I have read much discussion about the voice of social media from numerous self proclaimed experts and I believe that I may have reach a sort of social epiphany. First let me start off by stating for the record that I am NOT an expert but a mere enthusiast who keeps their ear to the ground, somehow observing trends in seemingly disconnected events. Unfortunately this may not be one of those cases. What I mean is that at this point I know some of what I wish to say in this article but as often happens I do not know where I’ll end up when it’s complete.
So you are by now asking yourself hey Mikel get to the point what do you mean by the ‘Voice of Social Media?’ Well frankly I am glad you asked. What I am referring to a the VOSM, what an ugly abbreviation that makes, is who speaks for the brand in your social media efforts. I’ve listened to several experts claim that you should talk in all of your efforts with one voice. To this I can only partially agree, because we should not make the mistake of confusing the man (or woman) with the company nor should we confuse the company with the man.
As much as his personality permeates the entire core of the company, Apple is not Steve Jobs. It is unfortunate that sometimes they appear to be one and the same, but I can assure you they are two distinctly separate personalities. Which leads to my first point, be careful not to allow your voice to speak for your company. A company is like a machine the culmination of all of it’s parts and even if you are a company of one you are still an individual who can go home at night kick off your shoes to enjoy a quiet even of True Blood. Remember you are a person with hobbies likes and dislikes. A company can not enjoy such indulgences.
In addition you have a duty to your personal brand. There is nothing wrong with your company supporting your personal brand but it should never usurp it. Remember companies have a logo and an identity all to themselves one that they should hold true to. When a company usurps your personal brand then it pollutes it’s identity and yours. Consider this if you were to sell your company and move on to other enterprises do you want your personal brand to still be associated with the former company? If you have been careful then this would not happen.
This follows to my second point, and it’s a bit more difficult to spot directly. The majority of job listings that I see pass my inbox on a daily basis are for some sort of Social Media Marketing _________ (fill in the blank) position. Even if the title does not state it the description and required skills will list multiple years of marketing experience as a must and I am here to say that, “Social media does not belong in the hands of a marketing department.” I’m sure some of you just spit coffee all over your nice pretty new notebooks and iPads but let me restate it to be clear. Your social media campaign should not be in the hands of your marketing department. If it is you are likely chase an unattainable ROI and worse alienate your customers.
As I have stated in previous articles social media management is no about broadcasting one’s message over and over again until you beat it into your customer’s heads with a digital stick. It all starts with listening something that marketing specialists are not keen to do. This takes tact and compassion as well as a boat load of patience. Your company’s brand must be protected and it’s message consistent. Honestly the only logical hands that this mission could fall on are your public relations team. Social media is about the customers’ needs not the company’s. The company’s with successful social media campaigns are the ones who don’t focus on broadcasting their corporate dogma but helping customers solve their problems. Coincidentally enough sometimes those problems are not even related to the company’s products and services.
Once I had a customer engagement where the conversation turned to home brewing, and they asked my opinion on a brewing method. I gave them my honest assessment of the technique and I am happy to say that they are a very good customer of my company. They bought an entire network infrastructure upgrade all because I helped solve a problem not even computer related. More importantly I did this as myself and not as the company. No person is going to look up computer support company’s to ask beer brewing questions, but if your Twitter profile or Facebook fan page happens mention you brew beer then the door is open.
This of course leads me to my final point and that is if you are a public figure then your personal brand and company are actually indeed the same. Let’s face it when Lindsay Lohan well tweets anything it becomes news regardless of her intoxication level. However the major difference is that she could go into rehab well after the jail time and clean up her act. If a major company suffered from some of these antics well the only option would be an complete rebranding of the company not unlike PhilipMorris I mean Altria. The only way for a company to change a bad image is either a hell of a lot of time or a complete name change. Oddly enough both seem to take a hell of a lot of time.
Even though celebrities tend to be their own personal brands there are some who follow a similar path as I have outlined previously. Before we part ways consider Alyssa_Milano and her company TouchByAM both are distinct brands. She does a fantastic job of keep the identities separate. Follow TouchByAM I expect to hear statements about baseball and the company’s product line but I do not expect to see info about TV show she’s working on. The latter is usually served up by her personal identity or a special one for that project.
The point here is that the information relating to each brand personal or business is kept relevant to that brand. In addition the company that sells sportswear also comments on sports activities thus engaging the customer base in a common conversation. The company is involved in sports i.e. baseball. This is something that marketing would not likely do, but a good PR person would.
Ok so we’ve covered a lot of ground and yet come full circle. If there aren’t any questions then I’ll be on my way. The beer doesn’t brew let alone drink itself you know. So what’s your Social Media Voice?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mikel King has been a leader in the Information Technology Services field for over 20 years. He is currently the CEO of Olivent Technologies, a professional creative services partnership in NY. Additionally he is currently serving as the Secretary of the BSD Certification group as well as a Senior Editor for the BSD News Network.