So I’m sitting at my hotel bar last night, enjoying a beer and getting mentally prepared for SMX Advanced here in Seattle. There’s a relatively older gentleman sitting next to me so I decide to strike up a conversation. He was a cool guy and relatively intelligent, so we had a pretty cool overall conversation. We talked about Bob Dylan, Betty White, and crab fishing (and eating). It was good times.
But sprinkled in the conversation were assertions about the value (or lack thereof) inherent in social media channels. Here are some examples of what he was saying to me:
“I’m in the public/media relations field, and I keep telling my clients to stop wasting their time on Facebook, Twitter, etc. It’s a complete waste of time and those people on there have no influence.”
“People keep asking me to start blogging, but I have no reason to do so.”
“I read an article in the New York Times that proves how social networks make you have a short attention span and shallow thinking.”
“That’s interesting that you say blogging can help me get found on search engines by potential clients, but what if people that I don’t want to find me end up finding me that way?”
Scary stuff, I know. I’m sure you’ve heard of the term “global warming denier.” This refers to a person that denies the existence of global warming despite the nearly unanimous conclusions of legitimate scientific research in this field.
Well I’m here to tell you that in the social media realm there exists a similar type of individual, which I’ve coined the “social media denier.”
This individual is likely to be relatively older (probably over 40 years of age). He/she is also likely to have a background in one of the “old school” disciplines like traditional public relations, communications, or advertising. Therefore, he/she likely has a vested interest in denying the power and relevance of social media because a) he/she knows little or nothing about social media b) his/her career relies on the leveraging of traditional channels (print, radio, TV).
You may not realize it, but regardless of whether you’re an in-house social media specialist or part of a social media agency working with clients, you’re likely to be up against this type of individual. He/she is actively telling executives to ignore or abandon social media, and he/she likely has the luxury of having built up a reputation with these executives over years or even decades.
Be aware that these types of people exist, and make sure that you frame your story to counteract the assertions of these social media deniers.
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I liked Paul Graham’s description of this type of person, from his book Hackers and Painters – “The Spikey Haired Boss”. The person who knows nothing about the subject they’re talking about, but claims to know everything.
These social media deniers also tend to play a lot of golf.
There’s probably an element of fear in those who deny the benefits & power of social media. I can see it in the eyes of people who struggled and won in the fight to understand computers, the internet and the now “traditional” campaigning methods. Having the game change again must be frustrating and relatively frightening – in a “I JUST learned the keyboard shortcut for Copy and Paste and now everything’s gone touchscreen??” kind of way.
Yeah, I saw Don Peppers use the term “Social Media Denier” last year
SMDs do tend to be these people who epitomise the phrase “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” but rather than just an age thing it’s more about open-mindedness (and the potential that people can close minds as they age)
It’s interesting to investigate their views on *why* they believe social media is a waste of time and to balance that out with huge social media spends where it’s difficult to gauge the ROI: Somewhere in the middle there’s a point where it’s “just right”.
Have fun at SMX Advanced
Thanks for all the comment, guys!
You all make very valid points. And yes, I will definitely have a good time at SMX!
But don’t forget that a lot of ‘social media deniers’ are also C level executives at big ‘ole companies. I just spent two days with an ‘old school’ company that is hashing out it’s social media strategy. It is hard to argue with their concept of ‘deliberateness’ and business justification when they are one of top brands in the WORLD and a multi-billion dollar business. How many ‘bleeding edge social media companies’ fall into that category?
There’s no doubt that some of these deniers are C-level executives. Even more reason to perfect your methodology for dealing with these individuals and handling their objections in a way that opens up opportunity instead of creating professional strife.
That’s the name of the game.
Keep in mind that changes in marketing or PR have always met with resistance. It’s not that these people are C-Suite denizens nor that they’re old. I know plenty of post-forty tech folk who get social media in spades.
The bigger problem is that people who don’t understand new tools either have no motivation to learn them or are more focused on what the new tools will do for them, rather than how they might use them to better connect with or serve their customers.
Totally agree. Social media deniers come in all shapes and sizes.
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