Bob (not his real name) owns a busy, independent retail sports equipment business. His customers range in age from under 20s to those over 70. His loyal customers have brought him a good deal of repeat business and referrals during the 25 years he has owned his store. The customers like the staff and get along well with them.
What Bob does not know is that some of his customers actually like his staff better than they like him. Sure, he knows his stuff, but the staff are eager to interact with customers. They spend time talking to the customers and getting to know them. Bob is too busy to spend more than a minimum amount of time with each customer. He thinks his staff are wasting time if they spend too long chatting with customers, when they could be stocking shelves, tidying up or cleaning. To Bob, a transaction with a customer means he has a relationship with them. Bob does not understand the value of building relationships (beyond transactions) with his customers and getting to know them.
That can be bad news for any entrepreneur, but when the staff are active social media users and the business owner is not, it can spell disaster.
Bob has a personal Facebook account, but does not accept friend requests from customers. After all Facebook is social and he doesn't socialize with his customers. He uses LinkedIn, but does not log in very often. He does not understand Twitter and does not see the point of it. Bob has low social media literacy. In fact, Bob doesn't think social media matters that much
The staff, on the other hand, have a more open approach to it. A number of customers have connected with his staff via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Social staff cultivate relationships with customers
This creates a situation where customers are developing relationships of their own with the staff that exist outside the walls of the store. They share, Tweet, re-Tweet, comment on photos and statuses. These relationships do not only exist on line though.
Staff get invited to customer-initiated events such as birthday parties, BBQs and other events to which people might invite co-workers or business colleagues. The staff are developing off-line relationships with customers, too. This is otherwise known as networking.
This makes customers happy. They feel like they have a personal connection to the business because of their relationship to the staff. Customers keep going back to the store.
Bob is happy because business is booming.
The staff, however, are not happy.
Misguided management stifles social staff
Bob insists that his staff play by his rules. He sets a time limit of 2 minutes per customer interaction. He puts an egg timer at the front counter to remind staff of the new 2-minute rule. He wants his staff focussed on their duties, not on frivolous chatting.
He forbids them to talk about anything that is not related to store business or the products they carry.
Bob does not realize that the lines between business and personal life have blurred in the 21st century. He does not understand that social media has challenged us to accept the complexity of human identity that includes work, family, volunteer activities, school and personal interests.
The staff, who are all active, social people under the age 30 do not understand Bob's "old school" management approach. They get their work done. Often, they'll even stay late (without extra pay) to catch up on things that need to be finished up. The
A few staff members try to comply with the new rule.
Mary, however thinks the new rule is rubbish. She carries on chatting as usual with customers. Within a week, Mary is fired.
Bob instructs the rest of the staff to not speak of the incident with customers and to carry on with business as usual.
Connected customers care to know
Customers notice a change at the business. Some ask a few questions and get sheepish looks and evasive answers from staff.
The staff are savvy with social media and do not post anything on social networks that might be detrimental to their own careers. But customers are smart people.
Those customers who have relationships with the staff on social media send private messages and direct tweets, asking what happened. When asked directly and privately, shielded from their bosses watchful eye at work, the staff share the story that Mary was fired for non-compliance with Bob's new rule of "2-minutes per customer".
The result: customers are unhappy with Mary's dismissal. They are even more unhappy that Bob has set a rule to limit the amount of time staff can spent talking with them. After all, if it weren't for customers, Bob would not have a store in the first place.
Business dwindles and Bob can't figure out why. His staff keep their head down and do as they're told while they are on shift at the store. Quietly, and outside work hours, they continue to network and start looking for new jobs. Within a year, all the staff have new jobs.
5 Steps business owners can take to boost their social media literacy (and boost business)
- Understand that relationships with customers, staff, suppliers, distributors and other business contacts extend beyond the walls of your commercial real estate. Whether you agree with the idea of social media or not, millions of people around the globe use social networks every day. Pleading ignorance or saying you are too old are unacceptable excuses in today's world. If you own a business, social media literacy is a must.
- Engage with customers on social media. Accept customers as friends and connections. If you're not comfortable with your customers knowing you your social contacts and family are, use the "list" feature of Facebook to create a "customer" category. Set privacy options to limit what you share with customers. Connect with customers on Twitter and LinkedIn, too.
- Have a Facebook page for your business. Invite customers to "like" your page and offer an incentive to do so. Include content-rich articles. Have contents. Offer coupons and bonuses to Facebook fans. Create an online culture that will help customers love you, your products, services and business.
- Connect with staff online. There are differing opinions out there among human resources professionals about whether managers should connect with staff on social networks. In the same way that you can create a separate lists of friends on Facebook for customers, limiting what they can access, you can do the same with your staff. The point is to create, then cultivate, healthy relationships with your staff that will build trust on and off line.
- Develop a social media policy with your staff. Notice that did not read "for your staff". Engage staff in conversations about social media. If you are not entirely convinced of why social media is useful for a business, ask your staff to help you. Rather than imposing rules on them about what they can and can not post and how they must or must not interact with others, instead engage them in conversations about what makes sense for them, for you and for the business.
If you are not minding your own business in terms of social media, no one else is going to do it for you; and that is bad for business. Make this your year to take action, build your social media literacy and leverage that knowledge to build your business.