At first glance Social Media isn’t all that hard and at the same time is causes a severe case of paralysis. This is the paradox of Social Media: it’s simple yet it’s complex, and while it may be very complex, it’s ultimately very simple. This paradox is also the very same reason that so many organizations fail. They assume that it’s so easy that “any college kid” could do it or they decide that it is so “out there” that they pay and arm and a leg to have a PR firm manage it for them. In both of these cases the organization is over-rotating.
In my humble opinion, there is a sweet spot. The sweet spot is understanding the elements that are complex and having someone qualified to simplify them while simultaneously recognizing the elements that are simple enough to bring in-house, to avoid unnecessarily paying to outsource it.
OK smart guy, what’s so simple about it?
Well to start with, the technology. If you can remember this far back, think about designing a website in 1997…now think about what that website looked like. Compare that to building a website today. This blog you are reading is built on WordPress. I don’t know a lick of PHP, CSS ,Javascript or any other programming language; I do know about 10 different HTML tags. The point is that I built this whole site by myself–with a little bit of help from Google searches and a few premium WordPress themes. When things get this easy, creativity can be turned loose.
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon or an advanced web developer to navigate the social web. Therefore, technologically speaking, the investment to understand how to do something is not nearly as crucial as understanding why to do something. Which is why I recommend participating in social media, in-house but outsourcing the planning and strategy.
You want more?
OK, let’s talk about what REALLY makes Social Media so easy; it’s just a conversation among friends.
Conversation
Conversation is a word that gets tossed around so much in this industry that it makes me cringe to type it, but let’s be real, what makes Social Media “social” is that it is a two-way or multi-directional conversation. Those that have the most success in Social Media are those that treat it as if it were a giant networking event and they’ve just shown up with the most swag.
Look at someone like Chris Brogan:
(NOTE: I’m not using Chris Brogan as an example just to name drop, I’ve chosen to highlight Chris because he is a good example of Social Media success and most people know his name.)
Chris Brogan
I’m not going to say that Chris’s journey to Social Media superstardom was easy, but examine some of his best advice and you’ll see it’s also not rocket science. Chris pushes the idea of human business, being personal, being generous and being nice. He not only advises his clients and audience of this approach, he does it himself.
Chris gives away a ton of free advice, ideas and expertise on his blog, on Twitter and every other channel he utilizes. Chris also charges clients and has various paid options for access to premium content. What’s amazing is that as busy as Chris is, he answers tweets, he engages in conversation and if you meet him in person, he’s actually a very nice person. He’s not just broadcasting, he’s showing up to be the center of a community and his methods are so basic in most cases that it’s easy to overlook how brilliant it really is.
The takeaway?
To be successful in Social Media, you needn’t do much more than be available, generous, and kind. If you are nice to the people you speak with online, and you generously give away something of value to them, you are on the right path. They will likely be back and might just share something you’ve posted.
Some people may look at that and say “Oh there’s so much more, this guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” I’d like to be clear that if we think bigger than the Fortune 500, we’ll realize that the largest base of users to benefit from Social Media will be small businesses and they make up nearly 80% of US GDP. Most of them don’t have to offer much more than an authentic personal touch, good customer service and a better connection with customers.
So what’s so complex?
You didn’t think it was just Facebook and Twitter did you?
Social Media doesn’t just mean that you have a Facebook page or a Twitter account. The social web is massive and soon enough, probably even already, the whole web will be social. There are a litany of questions to take your social media activity to that next level:
- Where are you customers spending time online? Who influences them? What are they saying about you?
- What sorts of things could you say online that could ruin your brand’s reputation?
- Who is in charge of content? What sort of content does your customer find valuable?
- Are you going to blog? If so, what platform are you going to use? Do you know why you’re going to use that platform over another?
All of these questions can be dealt with in-house provided that at least one person has enough experience with the tools or the passion to learn them. This is where it gets tricky for most organizations and why they over-rotate.
How-vs-Why?
Herein lies the nexus of where simplicity and complexity meet. It’s simple to operate the tools. It’s much more complex to know if you are even using the right tools.
Simple or Complex? Social Media is neither, and it is both. Just because a 7 year old knows HOW to operate Facebook doesn’t mean they are the right person to tell you WHY to use Facebook in a business context. So before your business jumps into the deep end of a Facebook Page with a life-preserver, remember the complexity of simplicity when you are setting your goals, expectations and budget.
I’ll leave you with this quote:
“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after.”
-Henry David Thoreau
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Want more? Call True Voice Media 215-948-2012.