This chapter looks at how to make a case for social media to C-level executives. It also examines ways to create and execute a change management programme that will influence employees to ensure that they are fully on-board an organization's social media train.

It is no secret that social media has fundamentally changed the way businesses operate. For some the integration has been easy; for others it has been a struggle.

As those who have successfully adopted social media will know, to get a workforce interested and active in social media, organizations must do a lot more than create a social media policy and run ad hoc training sessions on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Organizations must change mindsets and will often have to adapt the existing company culture to be more open, transparent and flexible. This requires an effective and extensive change management programme.

Change management and transformation processes used to be a discipline for people implementing change at large-scale corporate companies. Now it is fast becoming a skill public relations professionals need to effectively get a team, department or an entire organization to embrace social media.

Using change management principles to increase social media adoption

The basic premise of change management is to influence people to alter their behaviour – a practice familiar to most public relations professionals – and adopt new practices, tools and ways of working.

According to Kurt Lewin, a psychologist known for his organizational behaviour theory, to deploy a change management programme effectively, organizations need to “unfreeze” old attitudes, values and beliefs; “change” and then “refreeze” new attitudes, values and beliefs.²⁵¹

This all sounds straightforward. However, many companies struggle to complete such programmes. According to comprehensive research conducted by Dr John Kotter, a former professor at the Harvard Business School, author and consultant, “70% of all major change efforts in organizations fail”.²⁵²

Failure can be a result of a whole host of problems, not least the inability to take a holistic approach and roll out change at all levels of an organization, ranging from individual to departmental and company level.

In the 1990s Dr Kotter wrote a book called Leading Change that many leaders still use and reference to this day. The book outlines the following eight simple principles of human and organizational behaviour.²⁵³ The principles apply in all manner of organizations whether it is producing Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) or providing a consultancy service.

• Establishing a sense of urgency
• Creating the guiding coalition
• Developing a vision and strategy
• Communicating the change vision
• Empowering broad-based action
• Generating short-term wins
• Consolidating gains and producing more change
• Anchoring new approaches in the culture.

It is useful to apply Dr Kotter's principles when implementing a change management programme for social media adoption.

• Make sure the social media strategy addresses a fundamental business need. Highlighting the business problem makes it easy for people to support a new strategy. Wanting to use and be present on social media because a competitor is isn't a worthy reason for engagement.
• Commit to realistic timelines. Different people will have different reactions to the proposed change programme; inspiring and motivating people to get on-board may take longer with some than others. Similarly, some employees may require more training than their colleagues. All of this needs to be taken into consideration.
• Set up your taskforce. Identify early adopters from all tiers within an organization – senior executives, middle management and junior staff – and make them part of processes from the beginning. They will help to influence their peers' opinion of the programme.
• Communicate the vision in one sentence. Painting a clear picture of the future will help motivate employees to take part in the transition process. It is a lot easier for them to help a change agent or team achieve their mission if they know what it is.
• Don't make it a “top-down” approach. Get buy-in from members of the taskforce and anyone of any level with an interest in social media. The change programme needs to be shaped by people who are interested in the subject and willing to help drive the programme forward. Existing champions of social media respond well to someone dictating the programme and are likely to lose interest in the project shortly after it has been introduced.
• Ensure detractors are involved in the transition process. All feedback should be welcome including negative feedback. By involving detractors in the process there is a chance an agent can convert them from a detractor to an advocate. If they don't, at least the agent will understand their concerns and be better armed to address their negative influence.
• Tailor communication. An organizational change management programme will affect some employees more than others. An agent or team should create and communicate different messages for different audiences – a classic PR principle.
• Remove organizational barriers and confront troublesome employees. Barriers to change come in many forms. For example, some change agents find they need to work with the IT department to allow certain sites to be accessed and software to be installed. Other agents find people can be their biggest challenge. Both problems need to be addressed head on and resolved to ensure limitations to the project are as small as possible.
• Showcase visible support. People talk to each other and are influenced by each other. Every person that supports the change is progress. Ask the employees who support the programme to voice their support by creating a post for your company intranet or internal blog.
• Take baby steps. Adopt an agile approach. Don't overwhelm employees with change. Launch or integrate one component at a time. Solicit feedback and allow that feedback to influence the change programme and how future components of the project are rolled out. This will show employees that the agent or team is taking their feedback on board and will make them feel part of the transition process.
• Repetition is key. Repeating the vision and keeping people up to date with progress of the project is integral to ensuring everyone stays engaged with the project. If the project is going well, resist the urge to take it easy. Effective change management requires relentless repetition and constant communication right up until the end of the programme.
• Make the change part of the organization's DNA. The transition process needs to be embedded in the culture. Employees need to see that the organization is taking, and will continue to take, the social media project seriously.
• Accept it will be hard. Change is difficult and some take to it easier than others. Change agents have to understand this and help people along the journey. Praise them for good progress and continuously hold their hands to ensure everyone gets to the next milestone.
• Celebrate success. Once everyone crosses the finish line then everyone should do a lap of honour, together. Celebrating as a team or organization will help everyone understand that they played a part in making a difference.

