Cutting the tosh for businesses finding their ‘social’ way

Claire Thompson, Waves PR

Businesses hearing lots of buzz around ‘social media’, how they should be there and how it’s a little untapped goldmine, are bombarded with conflicting information. Everyone suggests doing it their way.

You know what? Do it your way.

For a one man or small company, engaging socially is easy and pretty natural. It’s easy to make decisions and be genuine. But for mid-sized businesses, where the owner/manager or budgetholder has to make decisions about what time and financial resources, already limited, to place where, it’s harder.

Most businesses already have a social presence without even knowing it. If staff members have PCs or phones, you’re already there.

But looking for a template panacea that will suddenly propel you to the dizzy heights of social media stardom is the way to pointless angst.

So here’s my twopenn’orth to cutting through the noise.

You don’t HAVE to be here. If you’re not comfortable on-line or don’t have the resources to be involved, fine – but let it be a conscious decision.

Your customers, suppliers, potential employees are here in one way or another, so you’d be well advised to ensure, as an absolute minimum, that you take your own name (before a disgruntled customer or cheeky competitor does) and set some time aside to listen to what’s happening. There are cheap practical services that can help you register across any number of social sites. (You will still need to do the legwork on the signing up, though.)

So, assuming you do want to delve further this basic advice may help.

You can’t be on every social site, so ask your real world colleagues where they are, and what they use their preferred services for and develop a presence accordingly.

Think of any ‘social’ space like the biggest networking meet/party you ever went to:

- You may attend because you want to sell your products or services, but don’t be surprised if you bump into a new supplier or potential partner, old friend or job applicant instead. Call it serendipity.

- When you go to an event, you will normally look for a familiar face first. Don’t just, willy nilly, follow hundreds of people. Start with the recommendations of people you know. Your network will grow organically.

- You can stop and talk to just a few people or you can ‘work the room’. Do what’s natural for you. It’s very hard to sustain a false persona on-line (unless you’re very obviously pretending to be a cow, meerkat or large, famous clock, which is like wearing a fancy dress to the party – fun, novel, but may wear thin after a while.)

- It may help to think of ‘following’ or’ friending’ like exchanging a business card. If a complete stranger charges up to you and gives you their card, it may be lucky timing (and what you were looking for), but generally an introduction smooths a more productive path.

- There are people there you don’t want to talk with. Move on politely. The nice thing is that they are easier to spot, block or ignore online.

- Similarly, there may be people in the room who proactively don’t want you to be there. You’re on their turf. It’s like walking past the huddle of customers in the corner talking to your competitor. You can join the conversation, wait ‘til they break off and start a separate conversation, or just let it go. But if the ‘opposition’ gets vocal, choose carefully how to respond rather than kneejerk. It reflects more upon them than on you.

- If you can’t say something nice, say nothing. Or be prepared to spend a lot of time defending your stance. It’s no surprise that campaigns against something work well ‘socially’. And great ideas propel fast.

- A smile and a heavy dose of humour are more magnetic than grumpiness.

Don’t get sucked into the numbers game. Having one great conversation can be far more productive than a million passing smiles. But do be aware of what the numbers say about you and your style of communicating. An imbalance either way can say ‘arrogant guru’, people hanging off every word, or just plain spammy. (Lists can help balance some of this.)

Oh yes. And the social media shocker. Social media is not Twitter. Twitter is part of what’s currently grouped as social media. Remember that media is the plural of medium. It’s just one of them. It’s an important one. It’s an effective one. But it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

And who should you partner with to help you?

I see ‘social media experts’ as just part of the PR (public relations) continuum (and am metally ducking the tomatoes as I write). They are helping with a particular area of communication in the same way as someone who specialises in, say, medical, charity, campaigning or financial PR is setting out their stall of expertise.

You can ‘do’ social media in as many ways as there are people in the world. The best advice I can give is to find someone who shores up some your own weaknesses but shares your mindset. You may want someone who can create amazing and/or amusing content to share. You may simply want help starting productive conversations. You may need a clever geek who can produce technical goodies. Whoever you partner with, expect a long term partnership and expect to have to give your time. And to consider how it fits with the rest of what you’re doing.

It escapes my memory who said it at the Likeminds conference (probably Olivier Blanchard) but social media has a cost – in time at very least. The tools may often be free, but go in with your eyes open. You get back what you put in.

Good PR has always been about appropriate communication – reaching people in the way that most suits them. Like any other PR/communications exercise, think long term. (You will take time to find your own mojo).

Be prepared accept more mistakes than with other media. It’s a rapidly, constantly changing space, so being adult, open minded, apologising when required and opening up a way for people to reach you is the best advice anyone can give you. If your chosen expert hasn’t made mistakes (mis-typing and ambiguity are sometimes hard to avoid) and can’t be open about them, they are either dishonest, still waiting to make a mistake, or haven’t really lived it!

I’m such a plagiarist: I’m about to nick some words from yet another event – the £1.40 unconference (and again remember the place, but not the ‘who’).

You have two ears and one mouth. Use them in that proportion.

Sound words indeed.

Tags: social media

PR practise, communications | claireatwaves | December 15, 2009 2:43 pm

1 Comment

By Scott Gould, December 17, 2009 @ 2:21 am

Claire

Great thoughts – which I am now assimilating. This kind of joined up, step by step practical thinking is what the industry needs when taking this to agencies and clients