Why Can't Some Companies Do Social Media?

This article about the "tweet process" of President Cheese got me thinking about a few social media-related conversations I've been a part of in recent weeks.  Whether it's literally true or not, it really sheds some light (for me, anyway) on why social media seems to work better for some companies (and people, for that matter) than others.

I don't claim to be an expert in social media.  I've been doing it consistently (some might say with annoying consistency) for a number of years, I'm fairly active on Facebook and Twitter, and I've recently started using Instagram in earnest. I don't know all the ins-and-outs, rarely get double-digit likes or retweets, and have no interest in adopting Pinterest or any of the other dozen or so major social media outlets.

The one thing I do well, though, is engage with my followers.

This, however, is the one area in which most companies (and again, some people) fall flat on their face - the engagement aspect of it all.

Those companies that utilize Facebook and Twitter, et. al., as a means to disseminate information only are missing the "social" aspect of social media.

One of my favorite Twitter accounts that does it right is Taco Bell. HuffPo thinks so, as well, and even wrote about it recently, as did BuzzFeed a while back.  There are a number of lessons, in fact, that can be derived from Taco Bell's Twitter feed alone:

1. Have fun.
2. Don't worry about staying "on message."
3. Interact with people, both proactively and reactively.
4. Have fun.

I realize that most companies suffer from two sometimes-debilitating conditions that keep this from happening - not wanting to been seen in a bad light, and hiring someone else to manage their social media presence.

The second one is purely understandable, especially for smaller companies that don't necessarily have the resources to bring that sort of thing in-house. It's important in these cases to use a third party social marketing management firm that "gets" your business, and portrays the personality you want to express on social media. If you're happy with just pushing information out there and hoping it catches someone's attention, then more power to you. It's important to note, though, that that's not how most people engage with social media.

The first one is not so easy to overcome, but it's the very thing that keeps many businesses from fully utilizing social media marketing to its fullest advantage. The fear of making a misstep - of tweeting or posting the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time is a valid concern, and should not be taken lightly. However, it's important to remember that people engage with things that interest them, and sometimes a little controversy never hurts - there's some truth to the old adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity.