At the Technology Marketing Blog Douglas Karr wades into the fray on when a corporation should embrace social media. It’s hard to argue with his guidance about developing a strategy, looking into tools, even talking to an expert. Doug is spot-on when he says that social media has the potential to affect your entire organization.

But I question Doug’s assertion that you should first “involve all the leaders in your company — those who own the strategy of the corporation.” Perhaps Indianapolis is on a different planet (Jeff, you’re from Kentucky, what do you think?) where the executive team has the time and understanding of social media to reach kumbaya. But here, the quickest way to kill a new communications initiative is to hold it hostage to top-level consensus. Not that leadership approval isn’t important, but that it is nearly impossible to achieve, especially BEFORE you can show any concrete ROI.

A start-small strategy sometimes works better, in a number of ways. All you need is one enterprising writer, some very inexpensive tools, and one communications problem you can measure. Perhaps it’s as basic as getting more traffic to your Web site. Or raising awareness of new support materials and programs. Or broadening customer interest by telling interesting anecdotes about how real people are using your products or services.

It won’t take long – weeks? a couple of months at most – before you’ll have real data and experience about how your marketplace responds to social media. You’ll also be that much smarter in formulating a more complete strategy.

Of course – as Doug is rightly concerned about – you’ll do a few bellyflops, right in front of stakeholders. But that’s inevitable and easier to stomach on a small scale. Moreover, that’s the nature of the current iterative creative process that all of us in the technology marketing community must adopt! Start out small, with a modest goal, and an open attitude, and it won’t sting too bad.

Photo source: hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.09755