I think so. If they don't understand social media, they won't get that adoption of same is important. - Star Aasved

Leaders need to get it, too. They have to understand pros/cons, speak to the organization's need to hear and participate in conversation about the brand/company. - Star Aasved

I think a culture shift will need to happen if the organization is used to being closed or if they are very concerned with control. As far as leading it, I think those that are passionate and who 'get' social should be at the helm, regardless of title, if they can prove their chops (ie: already active with a community/ don't spam/ understand how social fits within a strategy). - Tanya McGinnity

I think the higher the buy-in comes from the better. That said if you force community management on someone who doesn't want the job the results are sure to be less than optimal. - Arié Moyal

If you need to shift culture in order to be successful, you may be setting yourself up for failure. - Robert Swanwick

The culture needs to shift from "Don;t tell anyone what we're doing and push product" to "be transparent and engage" - Arié Moyal

@ Robert Disagree That's like saying getting people to buy wordprocessors in the 80s was impossible if the culture needed shifting - Arié Moyal

Arié, agreed. And that's not a huge shift, IMO -- again, it's based on understanding what social media can do for the organization. - Star Aasved

Social Media can appeal to different cultures in different ways: listening, sharing, measuring, etc... - Robert Swanwick

Not necessarily, but I think it would depend on their expectations. Have their set realistic goals for what they want to achieve by participating in SM and online communities - Sue

Some companies don;t need SM for community management They do just as well if not better with direct marketing - Arié Moyal

With the team I work with, they have expressed that they get overwhelmed because the term social media sounds so vast to them. It's really important like Sue mentioned to set realistic goals. - Tanya McGinnity

@Arie: Sounds like the choice of social media depends on the culture of the community? The type of buyer/end user you're trying to appeal to. - Bryan Person

@ Bryan That and the product Some products just sell better offline - Arié Moyal

@Arie: Of course. Plus, most word of mouth happens offline. The social media work is all for a small piece of the total pie. - Bryan Person

@Arie, @Star Leadership by example is a very powerful way to get people off the fence and contributing. A little peer pressure never hurts, either. - Lou Ordorica

@Tanya I agree. Some don't realize even the small thing of having a conversation with a customer can be seen as SM. They think SM is a magic pill or something, and don't think about it at its basic level - eg relationships. - Sue

What? Communication? :) - Connie Bensen

@ Connie, yes. - Sue

@Sue I have started a social media saturation count down clock. People are getting impatient to get past the hype, and see real change to their day-to-day businesses. - Lou Ordorica

People are still saying there is no money in SM - I disagree, it's just that there is no direct marketing in SM. Well there is, it's just SPAM - Arié Moyal

But I know that my friend Claire who is the Director of the International Climate Change Programme at WWF started tweeting on her own before she was able to get them to adopt a more SM approach - Arié Moyal

@Lou, yes there does seem to be a lot of hype doesn't there. I think that is what puts some companies off, they think its more complicated than it really is. - Sue

Lou, good point though I think it's not just day-to-day, but over the longer haul that is really of benefit to business if we are looking at the big picture. - Star Aasved

@ Bryan A lot of people forget that social media is a tool for conversation not a magic pill - Arié Moyal

Back to the culture shift. I think that it can be hard for some companies to want to speak with their customers because they are afraid of the repercussions. They don't want to get in trouble with the boss and they're not used to being told that it's OK for them to be open (within limits) - Tanya McGinnity

@Tanya, I think fears can be curtailed with clearly communicating social discourse guidelines and training (rule #1: don't get fired). There will always be corner cases, though. - Lou Ordorica

I don't think you can get much backlash from engaging unless you or the company have been "asking for it" - Arié Moyal

I think that for some, being social online may have been spoiled by having been roughed up in forums where there may not have been a community manager. Just speaking in terms of one staffer who had a bad experience on a film forum. - Tanya McGinnity

@ Tanya Fair enough but then that person may not be suited to a CM role - Arié Moyal

@Tanya - managing a forum myself I can relate to that. - Sue

Q4 up! - Bryan Person

@Arie I'm not saying the person is to be a CM, I'm referring to folks who do SM in our org. If they can't handle forum abuse then they are certainly not cut out for the CM role :) - Tanya McGinnity

@ Tanya I guess I'm doing it all so for me it falls under CM - Arié Moyal