whos-the-boss-picThere’s been a lot of interest in the “How to Talk to Your Boss About Social Media…” series of blog posts, so Al Krueger and I thought it would be a cool idea to dive into the topic through discussion on the Comet Branding Radio Show on Wednesday, June 10th at 11 a.m. Central.

You can read the posts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and the Prequel.

I suppose the inspiration for the topic came from personal experience, having been the boss on the client side of things and wanting to do a good job of vetting great ideas from the team before championing them, and having had bosses at points in my career who didn’t always get it when I went to them with new and (what I believed to be) innovative ideas. From an agency perspective, it’s important to keep in mind that clients also need to be able to make the case for social media internally in order to achieve support from their bosses, company executives and/or board of directors.

Sometimes, the timing just isn’t right for a new initiative. Sometimes, the boss just isn’t going to get it no matter how well you prepare for the conversation. Sometimes, there just isn’t the budget to pull it off. And sometimes even the best idea isn’t approvable. But in the end, it comes down to putting things in terms of what matters most to the boss(es): the bottom line. Return on investment.

When it comes to contemplating any new approach or strategy, a smart boss is going to test the idea – and your preparedness to defend the idea – before agreeing to support it or dedicate resources to it. So hopefully this ongoing discussion will help us all keep in mind that we’re all working toward the same end game – a solid, relevant, strategic approach to social media.

Please tune in to join the discussion. We encourage you to share your own experiences with this particular challenge and would love to hear from you before, during or after the show with your comments and questions.

As always, we will be taking live questions via Twitter: @alkrueger or @sarameaney