digiforce

Jeremiah Owyang is wrong. His July 13 blog post starts with the simple declarative sentence: “Social media doesn’t scale.”

Now I’m going to give Jeremiah a little benefit of the doubt. He is a very smart guy and his blog is a welcome addition to my list of feeds. And, his overall point that CMO’s should develop an advocacy program to lessen the burden of growing a social media program is right on.

However, I do believe that his contention that social media doesn’t scale is incorrect.

What does it mean to scale? There are several ways to look at it, but all relate back to the concept of scale on a map. On a map once inch of paper may equal one mile of terrain. In other words, it’s a ratio. In business, we can take that ratio to be input to output. If any business is to survive, it has to be able to create such ratios and ensure that they are consistent.

For example, knowing that one truck can deliver an average of five loads a concrete a day would be essential information for a concrete company looking to grow its operation. If the business can scale, it would mean that five trucks could deliver an average of 25 loads a day. The ratio between input and output is preserved.

It is possible for the ratio to break down. Let’s say that for some reason the concrete company can only serve from a single location. As trucks are added, congestion increases at the pickup point and adding more trucks actually decreases the average number of loads per truck a day. At some point, without being able to add additional locations, the concrete business won’t scale. Does that mean the concrete business doesn’t scale? No, it just means that particular setup doesn’t scale without additional inputs.

Let’s say you have a local coffee shop, which everyone in the neighborhood loves. You’re standing there in line next to an MBA marveling at the service, and he’s likely to say, “Yeah, but it won’t scale.” Does that mean a retail coffee business won’t scale? What about Starbucks? Of course a coffee shop can scale. On the other hand, he’s probably right, that particular coffee shop isn’t likely to be scalable. It is built on a system of parts that can’t be replicated. As soon as the owner doesn’t show up for a week, things fall apart. The same thing would happen once three or so locations come online that the owner doesn’t have time to visit often enough.

Can any business scale? If there are businesses which can’t be scaled, it would seem that very local ones which demand personal attention would be prime candidates. Perhaps a barbershop/salon? The corner shop isn’t setup to replicate, but Great Clips, which delivers the same service, is.

The question isn’t “Can a business scale?” The answer to that question is almost always yes. The real question is “Can this particular business (or business model) scale?” Even then, the question isn’t so much about the business itself as the systems that are in place to run it.

Social media can scale. The inputs to social media marketing are actually quite simple- people, computers and some sort of management software. If it makes financial sense for one employee to handle 100 customer interactions a day, then it makes just as much sense for ten employees to handle 1000 interactions.

Of course in any particular installation a social media program may not be able to scale due to local conditions. Perhaps there isn’t any more office space or the particular software used can’t handle any more users. In that case, social media won’t scale.

Scalability is very much a matter of outlook. If you walk into your marketing department and are introduced to Heather, who “handles all of our social media advocacy”, a scalability problem may be afoot. Heather won’t scale. Once Heather is advocating eight hours a day, that system is done. If, on the other handle, you are introduced to our Digital Advocate, Heather, that is something entirely different. Heather is filling a defined role. She has a job description and clear responsibilities. The role has a place in the organization. Heather may be the only Digital Advocate at the moment, but with more demand another could be hired alongside her.

Social media does scale, but you need to plan for it by making it financially feasible on a small scale and putting the processes in place that allow it to be replicated as your operation grows.