Today's probably not the best day for me to be writing a blog post. It's greyer than an elephant's butt outside and, after sleeping like an insomniac bat on amphetamines, I woke up at 4am thinking about clients. My year old daughter chose this morning to have a hissy fit because I wouldn't let her play with the TV remote (Sian Williams presenting the breakfast news isn't the same when interrupted with time delay, rewind or, perhaps worst of all, GMTV) and I have bags under my eyes that could house Sarah Jessica Parker's entire wardrobe. Oh, and I don't have the post for you that I wanted to publish today. Consequently, I'm tired and feeling ever-so-slightly disillusioned with life, the universe and everything.
My morbid mood isn't being helped by a creeping feeling that I'm working in an industry where 90% of the population (and dare I say it, 90% of clients) just "don't get it". Most days this is something that I enjoy; everyone likes to feel superior from time to time, right? Seriously though, it's a challenge: the educating, the research, the sharing of information, the genuine excitement of being at the forefront of something. Indeed, in the last two weeks I've had meetings with two new clients who seem to totally understand social media and the role it plays. Chiefly, they understand that social media is just that: social. I know it sounds obvious, but it's this that is causing me such anguish today.
Others just don't get this (to me) most basic of principles. They want to have a foothold on the social web, but want to use it for push marketing. And no amount of gentle (and sometimes less gentle) educating and persuasion will change their mind that a corporate tone simply doesn't work. Being social involves sharing stuff; all sorts of stuff. Stuff that isn't necessarily related directly to the brand or in-line with offline brand guidelines. I blogged about this content quandary earlier this week. And I can't help but feel that organisations that decide to use the social web really, REALLY need to lighten the hell up. Or is it just me? Am I just having a bad day?
Still, tomorrow's the weekend. Monday's the start of a bright new week. For better or worse, normal service will be resumed shortly...