Your boss doesn’t want you to explain why social media is amazing. Your boss wants more results that make her look good. Your boss doesn’t care who I am. She wants you to excel at the tasks you’ve been assigned.
Are you trying to evangelize social media at your place? Prove it.
#Winning
Success is a powerful persuader. If you’re looking to say that social media will help your hotel, don’t show them the runaway success of the Roger Smith hotel in New York. Don’t show your floor manager how AJ Bombers in Milwaukee conquered the social media world. Show them your own victory.
What should you do? It’s up to you, and it’s up to you to really think through what this will mean. And do be warned: you could lose your job for it. (I haven’t brought up Bob in a while, but you would do well to go back and read what happens when rogue attempts at social media get punished.
But to win, show them your own trophies.
What Should You Do?
Bosses love examples. Morgan Johnston of JetBlue showed his boss how many people were talking about the competition on Twitter, and then what people were saying about JetBlue. A few minutes of watching the screen later, and JetBlue’s management team knew that they had to do something.
Bosses love clear plans. Saying “I want to tweet on behalf of the company” or “I think we need a Facebook page” won’t go very far. Troy Janish from American Family creates compelling presentations to show the management what the strategic outcomes of his business intentions for using Facebook will net the company in measurable results. As a result, they go for it.
Bosses need a sense of security. Explain your contingency and backup plans and “when things to wrong” plans in every bit as much detail as you talk about how amazing a Foursquare promotion will be. Without that, you won’t earn the trust of the leadership.
Prove It
Just because social media as a business tool is obvious to you doesn’t mean that your leadership team has been reading Mashable over your shoulder and tuning in to Six Pixels of Separation. They might still see only Angry Birds and Farmville.
Bring your own pudding and hide the proof in there.