Why are a lot of brands still so old school?

Oct 27, 2008 by Dirk Singer

Over on Social Media Today, (spotted thanks to Trevor Young) Michael Brito has an excellent post which asks “why do some companies choose to ignore social media?”

Michael cites a number of studies, including one which says that only 15% of Fortune 500 companies do something as simple as maintain a blog.

Similarly, as we found in the summer, very few FTSE 100 companies here in the UK have even registered a Twitter account.

Michael lists a number of stats and facts in his article about why companies should be engaged, and we’ve similarly published our top ten list for sceptics.

So rather than look at why brands should have social media programmes, I wanted to look at three reasons why maybe they don’t:

1 – Better the devil you know

A recession should be a perfect time to recalibrate your marketing effort and ditch a few things that no longer work as well as they should, right?

Actually I can think of two experiences that point to the opposite being true. In the summer we lost a client because one investor pulled his spend due to the threat from digital competitors. Rather than investing in our (online) client, he put it back into his core business.

Meanwhile, recently another client was looking to put its last £100,000 ($150,000) into traditional advertising, as opposed to the solution we put forward of a mix of digital, media relations and direct to consumer.

Those examples might seem counter-intuitive, but psychologically they make sense. Most budget decision makers are not generation Y digital natives. Like me they grew up with traditional marketing. Sometimes they’ve made an effort to learn about social media, but more often than not they haven’t.

So in the current climate, a lot of brands will pull down the shutters and stick to what they know with the reasoning of ‘now is not the time to experiment.’

2 – It’s not for me

Because social media doesn’t come naturally to a lot of brand marketers, there’s still a lingering perception that “it’s not for us.” No matter how many times I emphasise that it’s mainstream, this is something I hear a lot. The notion that this is for geeky blokes with lots of time and little exposure to sunlight might be incorrect. But it’s alive and well.

One reason – it’s been commented on before and Michael makes reference to it in his article – is people are often not aware they are social media participants when they are. Ask someone do you read a blog and the answer might be no even if it’s actually yes.

3 – It all sounds a bit complicated

And that could be because – as ‘experts’ – we can make things less user friendly than they need to be. The very first social media presentation I gave I used the term ‘web 2.0′…cue blank states, ‘what’s that?’ I’ve never used it again.

And I know I’m guilty of this – we sometimes talk more of the pitfalls (thanks to plenty of brands spending money on stuff that hasn’t worked) – than the opportunities. No wonder that brand managers zone out.

As a result, most of us who work in this space do know this, but the onus is on us to make the sell more compelling and more relevant.

But ultimately, even though brands and companies steering clear of a social strategy may be working against their best interests, we also have to recognise that the motivations are completely understandable.

Image – Adam Pieniazek