In an article called “How Three Brands Got Smart About Social Media” over on the ClickZ network, author Anna Maria Virzi wrote a perfect setup in her beginning paragraphs:
“A cacophony of voices are chanting: Put on a good face for Facebook, chirp on Twitter, tap dance for YouTube — all without looking stupid, appearing phony, breaking the law, alienating customers, or busting the budget.
No wonder some marketing executives are paralyzed.”
The article goes on to describe some interesting implementations of social media marketing, and some nice ideas for measuring success - positive comments, number of downloads, increased sales, increased customer satisfaction…
Paralysis Analysis (sorry, I couldn’t resist)
The feeling of paralysis is real when it comes to entering into the different areas of conversation online (which is all social media really is, in my opinion).
At the root of the issue for most businesses is one simple thing - control.
I used to think fear was the underlying issue, but I’m beyond that now. Fear simply describes the emotion around loss of control.
“What if someone says something bad about us?”
The most oft-heard (and generally first) question I hear from businesses when asking how to safely enter online conversations…
My answer? They’re probably already talking about you anyway. Don’t you want to know what they’re saying? (It may not all be bad - unless your business has prompted bad feelings.) And regardless of the tone of the conversation, don’t you want a voice at the party to respond?
These days, it’s OK to be human - even if you’re a brand.
A brand is (ideally) how your market feels about you, after all… And I know of no human in the world who’s always in control. To be human means to be:
- Delighted when things go well. (For most of us, that’s - what? - 10%-20% of the time?)
- Vulnerable when things don’t go well. (Another 10%-20% of the time?)
- Unsure, irritated, bored, smug, beseeching, aggressive, threatened… when things are just going along (the majority of the time).
Most of the time, we just make stuff up to move us to one state of feeling or another…
Why, then, does your business need to consistently appear superior to the general human condition? That’s a very 1.0 point of view.
Until businesses are made up of robots, we’re full of people. Which means we’re stuck with having forces beyond our control affect us - whether they be people, the rising/falling dollar, the agility of our partners or the resilience of our natural resources.
The first step in building resiliency to the forces beyond our control is to admit we’re not superior; and we’re interested in being part of the solution.
“What if I don’t know the answer?”
In another excellent article, this time on Online Spin, Max Kalehoff wrote, “Acknowledge What You Don’t Know.“In it, Max writes:
“…acknowledging what you don’t know implicitly means you’re open to alternative viewpoints and solutions. Allowing others into your realm enables choice and optimization, and greatly improves problem-solving likelihood….
…The fact is that people want to help. Being open identifies yourself, makes you visible and encourages others to contribute positive thinking and support to help you succeed.”
That’s the value to businesses in social media. There are thousands of examples every day of people offering their advice, opinions and experiences with brands online.
Smart businesses are listening (1.5), and even smarter businesses (2.0) are engaging in those conversations online.
And then there are those businesses (1.0) who simply have their heads stuck in the sand.
(1) Comments 
