CEO’s and Their Dilemma With SMM

Occasionally, when I get the opportunity to promote and explain Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to people, I will get to talk to some  CEO’s in different fields and discuss the great opportunities SMM and SEM can generate to their businesses.  To my surprise, there is one question that is common to most CEO’s: “why do I need to change?”

This repeated question, which I am sure most of you heard at least once in your professional career, made me conclude that the vast majority of people are not aware of the true power of  SMM and SEM, and hence would not know why should they integrate these marketing techniques into their marketing plan, or even better, make it a default!

There are a few reasons why CEO’s should seriously consider SMM/SEM as part of their marketing plan:

  1. SMM can save you money- by choosing to communicate with your customers via Twitter, Facebook,  LinkedIn and other SMM tools, you can actually reduce your expenses on printed newsletters, brochures, billboard ads, and other useless Marketing 1.0 techniques.
  2. It gives you bigger “ears” to listen to you customers- When you use Marketing 1.0 to reach your customers, all you really do is “yelling” and pushing your message. This is annoying! Furthermore,  I can assure you that your customer is not going to stop at 6:00am at the train stop to read your message. And even if he or she does, how would you know what they really think? SMM can help you create a “bridge” between you and your customer.
  3. What do you have to lose?-  Nothing! If you are a small business, or a small department, most tools and strategies are free of charge! Even better, these tools are more effective and efficient than your multi-million dollars marketing plan.
  4. Do not be afraid to dare- I always think that the only thing you should regret in life are the the risks you never dared to take. As a CEO, your job is to lead forward. SMM is new, intimidating (to some), and growing faster than expected. All this should not stop you from daring, and the sooner you start the better your organization will become in engaging its customers and answering their problems.

Remember, if you do not do it your competitor probably sees it, and by that I mean your competitor is already a step ahead of you. Does this should be your motivation to start?  Could be, but your true motivation are your customers, and if you read the papers, and listen to the “buzz” out there, you probably already know that you are one step behind.

About Itai

Thank you for reading my Blog! Let's connect on Twitter as well: @ItaiBoublil.
This entry was posted in Inbound Internet Marketing. Bookmark the permalink.

facebook comments:

  • http://PullnotPush.com/about Dan Ronken

    I think the hesitation is starting to wane with most companies. One of the biggest challenges CEO’s and other executives have is trying to figure out how to measure this stuff.
    The interesting thing is a lot of companies say, ‘we know we are wasting half of our marketing budget on strategies that don’t work,’ the problem is we don’t know which half.’ Btw, that’s not mine. I borrowed that.

  • http://www.ItaiBoublil.com Itai

    Dan,
    I liked the quote you provided, “we do not know which half”. Interesting.
    I am sure a lot of CEO’s are adapting to the change, and thus willing to move forward with their traditional thinking. However, there are still some (like the ones I dealt and still dealing with) that still see it as something that is “too daring”.

    It is very frustrating, but the way I look at it is this: if they did not change after I talked to them, so that means I failed to deliver the message correctly. Maybe a few more webinars, and more posts on your blog will change that :)

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention CEO's and Their Dilemma With SMM | ItaiBoublil.com -- Topsy.com