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An Honest Take on Social Media
Just taking a quick minute in between speakers at this year’s Social Fresh series in Tampa. Even though we’ve only heard from one speaker so far, my head is already swimming with ideas.
Brian Simpson with Vikram Chatwal Hotels had some great things to say about his experiences in the social media arena. While there’s a lot to go into, honestly, it can all be boiled down to one thing:
Honesty
Social media is the newest boomtown, and as such it can potentially draw in every manner of opportunist, drifter, grifter and snake oil salesman. I think the SM public, in general, is savvy to that fact. As such, you can imagine there’s a lot of intuition and gut-checks being applied by your potential visitors and fans.
Honest communications and a true desire to foster a community are key. Otherwise, as Mr. Simpson so ably pointed out, you’re simply developing a base of spectators. The difference? Spectators may follow you, but they’re indifferent to your well being. They have no passion for your standing. A community, on the other hand, is more of a family. Yes, you may witness some disagreement, and airing some of that dirty laundry can be occasionally problematic and embarrassing, but there’s also a mammoth plus side: When push comes to shove, a portion of that community WILL rally to your cause no matter what.
In his presentation, Simpson admitted that all this doesn’t amount to a clean “sell up” that you can readily explain to the CEO with solid guarantees. But watch what happens when the going gets tough. Your spectators desert you. Your community supports you, even before you’ve developed your own response plan. And when it’s time to spread some good news or share a new initiative, your spectators remain indifferent. However, if you’ve treated your community well, and with honesty… well, those community members are already out there spreading your message, without you even having to ask.
Bottom line – don’t be exploiters, give as much as you’re taking, and, above all, respect the fact that when you start a community you’re actually part of the community, not the unilateral owner. Adhere to these basics and you’ll prosper in the boomtown.
And that’s my honest take.
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Author: Gary Grant
As Senior Creative Producer / Director at Mindclay, Gary's crazy-quilt background includes on-air investigative reporting, program production, product development, creative team leadership, distance education, instructional design, B2B + B2C media, and a bizarre host of seemingly unrelated experiences that power the creative reactor as needed.
4 Comments to “An Honest Take on Social Media”
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Well stated, Gary! I agree that the bottom line is that people want to talk to people, and be part of that "community", and generally do not want to be sold to or talked at.
I can't wait to hear from the rest of the presenters today! Really important and relevant stuff!
Enjoying listening to Paula Berg right now (former Southwest Airlines SM innovator). What a great speaker! Lot's of apple cart-upsetting ideas!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by MindoMondo, MindoMondo. MindoMondo said: Gary talks about some great points from today’s social fresh conference http://fb.me/OSD0TAnd [...]
Thank you Gary for taking the time to not only attend Social Fresh, also for writing such a nice post. I am glad you were able to find some of what we talked about useful..I find the best info comes from the questions and follow up posts such as yours.
I look forward to following your blog and seeing more great updates about other inspiring people!
Cheers
B