Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much!
The title of this post is a George Bernard Shaw quote I employ with my daughters in the hopes I will impress upon them, in a small way with a few words, what I will say here with many more words than their attention spans will allow. How many times have you heard that some person or other is on a quest to “find themselves?” Many times we hear it in relation to a young person starting out in life to find their purpose, or when an older person jokes about what they want to be when they “grow up.”
“It’s not authentic if everyone loves you.”
That is a message that every marketer needs to hear loud and clear, especially as the focus on social media gets stronger and recommendations carry more purchasing weight than ever before! The term “authenticity” gets used a lot now, but how many brands actually subscribe to being authentic, not just saying they are?
The number ONE reason many marketers fail when they try to use social media is that they DON’T take into account important traditional marketing lessons from the past—and I’m talking Plain Jane, Vanilla Manilla lessons that should be the bread and butter for any marketer. Social media doesn’t supplant traditional marketing practices and tenets. In fact, it enhances it when handled correctly.
There are several reasons why I think businesses hamstring their social efforts. First, there’s an overriding, if misguided, pressure to get things “perfect” on social, which is sometimes used as an excuse to avoid getting involved at all. The permanent nature of anything that’s posted on the web tends to freak out the “control the message” crowd who has their fingers poised over the delete button to instantly erase ill-advised comments or content. We’re never far removed from the latest social snafu by a public figure, or the next one to come, and that fear can be paralyzing.
In his new e-book There is No B2B or B2C: It’s Human to Human: #H2H my good friend Bryan Kramer gives some wise advice to brands: “I don’t care what language you speak, who your brand is or what message you’re trying to send, we all need to speak more human.” I love that statement because it so perfectly reminds us that in the midst of all of our increasingly complex digital sophistication, making the human connection is more important than anything else. Because of the power of social to inform and educate consumers, companies need to be a part of the social scape, and that’s means functioning in the world on a human to human scale. They can no longer afford to hide behind a logo. They have to converse with their market and above all, listen.
Make your content focused on conversation instead of thinking of yourself as a media business like so many are now preaching. Instead think of your brand as the people who make it up, and change the focus from “Convince & Convert” to “Converse & Convert!” Content creates conversation between you and more importantly amongst others.
Many companies completely outsource social media management. These companies may have good reasons for this decision. Yet, when outsourced, social media communications misrepresent reality. In fact, is it possible that completely outsourcing your social media accounts should be outlawed? Below are a couple issues to consider:
There is no doubt anymore that the social media revolution has made permanent changes to the communication landscape-both for companies and individuals. However the individual changes are what’s driving the social media industry in business, and many companies are still slow picking up on this.
You’ve heard me talk about employee advocacy before, and how important it is to Empower your Employees (who will then Power your Brand) and to encourage them to “be social” in today’s relationship age. The fact that relationships are the new currency is true whether you are looking for a job, planning an event or selling a product/service. That being said, I’m always on the lookout for companies that “get” this concept, and especially for a company that can help other companies to start doing the same. To this end I recently joined Dynamic Signal’s Advisory Board and am working with them to make their product the best it can be.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that social conversation has changed the way business gets done. People have argued with me about this, but the simple fact of the matter is, the change hasn’t been brought about by the social “industry” so much as by the way people use technology and social platforms. It’s all about people relating to each other as individuals.
In fact, the only way I think of social media as media anymore is in the advertising component. But advertising is advertising. It’s still a one-way message blasted to a broad audience, and always has been. The social change that I’m talking about, where relationships are built and nurtured, is all about conversation. It’s about where communication, collaborative consumption, and overall insight is being built into every facet of business.