After five years client side, it only took me a couple of weeks back in agency world to see how much had changed and how much hadn't.
Instead of detailing what I mean by the above passive-aggressive statement, I’d much rather remind our readers to not be blinded by "The Shiny New."
Your clients are coming to you and asking for a Facebook page, or they want a Twitter account. Or they want you to do something with their hastily squatted-upon profiles on these sites.
Why vs. What
Back up for a second. Instead of talking about the WHAT, ask about the WHY. Why would your client’s customers be interested in their Twitter feed or their Facebook page? How many groups or fan pages that you've joined can you remember actually visiting after the fact without their prompting? Seems to me we’d have fewer useless, annoying apps if more agency folk asked the above questions.
At a recent event, a colleague noted that the people who send you application invites on Facebook (to be bitten by zombies, fight in mafia wars and what not) are the same people that used to email you jokes 10 years ago. And 20 years ago they probably faxed you cartoons (assuming you’re old enough).
Her point is that while technology has changed over the last 20 years, human behavior has not. She’s right.
"The tools we use are not as important as the behaviors they create." -- Mike Arauz
So don’t be a tool. Ask about the why before moving ahead with the what. And have a great week!
No Facebook - Blessington St, St Kilda uploaded by avlxyz
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Excellent post. The most important thing is to tell a client's story. Technology is just a way to get it out there and not all technologies suit all stories.
ReplyDeleteI had a client ask for an external communications strategy. So my colleague and I labored on talking about defining messages, identifying target audiences, and outlining tactics to use. After presenting our proposal, all the VP of Communications had to say was "We should be on YouTube..."
ReplyDeleteI encounter this ALL the time & ask why, then I'm usually met with silence and then a bunch of "Uhh..." and "um..." and a washed up answer that basically amounts to "everybody else is doing it." Like my small-town chamber of commerce that HAD to have a Twitter account -- I asked why they thought they needed one, then they were silent when I pointed out that there are only 5 active people on Twitter in the entire region, and I've met every one of them.
ReplyDeleteThe other night I wrote kind of a rant that amounts to the same basic gist. You can only tell them "you're doing it wrong" so many times, and then you just have to walk away if they won't listen.
This is very true. I went to a social networking PR presentation last week - all social networkers convinced that this is the new and only way for companies to get their message out. I walked away even more convinced that this is just a distraction from the REAL work of PR. Some people will never agree and that's fine, but they are too busy tweeting to be consumers.
ReplyDelete