Socialsama

Recently, I watched a video of David Armano presenting to a TEDx crowd on reinventing social media. A big part of his message was a reminder that the media we produce is not social, but our interactions around the media are social. It’s the interaction between the author and the audience and between the audience members themselves that is social.

I think recognizing this distinction is a big step forward. In essence, just publishing content is not in itself a social interaction. Granted, that content may be the catalyst for some social interaction, but that is not really enough, in my opinion.

For content providers to be more social, and few extra steps are required:

• At a minimum, be present to discuss the content you put out there
• Even better, start the conversation by asking questions of the audience
• Prime the pump a little by arranging to have other people who has a voice on the subject to weigh in on your content

Have you noticed how a lot of book now come with an interview with the author about their process of writing that particular book, as well as a book club discussion guide. Those same principles apply. What is every presentation you put together was accompanied by a blog post that chronicled the process you went through to get the presentation done? Better yet, what if the presentation was preceded by a series of tweets that gave insightful clues as to key points in the presentation?

But what about the other part of this blog post title? What about being personal?

Listening to David speak, I immediately heard this question in my mind? Is there a difference between being social and being personal?

I think the answer is yes, but I find it very difficult to define clearly. What does it mean to be personal in social media? How does one get personal when communicating electronically? Does it simply have to do with tone of voice? Or is the make-up of the content somehow more personal?

When I look out at some of the social media success stories from companies, there seems to be some commonality. Most of the time, the voice used to communicate in social media was attached to a person (Frank at Comcast, Lionel at Dell). Does a company have to have a one person do all of the social media communicating to achieve personal communications? Zappos offers a counter point in that all employees interact personally. But again, does it have to be a personal account (even if used for business purposes)? Can’t a company communicate with a social media audience as the company and still be personal?

The reality is that most organizations don’t have a dedicated person to do social media outreach, and so they either don’t do it or they have a distributed team of authors who communicate out through a persona. This creates efficiency, but does that come at the cost of personalization? I have no doubt that there is a difference between a conversation where a person is writing from the heart and a person is writing from the marketing heart.

I need your help on this one, folks. I’d like to hear of any examples you know of where a company/organization is doing a good job of communicating with it’s clients/constituents as the entity but still being personal. How are they getting it done?

Thanks for the help,

James

Image credit: http://www.8seconds.net/blog/p/detail/the-future-of-email-marketing

My wife is from Turkey and there is a Turkish saying, usually used in reference to raising children, that goes, “It’s like digging a well with a needle.” Put more directly, it’s a long, slow process. I think this saying applies to building a community out of the wilds of today’s social media world.

I was thinking about this today because, at times, I get exasperated that I can’t grow my Spredfast (in case you didn’t know, the social media management system we built) community at a faster pace. I always have to remind myself that gradual is not a bad word. Like raising good children, you can’t do it overnight. You have to be patient, recognize the teaching moments as they present themselves, and take advantage of them when they do arrive.

Quality instead of Quantity

Sure, I’d like to have a million people “like” my Spredfast Facebook Page and have tens of thousands of followers on Twitter, but then I remember that I’d rather have 1,000 super advocates for Spredfast than 500,000 people who don’t ever talk about my product, engage with the content I produce, or give me frequent and meaningful feedback.

There are strategies to gain fans and followers fast, but I question the long term benefits of those strategies. I believe that a connection made in a personal, one on one way will have greater, more enduring benefits. I believe that someone who seeks me out to learn about Spredfast will benefit more then the person who follows me just because I followed them.

Signal instead of Noise

A lot of people struggle with the amount of information coming their way. Companies are no different, because behind the logo just a group of humans. Starting with a smaller feedback channel allows us to really take it in, make the necessary improvements to grow, and as we earn a larger feedback channel we are also better able to accept it and do something with it.

Now, I’m in the business of building tools that make it easier to take a larger feedback channel and make sense of it with fewer resources. But like the chicken and the egg, I have to be able to receive the feedback about how to make the tools better.

Cherish instead of Acknowledge

By growing slowly and surely, I have an advantage. I am able to really get to know the clients I do have. Now, nobody is perfect all of the time. Do I know every Spredfast client as well as I would like? No, but I’ll bet I know them better than Apple knows Social Agency, even though we are loyal customers.

I believe I have a shot of getting to know my clients really well. I can spend more time talking with them and getting to know their business and their needs. If I can instill that desire in every now employee Social Agency brings on, then we can scale that ability to cherish, and avoid simply acknowledging our clients.

Embrace the Long Road

So, I’ve convinced myself to keep digging with my needle. For Social Agency and Spredfast, the well gets a little deeper each day. If you’re facing the same feelings each day, feelings of wanting to suddenly find yourself under a giant pyramid of fans/followers, just remember that to build meaningful relationships, you have to be there in person, making quality connections based on real understanding and empathy.

In the full spirit of this post, I’d like feedback from those really interested in a dialogue:

• How are Social Agency and Spredfast doing in developing a relationship with you?
• Where can we improve?
• What are we doing well?
• What are your experiences in building a community?
• How have you succeeded/struggled with scaling?

Fair warning, if you answer these questions, we’re probably going to get to know each other.

Hope to talk to you soon,

James

P.S. Image is from AntonioVI