Social media, as helpful and positive as it has been for the communications industry as a whole, has faced some obstacles recently. My agency, Wing, was recently named the best Hispanic New York advertising or PR firm using social media by Latinos in Social Media (LATISM), an association of Latin social media professionals, so it is fair to say that the issues facing social media have had us thinking for quite some time. This is not only because Latinos lead the country in using social media, but also because we can all learn from recent mishaps.
A couple of months ago, I attended Orbita, the big sales show put on every year by the Latino and Latin American focused portal Terra. One of the guest speakers was Oliver Stone, who, true to form, proceeded to throw out the agreed playbook and chose to lambast streaming video ("Who wants to watch a movie on a little screen like that anyway?"), user-generated content ("anybody can paste some shots together, but that's not storytelling"), and the internet in general ("it makes you stupid like TV"). Most of his vitriol was directed to what he saw as the incessant, irrelevant, unintelligible noise of the web.
Here in the room were the cognoscenti, the true believers in our digital, interactive, socially networked future, and as the nervous tittering of the audience broke out into loud guffaws, I couldn't help but notice a lot of heads nodding in agreement. Stone didn't talk about Twitter, Facebook, and social networking specifically, but it's not hard to think what his opinion would be. Honestly, I think he has a point.
Sometimes it feels as if we are living the real-time, 24/7 electronic equivalent of my Puerto Rican wife's annual family get-together: Everyone talks too loudly, at the same time, on top of each other, without listening to anybody else, competing to get the most words in edgewise. After all the storm and fury, no one remembers much of anything (except the gossip, of course).
It's easy to get excited by the chance to have our own personal soapbox. Before agencies dive into the realm that is social media, we've come up with some ground rules to make sure we add to the quality, rather than quantity, of the discussion for both the industry and our clients.
Resist the tendency of "fun facts." As advocates of social media, we must learn to resist the tendency to just repeat information and comment on everything and anything. We are all interested in many things and have opinions about pretty much everything. While it's fine to be occasionally fired up about this or that current event (who can resist commenting on Michael Jackson's passing?), in the end it can feel -- and sound -- like you aren't saying anything at all.
A good place to start is to look over your last 20 tweets or postings and see if they add up to a greater whole. Have you brought in another perspective to expand or challenge the material you are commenting on? Do you see an overarching point of view or theme? If you focus on one issue or topic, people will expect and look forward to hearing more of your comments.
Don't just pick any topic to talk about. Choose one you are passionate about. Unless you care deeply about an issue, it's unlikely your thoughts will be interesting and engaging enough for people to pay attention.
In Wing's case, it's redefining what "multi-culture" means today. Far from limiting, it lets us comment on a wide cross section of what is happening in the world today, from culture, business, marketing, the arts, politics, to social policy, including the CNN "Latinos in America" special, how Mexicans are now sending money to their families back in the U.S., the controversy over Shepard Fairey's Obama graphic image, and the latest advertising campaigns aimed at multicultural audiences. At the same time, it gives a central vantage point from which to talk about the issues.
When fueled by a true passion, the sum of your cumulative comments will build intuitively toward an overarching idea, and people will look forward to hearing your next thought and building on it.
Remember it's a conversation, not a monologue. I know, we love the sound of our own tweets -- why else do we craft them into mini haikus? But you must listen first before you tweet. Agree, disagree, amplify, redirect, respond rather than ignore. There's a reason it's called "social" media, so be sociable. You have as much to learn as you do to teach.
Like any medium, control over social media is no longer in the hands of the publisher. Just as consumers are fast-forwarding through TV commercials, they can easily block you on Facebook and unfollow you on Twitter. Make sure you keep earning your place within the conversation that is social media. Said another way, tweet like you mean it.
Alain Groenendaal is president of Wing.
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