David Shing offers a piece of sage advice: allow the community to do your PR for you.
For late adopters of social media, his advice is counterproductive because the perceived benefits don’t outweigh the costs. But for the social media savant, Shing’s advice is on point.
“Social is here to stay,” says Shing, AOL’s digital prophet, who harnesses public forums to share his insights on the digital landscape and where it is headed in the future. “It’s also a beautiful way for people to fundamentally understand how to engage with users and understand what they’re looking for from their commentary. So if you’re a brand that’s not willing to hear that, not willing to participate, then I think you are going to be left behind.”
Before taking up his current North American role, Shing was vice-president, media and marketing, for AOL Europe, where he delivered online experiences across the AOL brand that now boasts of allowing more than 250 million visitors to access its ecosystem.
Shing believes companies with conservative social media policies are best advised to get over their fears simply because social is so ubiquitous. “People can have conversations with or without your permission. So, if you’re a brand, and you’re a subject matter expert, why wouldn’t you have these conversations? I just can’t see any negatives around it.”
Measuring the impact of core business objectives and justifying the costs of implementing social media are among common barriers cited within the financial services sector. These companies, for the most part, fixate on one-way communications by pushing out traditional marketing messages. For social media immigrants, the challenge remains how to close the marketing loop using a “pull” approach that encourages prospects to seek out your company site because it offers something of value.
Shing says exploiting the benefits of social goes beyond naive strategies and is worthless without a disciplined, transparent long-term goal in mind. He cites prominent insurance companies, banks and many other conservative institutes that have done a good job of turning around their social media policies. Furthermore, Shing prognosticates that niche products and services are where the web is heading—and that ought to bode well for specialized pension and benefits options.
“It’s not just about ‘we’re gonna follow the strategy.’ You have to adapt, because there is this inside-out stress that you are not in control of your brand. Consumers are going to voice your brand off-line or behind your back. So I think if you’re not willing to have conversations, then you’re not willing to listen. Because once your brand is amplified, it will push messages. If you’re not willing to receive messages and respond and go into conversation mode, then that’s going to be deleterious.”
David Shing will deliver the keynote speech at the Benefits Canada 2013 Benefits & Pension Summit in Toronto. Find out more about the summit here.