“It’s The Relationship, Stupid.”

A common thing we run across is “messaging” with social media. Meetings, consternation, and time spent – valuable, and can be productive time, thinking about what you’re going to say, how you’re going to say/communicate it. But then the other half of the loop isn’t closed and folks wonder why they’re not successful.

You can have a very effective message – but you can still snap defeat from the jaws of victory in social media because the conversation is just as important, if not more so, than the message.

The street is two-way; leaving comments languish for a long time, not responding to them, or even not thinking about your message in a way that your readership does.

There’s a couple of thoughts or best practices (I don’t like “rules” word) that we’ve seen.

1) Make sure your content is good. Write with people you respect in mind. Would they appreciate it? Would they find it valuable? Is there a real takeaway? Is it not a pitch?

2) When there’s conversation, engage it. If you moderate comments, act quickly on approval. If you have someone ask questions or make good points, talk it out.  That’s what is key to building that loyal following that will spread a message. There’s a saying that “It’s the Economy, stupid,” but in social media, “It’s the relationship, stupid.”

3) People don’t generally fall in love with brands, they fall in love with people. Almost every successful engagement we’ve had has been built around positive personal stories.  As a for instance, Oprah doesn’t look for brands, she looks for life-changing stories of people.  In short, an emotional “What’s In It For Me?” (WIIFM). You can build a brand that people love, but the personal story is a much more effective route.  And after all – the brands that people love are made up and have proponents that tell…. their personal story.  So either way, it’s about the people.

This is a hard one for folks to wrap their head around, especially if their experience is in the one-way world of press releases and advertising… if not outright frightening.  But that change is here.

A wise advertising mentor of mine from a top flight national agency taught me that the only constant is change and to cautiously embrace it as it comes to stay ahead.  That advice has served me well the past ten years.