Dive into
the trades on the topic of social media adoption and the read is confusingly
mixed.

Surveys say it’s a priority for corporate
marketers with spending expected to jump this year and beyond.  Other research points to interest, yet a lack of
investment in social media marketing programs because of unproven ROI.

I live in
the trenches of social media adoption as I’m charged with selling comprehensive
programs to senior corporate executives. 
Unlike the mixed message from industry surveys and pundit banter, my
experience has been remarkably consistent.

One set of
prospects are intrigued, yet have failed to engage in social networks in any
organized and meaningful fashion because it is not consistent with their
corporate culture.  These “slow adopters”
are comfortable resting on the sidelines until there is a more extensive
portfolio of best practices and lessons learned.

A second
group of organizations have followed a bag of tactics methodology to integrate
social media into their communications program. 
There may be a Facebook fan page. 
A Twitter account may have been set up. 
Someone in the organization has a blog.

While this
is certainly an initial step, these companies typically lack a defined
strategy, an alignment with corporate goals and any type of measurable
benchmarks for success.

Plus, it’s
often a junior member of the corporate marketing team tagged with social media
responsibilities.  Their intentions are
admirable, however they fall short on strategic credentials and decision-making
authority.

There is
little doubt that we are still very much in the early adopter phase of
corporate use of social media marketing in a professional and disciplined
manner.  This immaturity is
understandable because there are significant risks when an executive champions
something new and unproven. 

If a social
media marketing program misses the mark or (equally distressing) is perceived
internally to be a waste of resources, the executive sponsor tends to be in a
world of corporate hurt.  They may even
find themselves ushered out of job and into the worst unemployment environment
in three decades.

For most,
the horror of social media failure is too great to confront.

At
Strategic Communications Group (Strategic), we have been fortunate to stumble
across a group of corporate marketers (http://gotostrategic.com/site/index.php/site/cases/)
who savior the opportunity to prove new ways of promotion.  We’ve found this elite class at Microsoft, British
Telecom (BT), BearingPoint, Monster, TANDBERG, Inmarsat and Avnet.

They cast
aside the safe play for what they believe is the right thing to do to help
their employer more successfully compete in the market.

Social
media marketing remains an innovator’s game. 
The business case for adoption is compelling though because of the
measurable tie to lead generation and other sales benchmarks.  It will be a slow adoption curve, however I
do anticipate more marketers will think it through, raise their handle and
embrace what’s possible.