The trouble is knowing you should and knowing how are two different things. As I read recently in Fast Company magazine, "[companies and] brands on the internet are like 11 year old boys. They know that they want girls to talk to them, but when they do, they don't know what to say."
It seems to me, many companies are putting the cart before the horse. Instead of deciding you want to jump into social media and then figuring out what you should say, instead you should be deciding what your story is BEFORE thinking about the best venue or venues to tell it. Often the nature of the story will dictate the appropriate media to tell it in. While many stories work well on the internet, some are best told on radio, or by postcard, or an in-store display.
Like that 11 year old boy, you should figure out what you want to say before you start passing notes in class!
Some of my other posts you might enjoy:
- The Marketing Value of Social Media http://allismarketing.blogspot.com/2012/03/marketing-value-of-social-media.html
I agree with your position, Bill, that you need to first determine your message and then think about the appropriate channels to deliver it. What I've found about social media is that the purpose is all about engagement, something that other channels often don't do as well because they are largely one-way communications. So sometimes, the story is "written" or "told" by someone other than yourself and you need to join it while it's already underway. With a college student audience, we spend a lot of time engaging with them based on comments they've made on Facebook or Twitter about the school, their user experience, etc. We know clearly what our message is and how we should use social media (and other channels) to deliver it. I guess the point is that with social media, the story might be authored by someone else and we need to figure out how to "co-author" it as it progresses.
ReplyDeleteSandy, I absolutely agree with you that engagement is what makes social media opportunities so intriguing. All of the sudden, the holy grail of two way communications is not only within our grasp, but inexpensive and fairly easy to get into. I worry, however, when I hear about Facebook, Twitter, et al being discussed as a communications strategy instead of a communications tool. Thanks for your comment!
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