Good question. What difference does it make if I go with the flow and use ad hoc, day-to-day comunication to achieve my social goals? My target audience is so specific, I can't go wrong.
How we got here
Social media, for many, is about connecting with individuals online. What started off as a great way to stay in touch, informed and generally involved in the world's happenings has become one of the best corporate publicity platforms. Whether that meant companies selling to individuals (B2C) or to other companies (B2B), it seems an element of natural progression to be where we are today. High technology communication has successfully become one of the most important factors in driving human innovation, faster. The question is, how can you evolve in this space with so many consumers offering individual preferences?
When we were young, many said communication was the driving force for all of man's progress. This remains true today where we have the need to stay in closer contact with friends and loved ones or establish contact with people we don't know and may never meet but have use for. The nature of communication is such that it can remain somewhat anonymous without the physical contact elements. It sort of dehumanizes things, but these days there are plenty of work-a-rounds, like Skype and live streaming to name a few easy ones.
Before social media surfaced as a 'thing' companies could do to sell more effectively, they relied on Below-The-Line (BTL) marketing techniques to establish how well consumers responded to their products and services. Let's face it; the most successful test marketing is done through face-to-face interaction with one another between the marketer and the consumer. This way you get to assess the temperature, body language and general facial expressions, all of which tell 80% of the story. The words, representing the remaining 20%, then seem enough to drive everyone online and on to social media to try and replicate offline exercises. This is pretty much how commerce began; with bazaars for all to come where they can engage and be engaged, like a classic, all day BTL activation. Back in present times, it would be interesting to see a live streamed BTL activity in your old town while you're now working in the big city, a mere computer screen away from the excitement your old buddies are involved in.
The next generation of communication
Social media is like Apple the company. Just the other day I mentioned to a friend the reason I think Apple products are so successful; it's that they are designed 'one size fits all', keeping everyone in mind. I've seen a 2-year-old harass her older brother while he was trying to play his favorite game on Dad's iPad; she would keep pushing the only button available because she knew it turns the screen off. Once her brother gave up, she would take it away, swipe it open and walk right into the safest theme park made for kids 1 year and up. The on the other side of this spectrum is my own father, who nears 80 this year, and has not only taught himself, but is now dependent on his iPad to update his Facebook page and give him the content and information he needs. Now, look how wide the margin is. It's pretty wide. This means you now need to revise your marketing strategy targeting the 18-35 age bracket; you now might consider factoring in the entire age band of the consumers in your market. Thanks for the marketing foresight, Steve.
The way our markets evolve today is much faster than 10, 15, 20 years ago. Sharing information has become so simple; tapping into the most common denominator amongst people means giving them the power to exchange more, faster. Now you don't worry so much about being popular as you do about your mom sending you a friend request on Facebook, especially since you haven't been a good boy during the first couple years at college.
Applying history and foresight
When your company needs to tap real human experiences and actual scenarios, you need to be prepared with some basic tools to get you started. These include:
- Working knowledge of local contexts - social is local
- Comfort learning & using diverse skills to communicate in public, while retaining your corporate image
- Working knowledge of your products, services, corporate guidelines and business objective
- The latest news and reviews of products and services in your industry
- A general sense of being objectively social, without letting emotions drive conversations
These aren't your typical 1, 2, and 3's; instead they are my general rules that help establish a foundation for new recruits that enter the 'social media' communication space for corporates.
Having setup many different social media units for small, medium and large companies, many of you will agree that just because you are good at social media on a personal level only adds up to 25% of the required skillset one needs in order to develop a structured social media approach. Policies and guidelines make up another 25% percent of the required mix that formalize and institute strategy. The remaining 50% is a combination of how social a company is willing to be (risk, cost, resources, consumer orientation, relevance), coupled with a genuine desire to recognize and apply differences between personal and professional social networking. For some who may have thought it, yes, I believe LinkedIn is a great training ground for developing a sense of professional communication. Many people send add requests, but only a few explain why or come with an evident reason to connect with.
Bringing it home
In a previous article, I touched on how the more socially savvy economies such as the US have a head start in innovating, while others merely replicate. It's not a weakness in the ones that get on board later; it's just knowledge and exposure that remain missing/delayed. Once the two are present, it's a matter of local interest before the entire country is online, tweeting their wins and woes. This applies to how commonplace it is for communicators to acquire and maintain an inherent sense for communicating online. The more aware your consumers are, the more your companies get online and begin following a structured approach to engaging those very consumers.
Some of my competitors could use a structured approach, because it's not just about how many you have, it's about how many you successfully engage. Think about how this can be possible without being able to relate and communicate with such a wide age group and you'll come to realize the continuous need for and upkeep of evolving human interaction, even in the virtual space. Tapping into your consumers' emotions, without becoming emotional yourself, can lead to endless possibilities with consumer engagement using social media communications, provided it follows a plan built on a grounded knack for socializing.
Don't alienate your consumers without a structured approach. Even the most successful cookie cutter models need continuous evolution to remain relevant. Perhaps it's time you reinvented yours.
Zohare is a tri-lingual communications professional, with a Bachelors in life, living and earning in Pakistan. He tweets as @JJBaybee