A few years back, a friend who was going through a tough time started a communal blog project. When I saw what she was doing, the little self-styled “social media expert” part of me doubted it could gain any traction. But it succeeded brilliantly, because it was simple, honest and resonated with people. And I learned I was being stupid and that “expertise” can become an elitist position. Thankfully, I’ve since realized we are all social media students more than experts, and that anyone with a good story and passion can build a community.
Sadly, we still see so many power struggles and posturing over who can be a social media “expert.” Cathryn Sloane touched off a firestorm with a recent blog entry on Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25, rightfully critiqued on its self-absorption and sense of entitlement. It touched off rebuttals from across the blogosphere, noting that having a Facebook account and being a “digital native” (scare quotes intentional) do not alone qualify one to work in social media marketing. But it also does not mean that age, or any other general factor, disqualifies one from doing it well.
The best of the business of social media are of various ages but share key traits including dedication to customer service, brand comprehension, being a good listener and willingness to try new technology. Note that those traits do not denote any kind of expertise and the arrogance that comes with it. On the contrary, they all point to one overriding trait: humility.
Dedication to customer service: While some people are better at customer service than others, this is a mindset more than anything. It requires putting arrogance and the me-first attitude aside and seeing what you can do for your client, patron or user.
Brand comprehension: I bristle when so many in higher education tell students to focus on building their own brand. While I understand the concept, once they get a job, their own brand does not supercede the company brand. If you’re one of Zappos’ excellent social media representatives, you’re living their brand (which also happens to be outstanding customer service) not the me-me-me-first self-promotional brand.
Being a good listener: The late Stephen R. Covey put this best: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Focusing on others is the only way to understand their problems and, correspondingly, what your company or institution can do better.
Willingness to try new technology: When we try something new, we sometimes (often?) look silly. So many people never leave their comfort zones or want to try (and fail) at something new. To be a learner is to open yourself to vulnerability and embarrassment … but also to open your mind to experiences — and technology — that can ultimately improve everyone’s experience.
What I’ve learned is anyone with the right approach to social media — or any field — can be successful in it. But the key is not to approach it with arrogance but instead with humility, passion and a desire to learn.
Preach!
Very well stated Tim. We are relatively new to social media and are each more than a couple of multiples of 25 years old. We resisted getting engrossed in this for a long time, and only came to to doing it as a promotional method to increase our “reach” when we started writing audience perspective blog postings for ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble, the prominent new music organization). FYI, we are on Twitter as @ICEfansArleneLD and on Facebook as “Larry-Arlene Dunn” (no doubt breaking several molds Mr. Zuckerberg and friends have in mind). I am sure our success (or lack of it) using social media to promote our blogging and the music organizations we support can be vigorously debated. I don’t think we have a good sense yet as to whether we are doing it well. But we are struck by the broad range of capability, from great to pitiful, that we observe in the social media universe by those who are doing this promotionally. We think your guidelines to successful promotional use of social media outlined above are an excellent framework to use as a foundation. Bravo.
Tim, thanks for linking to my blog post and I couldn’t agree more with your traits, especially, humility. I think a lot of people often forget a little humbleness will go a long way when first starting out. When I started at First Scribe I didn’t pretend to know what I was doing…because I didn’t. I let the higher-ups show me the ropes and tried to soak up all their information as fast as possible to show I was a worthy addition to the company. So far it has worked out.
ERIC: Hallelujah! ; )
ARLENE AND LARRY: Thanks for the kind words, and I salute your example. Passion and a genuine interest in connecting to others can go a long way, regardless of age or experience.
ZACH: That is a refreshing attitude, and I’m sure it’s served you well. I know when I started my first professional job out of college, I assumed I knew a lot more than I did. I had to take a step back and learn to listen to a variety of perspectives and experiences. Everyone around us has something to teach us, if we’re just willing to listen.
Love this!
We need to understand that social media is not a game or an equation, marketing or otherwise. Sure you can increase followers in many ways – but do they stay and play in your community? If thats not what you want, who cares? If you’re using social as link bait, again, whats the point?
Unfortunately, not everyone can do social media ‘well’ but what is really unsettling is that there is such a variety in what ‘doing it well’ really means.
I feel doing it well means you do cool things that get people excited enough to contribute and remain members of a community. Not to be able to preach to them about your brand, but to be able to provide a place for them to revel in your brand – doing work that you dont have to do: promoting it!
JESS: Thanks, and agree completely. When I see all these pages saying comment-bait like “What was your favorite moment of the Olympics?” and “Do you like broccoli?” it just looks desperate. And as I always say, when you have a prize for your 1000th follower, you’re telling the first 999 they’re not of value to you. The content, the conversations should be exciting … and life itself is exciting, so it should be easy.