10 Reasons Why Brands Refuse to Embrace Social Media

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Social media is useless! OK, we know it’s not useless, but many companies refuse to play in the social space. They feel the pressure to enquire because it’s the new shiny thing, but they are reluctant to engage. They want to talk, but the thought of listening doesn’t immediately add to the ROI question. Which means your spending time convincing them to play when they still haven’t understood the game. Because they don’t understand the game, the purpose becomes unclear and when the purpose is unclear  you never reach your desired goals.

Social media really isn’t that complicated. As Amy Mengel explains, “When you boil it down it’s about listening to your customers, being helpful by offering your knowledge and giving them interesting content to share and thereby advocate for you.” It’s pretty simple, but we continue to see brands refuse to engage and when they do, they fail quickly.

10 Reasons Why Brands Refuse to Embrace Social Media

1. They don’t understand it’s foundational elements
2. They don’t know to how measure their return on investment
3. They don’t want spend anything on this “experiment.”
4. The biggest question is, Who is going to do this?
5. They can’t see past the tools.
6. They don’t want to converse with their consumers.
7. They are afraid someone might say something negative about their brand.
8. If they can’t sell every time they engage with a consumer, than it has no value.
9. They don’t want to invest the time and energy.
10. They are reluctant to embrace the technology

However, when it’s embraced, brands such as Comcast, Zappos, Starbucks, Ford and Dell are convinced it adds value to their business goals and objectives. If they can do it, then your brand can as well. If you’re willing to listen, share and engage your customer, than your ready to begin building a presence in the social space.

What would you add to this list? How do you answer these questions? Leave a comment. I want to hear your feedback.

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Tagged as: brand, Marketing and Advertising, Social media