monday, April 4, 2011

7. Objection #3:
People hide behind
social media as a
tool to be mean,
rude and critical of
our organization.
7
Monday, April 4, 2011

8. You’re right! And they are going to complain whether
you are listening and responding or not.
Social Media is a Convergence of PR, Marketing
and Customer Service 8
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9. 9
Monday, April 4, 2011

10. Objection #2:
It takes too much time &
staff expertise that we
just don’t have.
10
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11. get training, get help, dedicate resources and commit
11
Monday, April 4, 2011

12. What not to do:
- Don’t hand your social media over to an intern
- Don’t be afraid to try stuff out
- Don’t jump in without trying it for yourself with
personal accounts first.
12
Monday, April 4, 2011

13. Objection #1: You can’t measure
social media, so how will we
know if it’s worth the time/
money/effort/angst?
13
Monday, April 4, 2011

14. The Trinity of Measurement
Interest
Attitudes
Action 14
Monday, April 4, 2011

15. Measuring Interest
- Web traffic
- Page views
- Click-thrus
- Blog or other mentions
- Downloads
- Followers on Twitter
- Friends on Facebook
15
Monday, April 4, 2011

16. Measuring Attitudes
- Tonality of comments and posts
- Inclusion of key messages in content
- Share of conversation
- Measure of relationships
- “Likes” via Facebook
16
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17. Measuring Actions
- Interactions
- Revenue raised
- Items sold
- Purchase intent
- New sales leads
- Subscribers
17
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18. 18
Ready for the
next step?
Prepare your argument
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19. 19
1. Start Listening
+ Monitor what is being said online
+ About your company
+ About your competitors
+ About your market
+ Don’t react yet; gather information
+ Look for trends
+ See who is participating
+ Get a feel for what’s happening
Monday, April 4, 2011

20. 2. Align with Your 20
Organization’s Goals
+ Choose one of your organization's major objectives to
address
+ No formal objectives? Articulate some: “Increase
sales,” “Increase market share,” “Reduce costs”
+ Determine how social media could help fulfill the
objective
+ Online-only discounts -> Increased sales
+ Passionate customers -> Increased market share
+ Online discussion -> Lower support costs
Monday, April 4, 2011

21. 3. Create a Clear, 21
Actionable Proposal
+ Develop a plan for a pilot project
+ Simple, low-cost, focused
+ Finite duration
+ Measurable results
+ Create a one-page proposal
+ Goals
+ Costs and resources (including time)
+ Schedule
+ How you’ll measure results
Monday, April 4, 2011

22. Ideas for Pilot 22
Projects
+ Facebook fan page
+ Twitter account to respond to comments/criticisms
+ Internal-only “twitter” or collaboration
+ Yammer & Teambox
+ Blog -- especially special-purpose or short-term
blog
+ Twitter contest (need really good prize plus follow-
through plan)
+ Internal-use wiki
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23. 23
4. Anticipate Objections
+ Prepare to answer questions
& address concerns
+ Risks to the organization
+ Past experiences and how this differs
+ Organizational culture
+ Don’t include them in the proposal!
+ Put on a separate page for your reference
Monday, April 4, 2011

24. 24
Common Objections/
Questions
+ It’s all people saying what they had for lunch.
+ Our customers aren’t online.
+ What if someone writes something bad?
+ Who has time for this stuff?
+ What if it doesn’t work?
+ This needs to go through
Marketing/Customer Support/Legal/etc.
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25. 25
5. Make Your Case
+ Present in a short, face-to-face meeting
+ Let her/him ask questions
+ Be ready with answers
+ Admit what you don't know
+ Uncover the hurdles
+ “If I can address that concern,
would you say yes?”
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26. 26
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27. 27
Fallback Plan
+ Send boss to our virtual workshop:
Social Media: What Every Executive Needs to Know
(& your employees already do know!)
+ email lauren@socialmediasolutionsllc.com for more
information
Monday, April 4, 2011

28. 28
Contact me
+ Lauren Candito
+ Social Media Solutions (www.SocialMediaSolutionsLLC.com)
+ lauren@socialmediasolutionsllc.com
+ @sms_connect on Twitter
Monday, April 4, 2011