Chris Kenton has a great query over on his blog regarding the adoption or lack thereof of social media.  He is “trying to step out of the echo chamber” by challenging us to come up with examples as to how the lack of participation in social media is actually hurting some companies. 

He’s not talking theoretical missed opportunities that are filled with “they should have…” He’s talking “real examples of competitive disadvantage for laggards. Sales lost. Customer defections. Revenue declines.”

This is a key question.  That’s because many of us preach how the marketing landscape is changing and how companies are losing out…yet many, if not most companies, have yet to really adopt social media.  That’s often a bad decision, but just where is that decision tangibly bad?

He ends with this great question and point:

Clearly social media offers many new market approach opportunities, and in some sectors a true competitive advantage. The question is whether those new opportunities replace existing opportunities in most sectors, or whether they are simply additive at this point. Simply stated, when lagging hurts, adoption will accelerate. So, where does it hurt?

So, where does it hurt?