The Brett Favre debacle has me grieving as a sports fan. The spider web of trouble for Favre and the Vikings seems to get bigger and uglier by the day (big boost for Deadspin, for sure). But rather than wallow in my sorrow, I thought I'd take a critical look at how Favre fell from grace and see if I can cross-pollinate this a little to social media. Here are three lessons on social media strategy we can learn from Mr. Favre.
1. Know When to Quit or Change Course. Why is it we keep hanging on to something long past its season? Social media seems to be all about adding more apps and more tools--whether they will help us or not. Sometimes it's about being smart enough (or brave enough) to quit something. Metrics aren't just about being able to justify the bottom line of social media, they are about measuring the effectiveness of a tool in line with the purpose of why you need it. Be willing to quit what isn't working, or isn't returning enough on the investment of people, time, and money. TV commericals have been devoted to poking fun at Favre's inability to quit while he's ahead. Don't be afraid to drop your Twitter feed if you've decided it isn't delivering enough value.
2. One Successful Campaign Doesn't Guarantee Another. Favre should have filed his retirement papers last year. What a great year to go out. But no, he just had to try and replicate it--get that one last Super Bowl ring? Really? From all accounts, he didn't put in enough physical practice and work leading up to the beginning of the season to justify even starting. He was in terrible shape in the fall. The technical word for it is dissonance. He had a different reality about his ability to be a Super Bowl level QB. So you've had one good social media campaign? Congratulations. Instead of just replicating it with another product or event, how about a comprehensive evaluation first to uncover some best practices? Bring in some outside eyes. What worked and why? Can that translate to another campaign. Maybe. Never assume in social media. There is no surefire template of success yet.
3. Don't Get Full of Yourself--It's Not About You. Social media campaigns are never about you. If you hang around people who always talk about how wonderful your products are and how good your company is doing, you're going to stumble. Success in social media depends on engaging the community of followers, not on your ability to compose pithy tweets. If your thinking is inwardly focused and not focused on the crowd, you're going to miss the necessary signs that will point you to social media success. Favre believed his own hype. That led to slips in behavior--he forgot about his family, his team, his fans and focused solely on himself. Slippery slope.
What's your take? Are there social media lessons to be learned from Brett Favre's fall from grace? I'm sure there are more than three.
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Three Social Media Lessons to Learn From Brett Favre
Christopher Penn wrote, "Look for the Lesson" the other day on Escape Velocity's blog. It's kind of like serendipitous gleaning. As Penn illustrated, "how much can you learn about innovation from pizza dough?"