Chapter 16
Learning and Experimentation Lead to Experience
In new media, we're frequently challenged to venture outside our lair of solace, and the more we live outside it, the more we begin to actually redefine our center of judgment, transforming how we process and act based on how new information reaches us.
Curiosity and experience reveal new, more effective, and more efficient ways to get from here to the ever elusive there, all while venturing into the unknown. It's what we implement that converts theory into practice, and practice into education and innovation.
Caution, however, isn't something we ought to carelessly throw to the wind. Within social networks and the blogosphere, the rules of engagement are being defined. There's much to learn, but we can't grasp or master anything by sitting idly and watching the world pass us by. Nor can we jump in with both feet and engage without observing how we effectively contribute value and earn the relationships that spark communities, associations, and ultimately action.
BECOMING THE EXPERT
Every day, you learn a great deal about your business and industry.
This is your moment, and it starts with becoming the type of person you would want to listen to, watch, read, and otherwise seek guidance. You are empowered to lead the way and employ the lessons and insights you absorb to always improve the state of the brand.
We are charting the specific steps necessary to accomplish new and great things. We do so by tying strategies and tactics to real-world business value, not because we can, but because we have to.
Sure, those responsible for green-lighting a new pilot, campaign, or program may or may not be qualified to do so. They may, instead, stand in the way, in a desperate bid for job security, and attempt to direct a social media project into oblivion, tangle innovation with a Web of process requirements and aging infrastructure, or, even worse, denounce new ideas.
Okay, so then what?
Thankfully, there are also gatekeepers who are never content with the status quo and recognize opportunity and their chance to not only adapt and evolve along with the market, but also help lead them to answers to make more informed decisions.
We're all learning.
We are the champions. … We are becoming the experts.
YOU'RE THE REAL THING
While many individuals can demonstrate the benefits of and processes for building and managing brands in social media, only those who have faced business-specific challenges, tested numerous initiatives, experienced buy and sell cycles, and lived through successes and failures related to their markets are eligible to become bona fide experts. But in all reality, we are forever students of new media.
It's not about the tools.
It's not about the ability to build profile pages within specific social networks and update them all day, every day.
It's not about creating a blog and populating it with content.
And it's definitely not about creating and polluting the Web with irrelevant social objects.
This is about social architecture, engineering, and the empathy required to build bridges between your company, its brand, and its audiences, customers, and peers. It's also about contributing value to the communities in which you wish to participate.
Want to master Twitter? Don't jump to purchase a book on Twitter. It's less important to know the history of Twitter or how to tweet and more important to use Twitter as an extension of who you are, what you stand for, and the value that you can add to the community.
The same is true for Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn, for that matter. At the end of the day, they're channels—albeit rich channels—for listening, learning, and engaging. Understanding the unique culture of each social network as it relates to your business and the corresponding behaviors that define desirable interest graphs is critical to establishing, implementing, and managing successful programs.
Tools are just that: tools. They will help you reach people. They'll adapt. They'll change. They'll emerge and merge. And many will simply vanish.
Think about it for a moment.
Your focus, no matter which tools you use, must be on assessing weaknesses and opportunities, defining goals and objectives, auditing the landscape and competitive activity, listening to where and how the community is speaking, and identifying concerns and challenges. We must take steps to create a governing and measurable strategy that will help us justify, refine, and improve our activity.
WHEN POV BECOMES A POINT OF VALIDATION
To best appeal to customers, peers, and other influencers, we need to embrace their point of view. This provides insight into their frame of mind. Doing so will lay the foundation that will allow us to learn from an educated position. From there, our experience and training builds upon itself in line with our markets.
We're usually missing the “day in the life of ” viewpoint and the “why should I listen to you” perspective in our strategy and execution, yet it's supposed to serve as the core of everything we do and should be doing.
In my experience, we tend to broadcast, even when we are listening. We tend to communicate without regard for the bigger picture as it relates to participating parties, even if we're engaging.
The experience that's earned through the process of establishing a brand and building prominence, cultivating a vibrant community, earning trust and loyalty on behalf of a company brand, and inspiring measurable action and transactions, is immeasurable and critical.
You represent the future of your brand's connections, and resonance within emerging media. Don't get distracted. Get to work.
