There is a lot of interest in the concept of channel social media enablement, but so far there has not been a lot of action. Perhaps it is because Social Media is so amorphous and ill defined, or maybe it’s because channel managers generally do not understand the impact or potential benefits of social media themselves, but social media enablement for channel partners is mostly being left to the resellers themselves to figure out. Too bad. It’s a huge missed opportunity for vendors.
Like any other change in the market, suppliers have a responsibility to help their channel partners move forward and adapt. It’s not rocket science. We learned long ago that a defined improvement process works better than vague discussions when it comes to channel productivity. And even though social media is relatively new, vendors need to understand the adoption process and mange their channels through it as quickly as possible.
There are many ways to define a social media adoption process for channel partners, but here is a starting point. Partners need to move through these six stages of Social Media readiness.
1. Awareness – Partner understands that social media is important and begins visiting a few high-profile sites. Finds personal profiles of vendors and customers.
2. Presence – Partner creates a profile, joins the main social media sites, and observes what is happening. Understands how the sites operate and gets an understanding of participant expectations. Begins worrying that time is being wasted on LinkedIn and Twitter.
3. Engagement – Partner follows some Discussions, begins posting, and makes a few business connections. Re-purposes content for social media and starts looking for opportunities.
4. Collaboration – Partner experiences the thrill of two-way communication and begins thinking about creating brand new content in order to build a social media presence. Action plans emerge.
5. Community – Partner is clearly building a powerful business network and fully understands social media as a business tool. Begins moving away from email and encourages vendors and colleagues to do the same.
6. Productivity – Partner understands that a social media strategy must replace ad-hoc activities. Profile pictures are updated and co-creation activities are initiated.
Vendors that get their channels through this adoption curve first will, of course, have a communications advantage that may well translate into increased reseller influence. It won't be easy. Leadership is required, and
social media training. Is your channel program ready for the future?
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