Rochester Business Journal: Event speaker to explore keys of social media

By Mary Stone

Embracing social media is as vital to sur­viving in business as the Internet became more than a decade ago.
To that end, “Evolve or die” is the mes­sage that media consultant James Burnes will give to the audience at the Rochester Busi­ness Journal’s 12th Best of the Web breakfast next Friday. A section on the finalists for the annual competition starts on page 17.

For the last 10 years, Burnes has been creating Internet blueprints and online mar­keting strategies for corporate clients. To­day, to stay relevant, he said, those strate­gies must include emerging media such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

The hurdle for companies, large and small, is not the expense of communicat­ing with customers through these chan­nels, Burnes said. It is the fear of engaging with people and reconnecting with people from the past.
Being able to take a critical look at one­self is likewise paramount. People have to determine if what they have to say is interesting, Burnes said. Social media, he underscores, are not the place for the tra­ditional hard sell.
He compares companies’ use of social media to going to a party. The goal for an organization is being the most memorable guest there—not the most annoying.

“When we go to a par­ty, we can find someone at the center of the room talking, and people are around him listening and nodding their heads. Then there’s another guy at the party who’s talking a lot, and everyone wants to avoid being around him because he’s say­ing too much,” Burnes said. “Then there’s the guy who’s saying nothing and just lis­tening.”

In online social networking, organiza­tions have the opportunity to present what is interesting from different people and different specialties within the company. Relying on one person to do all the online networking is a mistake, he said.

Photo courtesy of James Burnes James Burnes says that in using social media, a company should try to be the most memo­rable guest at a party, not the guy who’s most annoying because he won’t stop talking. A successful strategy makes each department of the company a “thought leader.”

“The reality is that there are different audiences who need different information, so you need to be able to diversify your talent,” Burnes said. “At MediaSauce, we try to look at how do we identify and show­case talent within the organization to speak on these things, and then help them carry those stories to the world.”

Indiana-based MediaSauce is the In­ternet strategy consultancy where Burnes serves as vice president of development and strategy.

Companies need a plan to ap­proach social networking, and developing one means surveying the territory,
identifying who within the organization is relevant to it and what needs the or­ganization has, he said.

For example, the goal of social network­ing for a sales department is different from a human resources department, Burnes said. A company needs a set of tactics for each department’s goals.
Whatever the specific goals, the ultimate objective for every department, he said, is to become a thought leader within its on­line channel of social networking.

Establishing a company’s online blue­print is one part of the strategy, but to ex­ecute it companies—specifically execu­tives—have to overcome their fear of deal­ing with customers.

“Whether you’re a CEO or a C-level or B-level executive at a small organization or a very large international company, we’re finding that at the executive level, there is a fundamental fear of interacting with customers,” Burnes said.

Traditionally, marketing communica­tions, he explained, dealt primarily with competitors and the mass media. In that setting, the worst-case scenario for a com­pany was a dissatisfied customer talking to friends and relatives about an experience.

Online that circle of friends and relatives spreads through multiple platforms to per­fect strangers seeking information about a company. Instead of 30 people hearing about a negative or positive company expe­rience, Burnes said, a single customer can reach thousands of other customers.

Today, the customer has more power than ever, and company executives would do well to address it rather than ignore it, Burnes said.

The 12th Annual Best of the Web Awards breakfast takes place Feb. 13 from 7:45 to 9:45 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency Rochester. More information and reserva­tions are available at www.rbjdaily.com or at 546-8303.
mstone@rbj.net / 585-546-8303

Volume 24, Number 46 www.RBJDaily.com February 6, 2009