Social Media Marketing Magazine's Top 100 Twitter List

I've been following the Social Media Marketing Magazine's "Top 100 Marketing Professors on Twitter list for a while now.

I was informed today that I became #19 on the list.  How exciting - thank you SMMM!

I'm a firm believer that Twitter is a powerful communications tool.  Yet it is still underutilized by the majority of SMBs.  I continue to hear push back from executives and marketers within organizations about social media becoming a core component of their communications strategy.  "I don't get it..." is the most common statement, followed by "our customers don't use it".  If only they truly knew the habits of their customers.  After probing about the reluctance to use social media in general, the root cause typically ends up being resources.  It requires attention from someone (or an agency) to initiate a dialogue, monitor the conversations and keep the engagement flowing.  I chock that up to not wanting to add something new to an already overflowing plate. I get that.  However, social conversations about products and services will continue regardless of the resources an organization has to monitor it.

My advice is to embrace the technology (from the top down), create guidelines on what can and cannot be shared (excluding proprietary information of course), and identify resources (internal or external) to lead the effort.  Listen to what your competition is saying.  It will give you a baseline for where to start.  Jump in and get started and adjust accordingly as you learn and grow.  Monitor industry analysts and media and retweet when appropriate. Soon you will become a thought leader with followers that monitor your conversations.  All it takes is that initial step - embrace the technology.