What’s your Story?
One thing that fascinates me when I meet people online is the amazing stories that they have about their past, what things have dropped them to that moment in time, and also what their future dreams, hopes, and goals are. In the social media space we have the unique ability to share these types of life details with others of like mind. It’s interesting to note that many people in the online space often equate themselves to the jobs they do rather than the real person that they are.
What are the things that make you or your organization standout? If you are in the internet marketing space are you still trying to gain attention by calling yourself a revolutionary marketer or the Best in the Biz??? I have news for you…The last 50 spam marketing gurus and agencies on twitter told me the same thing in the last hour!
Now don’t get me wrong, there are things that you should and should not share in your online life, and much of that is dependent on your comfort level. My point here is that for the most part NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR WIDGET! So how do you get people to care?
Be Interesting and Share your Story
Frankly, I don’t care that you have a new widget…..BUT I do care about how you arrived at that widget! What were your thoughts and motivations to create this new widget? Who were you designing this widget around? What is your outlook on the future?
Case in Point…Steve shares his Process
Recently, I chatted with Steve Saylor about this very thing. Steve had been struggling a bit with the writing on his blog, and has also been struggling to find work as a full time college student. We talked about how he could share his passions with his community and tie that back to what he wanted to do for income. Steve is a passionate new media user and producer. He is going to school for broadcasting and radio communications. He has produced literally hundreds of podcasts, an audio book, and has done professional quality commercials and voice-overs. The problem is this; No one cares….hrmmmm. Well, maybe his family cares, I know I care because I’m one of his best friends but why should anyone else care?
Steve’s goal among many is to find work in the Voiceover area. He is very talented in that area and has a lot of passion for the work. So he has decided to share the story of his search for this job and let his community in on his successes and pitfalls during the process. Does this sound a bit more intriguing? Steve could simply put up a post on his blog asking for referrals to anyone that might need voice over services, but instead he is taking a proactive role in getting to his goal!
Now this article is not meant to sound like a Steve Saylor advertisement, because it’s not. The point I am making is that it is important to tell your true, honest to goodness story for people to have any level of care for your project.
The Social Media Conundrum…How does this translate to an Organization???
Many businesses these days are looking to social technologies because they think they will capture an instant audience using cheap tools like twitter and facebook. Their bottom lines are suffering because they have not built recession proof businesses, or they have simply failed to innovate. In simple terms they have given the public no reason to care or support them!
Social Media to the rescue right?? Wrong! These organizations that have never been open in any way in the past are bringing their ADVERTISING mentality to the social web. They assume because people are here, that people will listen. I mean twitter and facebook are growing at record rates right? Again, they fail to answer the question…. Why will anyone care? (Social Media is 100% Opt in!) In fact by coming into the space blogging bout their latest and greatest gadget,shouting at people on twitter, and spamming your facebook inbox it seems to me that they will actually be doing more harm than good. Why would you trust their message in a twitter stream any more than you would watching their 30 second television spots. (By the way….no one watches those anymore….thank goodness for DVR’s!)
So what are organizations, especially large ones to do when they see their bottom line profits fractioning off to smaller more open and agile companies? Here are a couple clues that your organization can do to help answer the question….Why will anyone care?:
Listen and Engage
Social technology is not a platform for you to announce new products and services, but rather a platform to engage your users, gain knowledge of their needs and drive innovation through the needs of those users. The power users of the web tend to be about three years ahead in terms of technology and trends to gain mass attention. Sounds like a crystal ball to me.
Share from the point the first marker hits the Whiteboard
If your organization is one of those close walled, stay in supposed control organizations, then try developing one product or service with an open mindset and see what happens. No matter what it is that your developing, share the process on your blog, twitter your updates, and bring others that are passionate in this area into the fold. In fact, I encourage you to start two blogs and two twitter accounts if you don’t believe me. On the first account I want you to be 100% transparent in sharing all of the processes leading up to the launch of a new product or service. In the second accounts I just want you to update with announcements of new items. When your all done, let me know which one created more engagement, excitement, and return on investment. I already know the answer, but give it a try.
- If you would like more references to this model of sharing you should check out Amber Naslunds blog article titled I want to Follow Stories
- Jeremiah Owyang tells you how Social technologies are Becoming Pervasive.
- Scott Monty tells us about cool real life stories that tie back to the Ford Mustang. This is what makes brands human!
- Finally, Chris Brogan tells you about the ROI of Stories.
I hope this article has given you some insights into how sharing and transparency can actually help your message and bottom line. I would love to hear more stories of companies and individuals that have changed their mindset and are either succeeding or hitting roadblocks using these strategies. If you have a case story in mind please leave a comment or a link below and I will be sure to include them in a future case studies.
Photo Credit to: Umjanedoan
Special thanks to Chris Van Patten for his Editorial work.
Keith Burtis is a social media and digital marketing professional. If you or your company are looking to REV THE ENGINE on your digital efforts contact Keith today! Specialties include: Blog design/Integration, Custom Facebook Pages, Social, Digital and Interactive Content strategies.
Comments
Shannon, you rock! How much shall I pay you for a guest blog post??? heck, that comment is worth a re-post! I say Amen to that sister!
Understanding people as stories is most enjoyable through Social Media because, while my mind will always attempt to fill in the blanks about someone, more data defines the difference between a personal ad and a novel. If nature abhors a vacuum, our minds likewise churn to fill gaps in information. How often I find my brain leaping to meaningfully connect a series of tweets to an avatar.
Over the next couple of months I have to try to convince the powers that be, behind an organization of 60,000 members comprised mostly of people aged 25-45, that SM is an essential way to reach out to disengaged members. Pictures and names of a select handful of people cannot galvanize organizational leadership or inclusiveness from a thousand miles away without Social Media.
The leadership of our organization follows the Field of Dreams tenet that if they build it (a website)… well, you know the rest. Their fears lie in control over engaging in open messaging without realizing their static message has become devalued by disinterest. Not to get all McLuhan-esque here, but maximizing the medium is far more important than any single message, and fostering relationships to make our members care about the people delivering the content will start to make the messages (which are mostly rote and expected anyway) meaningful because of the provider.
Thanks for the incentive for a little introspective word wank. Sorry for any incoherent non-sequiturs. Helps to galvanize my ideas if I type it out.
Can I get an amen? The Social Media conundrum, second para: This is not marketing the way your daddy did it. This is unmarketing. Smart marketers follow their consumers… they stay on top of emerging trends, market trends and the evolution of consumer behavior. This space belongs to the people… you play by their rules or you get blocked. Bringing your advertising, or one way messages and tools that fudge what this space is really all about is not going to save your bottom line. And it’s not cool to use this approach and then when it doesn’t work, dismiss SM as a overrated fad.
Small is the new big. I think Seth Godin said it first… and I’ve heard it many many times since. There are a new set of rules.
Playing in this space is kind of like arriving at a cocktail party not really knowing anyone… observe, listen, when it’s right, engage the conversation – this is not your queue to promote you, your product or business for the next 15 minutes … or guess what? Your audience will quickly find that they need a refill… or the loo! And you will be enjoying the rest of the evening on your own.
Well said Keith. Great post.