Social media reality check

Greetings, one and all, on a drab and drizzly Thursday morning. Today I'm going to ponder for a moment the social media phenomenon and what it means for our clients and our industry. At coffee this morning with a friend and colleague, the conversation turned to the subject of blogging and its relative value. It's a question we often confront here at Crazy Savvy as we help clients find the best tools to build their brands, boost their business, and engage their audiences.

What about social media?, clients often ask. There seems to be this perception (misconception, one may venture ....) that social media is some sort of silver bullet. Current marketing initiatives not working out? Let's get on Twitter and Foursquare. Want to build brand awareness among new constituencies? We'll write a blog and hope they stumble across it! You may be rolling your eyes, but these conversations occur — far more frequently than you might think. Social media is perceived by many as a cheap, easy-to-use, dynamic medium that can galvanize followers and turn them into true brand advocates. Done correctly, this is indeed the case. But it takes some work.

It's simply not enough to merely have a Twitter account or a Facebook page or a blog. At minimum, these sorts of channels need to be updated — frequently — for them to remain relevant. There's no incentive to keep coming back to a blog that only offers new posts once every few months. But beyond frequency, there's the question of content. Is it relevant? Engaging? Fun? Does it have an authentic voice? Does it inspire some sort of action? The particular approach, of course, varies greatly depending on the organization: a major retailer of consumer goods is going to have a different social media strategy (and different goals) than, say, a start-up accounting firm or a university. But the fundamental principles of savvy social media use remain largely the same.

It boggles the mind that organizations that place so much thought on their identity systems or website or latest ad campaigns become remarkably blithe about social media. Even (seemingly) little things, like formatting mistakes or typos or off-brand voice and design, seem glaringly stupid to me. Presumably you'd proofread your company's annual report, edit your tv spots, fix glitches on your website, no? But I see these sorts of oversights cropping up time and again on the social media platforms of even some very well respected organizations. And don't get me started on endless repetition or shameless spam-type messaging from outlets that are supposed to be engaging and discursive in nature .... Think! Your social media presence could well reach more people than your latest campaign. So what's it saying about your brand — and why?

At C/S, we often work with clients to develop a social media plan that addresses the aforementioned issues in a way that reflects the organization's voice and serves its objectives. Sometimes we assist with execution as well, helping to author blog posts or identify salient content. Done well, the results can be impressive: we've even been lucky enough to get referrals based on this very blog! But what we always stress to our clients is that there needs to be a method to the social media madness, so to speak — a strategy, a goal, a purpose beyond merely "being there" for its own sake. It's like networking, in a way: it's not enough just to show up to the party. If you want anyone to take notice of you, you'd better find ways to be engaging and memorable. (Unless you want to be noticed for your really horrible shoes, in which case, I will happily oblige! But nobody wants to be the punchline .... and your blog shouldn't be the subject of one either.)

Alright, well, rant over. I'm looking forward to getting out of town for the weekend (in the new car! yes! yes!) for some lakeside R&R .... hiking, fireplaces, scenic drives, picnic lunches, endless games of Scrabble .... sounds like my cup o' tea! As always, Dear Readers, thanks for tuning in.