Is it just me, or are there really lots of quite poor communication from companies on social media these days?
Tweets and posts that look like they were written by someone else, and probably were?
Messages that have no apparent relevance to me as the reader or the companies they come from?
Sometimes it feels like these powerful new media channels are being used in an old-fashioned communication way.
The technology that supports these channels and the many clever applications that surround them make broadcasting much easier than it was before. For example, we can send across multiple platforms and programme communication to post in the future.
However the danger is that we focus too heavily on what the technology allows us to do rather than on our audience and what they want from us – it’s all about the medium and the technology, not the person we are trying to reach and the message.
Much social media usage is driven by relevance and participation – for these people delivering an engaging message that they can respond to or forward at the right time is critical. Getting someone else to write it, pre-programming its delivery days in advance and making an announcement is likely to be of limited appeal.
As with all marketing, understanding the audience and how they use the medium to create a new style of communication is critical. Avoiding the trap of old-style broadcast messages via new technology and media is key. If we don’t, at best we can hope to be an unnoticed irrelevance; at worst we can damage our brand.
Have a great bank holiday weekend,
Chris