I’ve often wondered about the differences in psychological makeup between those active in social media versus those who occasionally participate.  I’ve long made fun of friends and colleagues who feel the need to share their every thought or chronicle their movement through the day. Why in gods name would D think we need to know he’s just pulled up to xyz restaurant for a meeting with Bob or that he’s tired after a long day?

Is the difference simply one of I versus E – Introvert vs Extrovert, with the E’s making up the greater portion of heavy participants?  Perhaps it’s a combination of psychological factors and simply time.  I can barely answer my email, much less think about composing a meaningful post to send out to the world.

Perhaps the clue lies in the word meaningful. I’m not a casual poster or tweeter.  I’m discerning about what I think I have to offer the world.  Mostly because I think it’s a reflection on me and I want to come across as knowing my stuff or having something worthwhile to say.  I don’t want to be confused for just another social gadfly who likes to hear themselves talk.  This is different from being discerning about what other people might want to hear.  In other words, my discernment is internally focused versus externally focused.

A case could be made that social media participation helps to make people more externally focused. For her coming book, “Alone Together,” MIT professor Sherry Turkle interviewed more than 400 children and parents about their use of social media and cellphones. Among young people especially she found that the self was increasingly becoming externally manufactured rather than internally developed: a series of profiles to be sculptured and refined in response to public opinion. “On Twitter or Facebook you’re trying to express something real about who you are,” she explained. “But because you’re also creating something for others’ consumption, you find yourself imagining and playing to your audience more and more. So those moments in which you’re supposed to be showing your true self become a performance. Your psychology becomes a performance.” Referring to “The Lonely Crowd,” the landmark description of the transformation of the American character from inner- to outer-directed, Turkle added, “Twitter is outer-directedness cubed.”

I’m in favor of anything that gets people out of themselves and focused on other people, but it’s the performance part of this that makes me a little nervous. Does Turkle’s research suggest we ultimately become whoever we think the audience wants us to be?  Sounds a little dangerous, and particularly so, if the audience has questionable values and intentions.

How might we help enable the good stuff – more external focus, but balance this out with a strong sense of self and ability to both add meaningful discourse and inspire that in others?

I’m interested in what you think. Please add your comments.

– Pam Holloway

With all the hype about social media it’s easy to think of it and use it as just another marketing tool.  Now before you remind me that it was me that suggested you add it to your marketing arsenal, let me explain.  Social conversations via social media are in fact an important part of your ongoing connection and relationship with your customers.  But they are in fact different from most of your other marketing in a couple of very important ways:

1. They are interactive – or at least should be.  It’s a conversation, not a presentation or declaration
2. They are dynamic and context rich – about what’s going on now, ever-changing and always fresh
3. They are exploratory and free flowing – you go in with a topic in mind perhaps, but you let the conversation guide you and you stay “open” to new ideas and new directions

If you do nothing more than begin to think of social media as a tool for helping you have a conversation with your customers, you’ll be off on the right path.  As you sit down to write, think about what you would say if you were actually having a two-way dialogue.  Imagine the other person or persons who will read what you write and what thoughts or questions might go through their mind.

Get “real” and stay there.  The more your conversation looks like marketing, the less effective it will be.  The single worst thing you can do is simply insert pieces of your marketing and advertising into a social media conversation. Remember this phrase – authentic conversations. That’s your aim when you sit down to make your way in the social world.  More on authentic conversing later.

– Pam Holloway

Social media is currently a buzz that is turning into a necessity. Firms that don’t start to use social media APPROPRIATELY will be seen as old-line firms that do not listen to their clients. See, social media is driven entirely by the readers. And, readers are your customers.

We could divide every firm into two parts: 1) the firm’s capabilities and 2) the firm’s credibility. Capabilities are products, features, technology – which are encapsulated in the formal marketing messages. Credibility is the firm’s character and qualities.  That is often encapsulated in the informal a corporate identity message. Who is the firm? What do they do? What’s their story?

Every firm has formal and informal messages. Traditional marketing is the formal message. If all you have is a sales pitch, you will lose big-time in the coming years.  What you say to people in friendly conversation about your firm is the informal message.  And, THAT is what you’d say in social media.

We have a new client in Houston. They do employee benefits – an old-line, traditional industry. I explained social media to the owner and he literally jumped over the phone. He had never considered how an informal message transmitted through an informal medium could be so important to him. In the next few weeks he and I will get together and develop a package of micro-messages that articulate the messages he wants to make about his firm.

We might develop 50 statements that his internal marketing person can then drop into various social media discussions. In that way, he builds a reputation for having great wisdom and relevant expertise.

Pam and I believe that many firms that don’t use social media just don’t understand it.   As in every new technology, it’s not about the damn technology!  It’s about People!  The technology is simply different types of gathering places.  Where are your future customers?  That’s where you need to start “lurking” and figuring out how to add value.

– Michael Lovas

I’ve had several conversations this week about what it means to have a meaningful dialogue with your customers.   It seems many companies mistakenly believe marketing is a meaningful dialogue. NOT!  “But we have blogs, they say, and we tweet!”  To which I respond – “And your blogging and tweeting is the same kind of one-way “push” message you’ve been using for years.”  It is not a two-way conversation and certainly not a rich dialogue.

Lest you think adding a blog, in an of itself, helps “connect you” or build trust, guess again.  According to studies by Forrester Research company blogs are one of the least trusted sources of information about a company.  Not only do blogs rank below newspapers and portals in the Forrester study, they rank below wikis, direct mail, company email, and message board posts. Only 16% of online consumers who read corporate blogs say they trust them. If you’re a corporate blogger or somebody who advises companies, you might want to pay attention.

And why don’t people trust company blogs?  My guess is because they quickly recognize the lack of authenticity and real dialogue.  We expect a brochure or a website or an ad to be marketing, but we secretly hope a blog isn’t.  If it “feels” like another marketing ploy, then our hackles go up immediately and any trust that might have been established is lost.

My advice to clients is if you can’t do blogs right, don’t do them at all.  And by “right” I mean a genuine conversation with real human beings responding to real customers.

What makes marketing successful today is different from what made it successful just a few years ago.  Control.  Look at nearly ever marketing piece and determind who is in control.  It’s always the marketer.  He decides what to sell, what to say and who gets the message.  The prospect is merely a bit player in the scenario.  Well, that was yesterday.  Problem is, many traditional marketers have yet to realize that those days are dying.

Today, the consumer has all the power.  If they see a marketing piece and are offended by it, that marketer gets slammed all over the internet.  Social media sites are talkiing about this exact point, and they are naming the names of the offenders. 

In the “old days,” marketing managers were king.  They called all the shots and pulled all the levers.  Today, they don’t want to give up that power and control, so they continue to push onward in a dying world.  Here is how it works:

A group of like-minded people gather online.  What makes them like-minded is often their profession – or your target market.  So, let’s say it’s chiropractors.  They gather and exchange information on a Linked In Group.  These Groups are similar to a Master-Mind Group.  If they are your target market, and you have a record of poor service, don’t you think your name will come up when they discuss people and firms to avoid?  At the point of that online conversation, you lost all your control.  Your firm lost all its control.  The target market gained all the control. 

The question for you is:  what are you going to do about it?