Gregory Peterson said
1 year, 4 months ago: @joanmuschampfagnani I assumed your question was mainly directed at technology such as email auto-responders, Joan. (Is that right?)
Although I haven’t seen “best practice” metrics for the topic you’re exploring, there certainly should be some guidelines available to help you. (The basic technologies have been widely used for quite a while — and it would be surprising if those data analytics had not been studied inside and out.) If I find something in my files, I’ll be happy to pass it along.
It seems to me that the cost-related objections tend to be highly subjective. Those concerns tend to fade away when the programs are achieving desired results and advancing business objectives (as they should!) All-too-often, however, organizations seem unwilling to give online marketing initiatives the time that’s necessary to begin showing those results.
In addition to the important points you raised about cost and content, Debbie also addressed the need to accept the practical benefits of automation — while consciously preserving something genuine and human in those marketing interactions that have an automated component.
With clients who are new to social media, I’ve usually taken a “purist” approach. (That is, recommending against automation.) But my position was driven mainly by a belief that social newbies need to steep themselves in the online media as soon as possible. (Seems that it’s all-too-easy for busy execs to avoid the initial discomfort of posting and engaging. Anybody else “seen that movie”? ;=)
Anyway, the handwriting (or, perhaps, auto-texting) is on the wall. As social media continue to require more attention from business owners…delegation and automation will increasingly be seen as attractive options for “solving” the time demands of social media marketing.
