In traditional PR and marketing communications, small companies have always been at a big competitive disadvantage.

‘Perception-wise,’ bigger establishment companies have dominated the space and the mainstream media because they have more money to spend and have been spending it longer. They have other advantages, too, of course. And sometimes, the establishment players deserve the reputation they’ve sustained. Many don’t. But getting a word in edgewise has always been difficult for the newcomer with a better idea.

While the monetary advantage the big establishment players have traditionally enjoyed can spread their message further, faster and at a higher noise level over sustained periods, no amount of treasure can make a bad message good or an old, outdated message new again. Enter social media. Here message transcends money, or that at least has been the promise made to those who would dare break from the tradition.

Astonishing to me has been the reluctance of so any small and medium companies to take the risk, especially since they will never win the check-book battle the old-fashioned way. Plus small, medium and start-up companies by definition have a culture that typically favors doing things in new ways. They are characterized too by risk-taking. But when it comes to social media options, have these organizations been too slow, too timid? Have they been too cynical about the potential of social media? Have they once again, as they have been known to do so often in the past, let the opportunity slip through their hands while the big, slow companies figure it out?

News flash: Big, long-surviving establishment companies aren’t stupid often or for very long. They get big and stay that way for a reason.

To that point, here is a tremendous post by Maggie K. Fox on the Social Media Group blog. It is important for two reasons. First, because it notes how people are beginning to find new ways to use social media for even moe real value. This is about a company’s innovation called an Enterprises Services Community:

The way it works is this: industry leading firms that represent the full biodiversity of a vertical are invited to participate. The example that was used in the keynote was banking - 130 organizations have been collaborating on a banking-oriented service-oriented architecture… The objective of this exercise is an industry-wide solution created within the SAP platform.

The second reason this is an important post from Ms. Fox is because if you’re in a small to medium-sized company and you haven’t started down the road, you are very, very late and your opportunities to seize and sustain a competitive advantage over the big, slow companies in your space are dwindling fast. Time is running out.

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Few things so shock the new corporate blogger than the usual global reaction to his or her brand new spanking blog. That reaction would be… a yawn. In fact, for some, it is hard to believe that on a planet of billions, only five people might find the site on a given day in the early going. You couldn't do a better job of hiding something on the Internet if you tried. The five people include three who work for the blogger. Ouch.

Turns out, this happens to almost everyone. But it is hardest on senior executives. They're used to entering a room full of people, walking to the podium, giving a speech and being heard… or, at least, being politely listened to seemingly. Doing this in the blogosphere results in the business and conversation of the meeting continuing in the aisles among people who ignore the fella at the front of the room speechifying.

But blog obscurity is good and has its roots in the traditional world. Consider, for example, that if you moved in to a new town, you probably wouldn't run for Mayor until you figured out what's what and who's who. You could, of course, but you'd make a fool of yourself. Instead, you'd lurk and listen for awhile. Then you might say some things. As more and more people got to know you, and if they liked or appreciated what you had to say, eventually you might lead some conversations. Eventually, people would start to tune in and join in.

Initially shocked, insulted, frustrated, embarrassed or angered by the world's indifference toward their early efforts, corporate bloggers all too often retreat. They marginalize themselves and their blog by infrequent posts… they don't invest the time to "go to meetings" to see who the conversational leaders are and why. This reaction is unfortunately creating a corporate blog graveyard… a zombie land.

A prescription for more success would be to spend much more time in the blog planning stage to find out more, in advance, about the existing conversation. Two, since senior corporate executives that want to blog are about to be hit upside the face with the realities of a new social media culture that affords nothing to anyone that has little to add to the ongoing conversation, executives ought to be better informed about what a blog is, how it works, and what their obligation is to readers if they want to gain traction. All too often I think the PR people are simply getting the easy to use software, having fun naming the thing, and turning it over to an executive that hasn't yet been through driver's ed, a la the blogosphere. Result: dreadful accidents and/or gross misuse of the vehicle by driving 90 mph past everyone talking.

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