15 Case Studies to Get Your Client On Board With Social Media

Jonathan Rick is a social media strategist in Arlington, VA. You can follow him on Twitter @jrick and read his blog at JonathanRick.com.

In business, definitions are everywhere. They’re your first line of defense in mission statements, job descriptions, expense accounts, statements of work, accounting principles and the like. If you fail to define the parameters and jurisdiction of a tool or concept, you’ll be left with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s famous but ultimately vague application: "I know it when I see it."

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Understandably, the plague of ambiguous definitions is why a plethora of pundits have sought to corner the elusive term “social media” within the scope of the dictionary. For instance, Booz Allen Hamilton defines the phenomenon as “electronic tools, technologies, and platforms.” Wikipedia prefers to dub social media as “Web-based and mobile technologies.” Finally, Duct Tape Marketing nominates social media as “the use of technology combined with social interaction." Got all that? If you don't, your clients surely won't follow either.

In order to sell the field that everyone is talking about, but on which few can illuminate, we first need to reframe the conversation. Instead of striving for Merriam-Webster precision, social media strategists would do better to focus on case studies.

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Specifically, social media strategist Ari Herzog has argued, when you reach for the term “social media,” don’t spew broad buzzwords like Facebook or Twitter or YouTube. Instead:

• Narrow your focus to responding to customer complaints, as Comcast does on Twitter.
• Build brand loyalty, as Bisnow does with e-newsletters, as Skittles does on Facebook, and as the Wine Library does with its podcasts.
• Issue blog posts and tweets instead of news releases, as Google does with its blog, and as its now-former CEO did with Twitter.
• Re-purpose your existing content, and thus enlarge your audience, as The New York Times does with Twitter, as the FBI does with Scribd, and as Dell does with SlideShare.
• Manage your reputation, as countless companies do — or try to do — with Wikipedia.
• Conduct crisis communications, as Johnson & Johnson does with its blog.
• Hold contests to improve your algorithms, as Netflix did with the Netflix Prize.
• Crowdsource your challenges, as the U.S. Army did with its field manuals.
• Demonstrate thought leadership, as recruiter Lindsay Olson does with her blog.
• Research free advertising opportunities, as Allstate does on YouTube.
• Showcase your wares, as Zappos does with its blog, and boost your sales, as Dell does on Twitter.
• Recruit employees, as Booz Allen does on LinkedIn.

In these contexts, “social media” refers not to platforms, but to what those applications enable: social interaction.

Think of these interactions the next time you confront a reluctant client. Instead of touting Twitter in general, instead emphasize the importance of reaching new and savvy stakeholders using the platform. Instead of evangelizing for a blog, show how blogging can generate leads. Instead of pointing to videos gone viral, explore video tools that will help your client develop a brand identity.

By unpacking social media's broad definition on a case-by-case basis, you will not only render it familiar to a client, but also present it as something entirely doable.

This story originally published on Mashable here.