Ed Kicker: Corporate Australia runs scared of social media

I know I said I'd mention why nailing a grown man to a piece of wood was brilliant marketing.

It simply terrified people to submission. The Mayans would go: "I know we flay people alive, but this is serious being nailed to two pieces of wood. Shit!"

Fear makes people do many things. And it's been the perennial debate for decades in Australia about why local companies are so frightened about creating edging award winning work while we debate whether or not Australia punches above it's weight in the [Insert name of award scheme here] compared to New Zealand, South Africa or Singapore.

And this week yet more evidence of that fear emerged, the fear of corporates to engage what is now a mainstream media channel of social media with BCM's report that only six of the top 50 Australian brands were bothering to use Twitter properly (as a conversation with customers) and most just pumping out bland corporate messages.

Recent figures from the AC Nielsen 2010 Social Media Report show that now nine million Australians are engaging in social media and near four in five Australian Internet users (78%) sent or shared a photo the year and nearly three quarters (74%) sent or shared a link.

And Burson-Marsteller's study of social media use by Australia's top brands reveals that 65% use one channel, 15% use two channels and 5% use three when talking about Twitter, Facebook and a corporate blog - the three most basic and simplest pillars of any social media plan.

And the reason companies aren’t using social media properly is because company bosses are scared, as I have found trying to get many corporates to talk recently of social media interaction guidelines. And who can blame them when companies such as Nestlé have tripped up by being snippy on Facebook, trying to have content removed from YouTube and generally exhibiting all the command and control techniques that just don't work in social media.

The problem is the white, male baby boomers running companies are scared to give up control. They've never used social media properly. What they have seen are the headlines of the Kraft, Nestle or Grill'd internet flayings.

And that’s where the opportunities are for the brave to harness this huge, fast growing medium to cede control and enter the conversation.

Happy Easter.

I know I said I'd mention why nailing a grown man to a piece of wood was brilliant marketing. It simply terrified people to submission. The Mayans would go: "I know we flay people alive, but this is serious being nailed to two pieces of wood. Shit!"

Fear makes people do many things. And it's been the perennial debate for decades in Australia about why local companies are so frightened about creating edgy, award winning work while we debate whether or not Australia punches above it's weight in the [Insert name of award scheme here] compared to New Zealand, South Africa or Singapore.

And this week yet more evidence of that fear emerged, the fear of corporates to engage what is now a mainstream media channel of social media with BCM's report that only six of the top 50 Australian brands were bothering to use Twitter properly (as a conversation with customers) and most just pumping out bland corporate messages.

Recent figures from the AC Nielsen 2010 Social Media Report show that now nine million Australians are engaging in social media and near four in five Australian Internet users (78%) sent or shared a photo during the year and nearly three quarters (74%) sent or shared a link.

And Burson-Marsteller's study of social media use by Australia's top brands reveals that 65% use one channel, 15% use two channels and 5% use three when talking about Twitter, Facebook and a corporate blog - the three most basic and simplest pillars of any social media plan.

And the reason companies aren’t using social media properly is because company bosses are scared, as I have found trying to get many corporates to talk recently of social media interaction guidelines. And who can blame them when companies such as Nestlé have tripped up by being snippy on Facebook, trying to have content removed from YouTube and generally exhibiting all the command and control techniques that just don't work in social media.

The problem is the white, male baby boomers running companies are scared to give up control. They've never used social media properly. What they have seen are the headlines of the Kraft, Nestle or Grill'd internet flayings.

And that’s where the opportunities are for the brave to harness this huge, fast growing medium to cede control and enter the conversation.

Happy Easter.

A video uploaded by Greenpeace on Youtube parodies Nestle's KitKat ads, shows an office worker biting into an orangutan finger.