A thought occurred to me today as I was surfing the internet…I wonder how many people working within corporate social media maintain their own reputations online? I mean, it’s one thing to worry about the reputation of the company you’re working for, but what about yourself?

I came across an interesting website when I was reading my RSS feeds: it’s called Webmii and allows you to search for your presence online. Try it…I came across some websites I’d forgotten I’d subscribed to in the past! More importantly, I was relieved to notice there wasn’t anything there for me to feel concerned about in terms of the image I was portraying. I really feel it’s important for people, particularly those in corporate PR, to ensure that the image they project to the rest of the world, is in keeping with the image they represent as a member of their work team.

The trouble I’ve come across, is my propensity to dive straight into whatever new social media outlet happens to come about (with extensive reading beforehand, I might add!). So I tend to have bits of information floating around the web that I don’t feel entirely comfortable with everyone and his dog knowing about. Nothing to write home about, but still…

It just means that I need to draw a fine line between being involved with the various aspects of social media, and ensuring my privacy is still maintained. somewhat of an oxymoron I realize, but manageable!

©2010 kimberlyjohans.com. All Rights Reserved.

One of the first things I thought of when choosing this path of social media corporate PR was the need to find someone more experienced than myself to guide me. Easier said than done…the field is so new (at least in the sense of talking years, rather than decades), that we’re almost all still at the learning stage.

I’ve come to appreciate both the good and bad sides of that scenario. It’s an interesting position to find yourself in, where you’re the one having to explain to your friends or colleagues, the nature of the “business” and how to make the most of social media. On the other hand, it feels like treading water while attempting to reach the end of the pool. Sure, there are mentors for those wanting to get ahead in social media, or in public relations. Certainly in corporate public relations! But try combining the three elements and I’m clutching at thin air.

I’m not suggesting nobody exists; certainly I would imagine there to be a fair number of mentors out there. I’m just having a little difficulty finding one. Which is a little ironic considering how easy it is to find anything you want these days!

I did the Google search and couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for. I did a search on Amazon to see if perhaps a book had been written on the subject…zilch. So I’ve decided to continue treading water for the moment, in the hopes that someone miraculously tweets, pokes or connects to me.

©2010 kimberlyjohans.com. All Rights Reserved.

I’m guessing one of the main reasons why social media doesn’t have as strong a foothold in the corporate world as it would like, is the difficulty in defining the return on investment (ROI). Well, some companies have been able to deliver more successfully than others, the most obvious being Dell. This post at Mashable reflects the technology company’s victory over social media ROI’s, demonstrating its revenue of $ 6.5 million via its Twitter presence.

Meanwhile, Twitter seems to have developed the means of accruing revenue for itself, with deals from both Google and Microsoft, which allows them to access Twitter’s feeds for their search engines. So, if a behemoth like Dell can show ROI’s for its social media use, and social media can make a profit (no need to even go into Facebook’s profits!), then surely other corporates should be able to justify the use of social media to management?

If only it were that easy…it’s one thing to have a physical product to sell, like Dell does. It’s another when your product is difficult to quantify, such as skills and ideas. Besides, how do companies decide to what extent their jump in revenue (assuming there is one), can be attributed to their social media presence?

The bright side, as far as I’m concerned, is that there is relatively little cost in setting up social media as part of your PR strategy. Cost only comes into it when that strategy isn’t thought through well enough and something goes wrong…

©2010 kimberlyjohans.com. All Rights Reserved.

Google the terms “corporate” and “social media” and you’re sure to get several examples showing how corporations are using social media. And yet, for every Dell, Starbucks, GM or Cisco, you’ve got a company that holds both hands up and makes the sign of a cross as if to stave away the bad influence of the platform on their brand.

Is it a case of you lose if you snooze, or do those unwilling to test the waters have a valid point? Let’s give an example for each: Regarding the former, do a search on social media and you’ll see over 208 million results returned. Wikipedia lists more than 150 listings of social media sites. Facebook, Del.icio.us and Twitter just scratch the surface of it all! And when it comes to numbers, Twitter at last count, had well over 22 million unique visitors, while Facebook boasts more than 128 million users.

Flipping the coin though shows several failures in the social media cause. I read this article on 2009’s top causalities. Most recently, Eurostar’s necessity to switch its social media from marketing to crisis communications is probably every corporate’s worst nightmare. Just look at this PR rep’s take on the whole debacle.

So is there a balance to be had? Well, a corporate could get onto the social media ladder, but remain on the bottom rung, ready to leap off at the first red flag being raised. They could throw themselves into the fray with eagerness and crossed fingers. Or they could just say no and watch other brands increase their revenue, popularity and presence exponentially. because in the end, no matter how one feels about social media, it’s here to stay. And it will influence, one way or another. The key is to maintain firm control.

©2010 kimberlyjohans.com. All Rights Reserved.