LET'S TALK ABOUT MEANINGFUL EXCHANGES
Any anthropologist or sociologist will tell you that before attempting to join any society, we must conduct initial fieldwork to observe and document the culture, behaviors, communication styles, customs, and traditions of its citizens. And before we can determine which networks we prioritize, we have to first listen to the conversations across multiple social networks to identify and distinguish relevant interaction from worthless chatter.
Use the conversation prism (see Chapter 18) to establish a conversation index.
Transformation begins with observation.
We need to spend more time listening and less time broadcasting or talking at people.
We must realize that there are benefits to monitoring, listening, communicating, and connecting.
WHO OWNS SOCIAL MEDIA?
It is essential to figure out who's in charge of the conversations for your brand. Is it advertising, PR, marketing communications, or customer service? Actually, it's all of these!
Perhaps CEOs, directors, and investors will read this and force change from the top down. But in most cases, change will be driven from the bottom up, and also will be influenced by middle management. As social media becomes accepted and practiced industrywide, change will also stem from outside pressure. Someone has to lead the discussions.
The easy answer is that no one owns the conversation and that each division and each person representing the company, inward and outward, will be responsible for contributing to it. Any division affected by outside behavior requires a social extension.
When you listen, categorize conversations by the department that each update was targeted. For example, could the comment have benefited product development or did the exchange require someone from customer service to respond. As you'll see, conversations will always map directly to specific departments within a company, thus requiring participation from everyone, including service and support, public relations, marketing communications, executives, product development, finance/investor (if applicable), and so forth.
The best companies will realize that the future of business is not created, it's co-created. As such, brands will share control associated with gatekeeping the brand and messages in social realms and trust their employees and customers to carry them forward. Don't get me wrong, traditional marketing can still run as it has; it simply now needs a complementary role with all the new media activities. There also needs to be a more cognizant process for understanding the people who compose the markets you're trying to reach.
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
The primary metric for business success is measured in profitability and market share, not friends and followers. It is quantified in predefined and desired actions, not conversations. It is metered in presence and not chatter. The path to direct success is blocked by tollgates that are manned by influencers, who govern passage.
While basic communications and personal skills factor into engagement, they are technically responsible for defining perception, reach, and persona.
While many preach the importance of personality and voice and the humanization of the corporate brand in social networks, there's something to be said for mystique and there's definitely something to be said for creating perception.
Being yourself or simply being present isn't enough, and many times it can also take away from the persona that symbolizes the company and its products. We examined the need to define and personify the brand earlier.
Would Apple maintain its magic if everyday social media experts were actively engaging with people on Twitter? Would Steve Jobs preserve his charisma if we, as the public, could freely access him through social networks? Or would these prestigious brands lose their luster and charisma if they were absolutely accessible?
Think about it. Would simply having access to the company wherever, whenever, through the voices and personalities of John or Jane Doe change your perceptions of Apple or Mr. Jobs?
I remind you of this here because you are the first line of defense and offense.
In social media, the brands of participants will forever be at odds with the brands they represent. Who we are as an individual and who we are as a representative of a company aren't always in harmony. However, there is an attainable balance and it's this balance that inflates and steers the impression of all brands involved on both sides of the conversation—as it relates to the calculation of brand personality.
While we inject a human element into the image of the company to make it approachable and compassionate, we must also assess our intended role in the communities we wish to reach. Then, and only then, can we plot our bearing and trajectory.
It's a matter of being human versus humanizing the story, and there is a stark difference between them.
Humanizing the brand is necessary if, and only if, a human voice will reduce or eliminate potential friction between the customer and the company. Otherwise, social strategies must personify the greater purpose, significance, and symbolization of the brand, and reinforce those traits through everything we contribute. We do so by also humanizing our existing and potential customers, gaining empathy and sincerity in the process. But we must do so at a profound measure. It requires not only a deep-rooted comprehension of human nature and connections, but also comprehension of perception management and branding that leaves those you encounter more informed and fulfilled. We're instilling the attributes that engender awareness, affinity, and loyalty.
We look to you to act as the gatekeeper who protects the brand while serving the interests of those you're chartered to reach.
The shift from specialist to authority is driven specifically by experience and the activities that define your social portfolio. As a business professional seeking guidance and direction, become the person you're trying to reach by using the voice of the persona you wish to convey and fortify.
This is connectivity through inspiration. In the process, we become the very social media experts we sought to employ.
Be bullish.
Stand up and assume command.
You are the voice, spirit, and mind of the brand and only you can help the company connect with the people and culture that define it.