Social Media Fly in My Soup
During a recent Central PRSA panel discussion, I was asked about the “conversation threshold” in social media. That is, at what point should your organization pay attention to what’s being said about you online. It’s a good question.
Every social media presentation (and I’m just as guilty) includes the obligatory slides illustrating the meteoric growth of social content and sites. Yes nearly 100,000 YouTube videos are uploaded per day and yes, Twitter grew 1,400% in one year. There’s a stunning amount of user generated content and commentary being generated, no doubt about it.
But unlike big brands such as Nike, Starbucks and Honda, most small businesses/organizations across the country are NOT the subject of intense Twitter conversations and mock YouTube videos. You (fortunately) don’t have Facebook groups protesting your business practices, right. So why not lay low until a crisis occurs or some other “conversation threshold” has been crossed?
My answer? Don’t think QUANTITY, think RELEVANCE. Remember, it only takes one fly to ruin your soup. Say a person wrote a disparaging blog post about your company. Only you can decide what’s “relevant” what isn’t. Yes, should consider quantitative data such as the blog’s Technorati rating and inbound links, but consider qualitative factors such as:
- Familiarity – Is the blogger well-known and respected in your industry?
- Content Quality – Is the blog’s other content credible and thorough?
- Message – Is their commentary accurate or clearly off-base?
- Traffic – Is their blog a heavily trafficked site?
- Influence – Is this person well connected? How much damage can they cause?
- Comments – Are other people “piling on” to the discussion? Does anyone care?
- Viral Nature – Is this conversation being referred or linked to by other blogs/Twitter posts?
Quite often, one rogue blog post can be ignored as a fluke. But if you’re gut tells you that it could be relevant to your organization, you’re able to make a much more informed decision as to a response or remedy. But it MUST be a decision based on more than numbers alone.
And remember, if there’s a fly in your soup, he’s having a pretty bad day, too….
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