Departments that must be influenced

In addition to the above, anyone attempting to integrate social media into an organization usually has to influence the legal and HR departments. The very nature of these professions means that they are used to fixed boundaries and discipline.

A change agent's role is to outline the opportunities and risks involved with social media and encourage the respective departments to create new policies that are flexible enough to allow employees freedom when it comes to social media but strict enough to ensure that anyone who intentionally brings the company into disrepute will face the appropriate disciplinary process. There is a fine balance to be had.

Making a case for social media

If a change management programme is successful then an organization is likely to reap the benefits of social media. But how does a change agent get C-level executives to understand the advantages of social media and give them the green light, and sometimes budget, needed for the change management programme in the first place?

Just like the change management programme itself, the case needs to be planned, robust, strategic and well executed. According to Tim Creasey, Chief Development Officer at Prosci, an organization that describes itself as “the world leader in research and content creation in the field of Change Management”, if you are not talking about achieving results when putting your case forward, then you are having the wrong conversation.

C-level executives always respond to figures, so a natural assumption would be to gather the necessary metrics. However, it is impossible to predict the return on investment of social media before a company has effectively and whole-heartedly engaged. A change agent can talk about the cost savings but it cannot accurately predict how social media will impact the bottom line.

Therefore, the case should be inextricably connected to organizational success and focus more on strategic goals than financial benefits. Strategic reasons for getting involved with social media include improving relationships with stakeholders as well as improving search engine rankings and reducing customer service costs (particularly important if the organization in question is a service organization).

A taste of what is to come

Getting buy-in from a line manager and gaining the approval to conduct a small-scale trial should definitely form part of a business case for social media.

Firstly, it is useful to define the purpose of engaging with social media and who the target audience is. Next, conduct research into where the target groups hang out and how they behave online. Pause and listen to the tone and the topic of conversation for a while before starting to directly engage.

It is worth making sure you measure the trial effectively (see Chapter 30) and collect all the necessary data and insight. This allows you to focus on tangible results and helps you showcase outcomes when you are looking to present a case for how the project may scale.

Reporting back on sentiment analysis, engagement activities and brand recognition should all be of interest to a chief marketing officer (CMO) or a chief executive (CEO) who understands and values public relations and an organization's reputation.

Remember to keep it simple. Meaningless stats and fancy charts are likely to irritate executives who deal with numbers on a daily basis and are more interested in the bottom line than how many followers an organization has on Twitter.

If a CEO is interested in the popularity numbers then it is important to remind them that the organization is investing in social media for the long-term gain. Short-term wins, such as the number of Twitter followers or Facebook likes, should not be how the company measures engagement with social media.

A trial will give senior executives a taste of what type of results engagement may reap and will demonstrate that the change agent or team is committed to the cause and is knowledgeable on the subject matter.

Statistics for the boss

Whilst it is difficult to provide management with figures about the financial benefits of engaging with social media, it is possible to provide them with statistics that will help executives understand the importance and benefits of engagement.

According to a recent report by Social Media Examiner,²⁵⁴ 85% of marketers say the top benefit of social media marketing is increased exposure, followed by increasing website traffic (69%) and providing marketplace insight (65%). Furthermore, over half of marketers who have been using social media for three years state that it has helped improve sales.

Finally, a recent whitepaper from Sysomos²⁵⁵ revealed that 83% of business-to-business leaders communicated that they are using social media and 66% have been doing so for more than a year. Finally, 89% believe social media will increase in value for their company over the next year and 58% expect the increase to be significant.

Change is inevitable

Everyone knows that those who embrace and respond well to change achieve competitive advantage. Social media presents a wealth of opportunities for companies and half-heartedly playing around on Twitter does not count as a successful social media strategy.

Those serious about reaping the rewards need to commit to the change programme and make sure the seats are full on their social media train.

Biography

Gemma Griffiths (@gemgriff) is managing director of public relations consultancy The Crowd &I. Throughout her career Gemma has crafted and executed PR campaigns for a wide range of clients including Motorola, Adobe and LG, Wikimedia UK (local organization behind Wikipedia in the UK) and start-up companies with disruptive technologies such as Rebtel (mobile VoIP) and iZettle (mobile payments). Gemma runs the informal social media training workshops for the CIPR throughout the summer and is a presenter on the live web show, CIPR TV.