Learning to speak like you?
That penny has finally dropped and businesses seem to be embracing social media – judging from the level of enquiries we have for consultancy and training and judging by the new social media agencies that are setting up it looks like that moment is here.
Social media is a huge opportunity to communicate, to interact, to make new connections and to build genuine rapport with customers, prospects and other people in business.
Have a peep at a lot of the adverts by some of the large companies and notice how they are all including their Facebook address prominently – why are they pushing this instead of their website?
They want to bring people to a place where they can interact with their brand, bring their unique personality to life and have the opportunity to build genuine “followers” instead of taking to them to their website.
Getting there ..
While this penny seems to have dropped many businesses while realising the importance of social media believe they do not have the skills to execute it properly. Often the solution to this dilemma is to outsource their social media activity to an agency, which is creating opportunities for all of us working in this space.
While this may seem like a solution it really isn’t – I’m probably shooting myself in both feet by saying this but it is our genuine belief that your voice should not be outsourced.
It’s really simple – no one will have your knowledge, your passion and your insights and this is what you need to fuel and maximise your social media activity.
Passing your voice to an agency, who will never understand your business the same way that you do is giving away the magic that brings social media to life. Not only will you miss the magic but you will also miss the valuable learnings that social media interactions will bring you about your business, your products, services, sector and your competition.
My only exception here might be during an interim period or during a busy campaign where you might require an extra pair of hands and eyes to support your own teams efforts.
Instead of paying someone to speak on your behalf (in a way that will never be as good as you) why not you or some member of your team spend the time and budget to learn how to use these social media platforms properly – once you know how, you will fly!.
You can never teach someone to speak with your voice – it’s impossible.
It’s your voice they want to hear ..
Greg Canty is a parter in Fuzion
Fuzion provide social media training and consultancy from our offices in Dublin and Cork
Tags: Fuzion, Greg Canty
Greg Canty Fuzion Blog 
February 22, 2013 at 9:18 am |
[…] Even monitoring feedback received on social networks or review sites can be used to your advantage. Watch carefully what is being said and keep your mind open to new opportunities and needs! (This is one of our reasons for making sure you look after your own social media). […]
April 11, 2013 at 12:25 pm |
Greg, I agree with you. What do you think of companies using the most junior member of their marketing team or the intern though?
~ Helen
April 12, 2013 at 10:07 am |
Helen – that’s like giving the keys to your brand new car to your 17 year old who is driving for the first time!
April 11, 2013 at 2:28 pm |
Greg, I couldn’t disagree more! Why would you not apply the same logic to all other elements of the marketing communications mix. Should businesses devise and implement their PR and Advertising strategies also ? Clearly not! Professional, talented agencies ensure that businesses adapt appropriate social media strategies, while also acting as custodians of their brand/s. To suggest that only a business owner can effectively control messaging and tone of voice is questionable to say the very least. Some business owners do have the knowledge, experience and discipline required – most don’t.
April 12, 2013 at 10:06 am |
Great point of view Pat. Social media is different to the other aspects of their marketing – while it must clearly be aligned to strategy, which any good agency will work hard with their client on we believe the best solution for our clients is that where possible they learn how to do this for themselves.
This is clearly not throwing the keys for your brand new car to an intern but it about finding the right internal champion, training them, supporting them and allowing your client experience the full benefit of social media.
It’s not about drafting a careful schedule of social media posts throughout the week, its about interacting, learning and expressing your true personality and learning what your customers are saying about you.
If a business passes on this opportunity it is a huge loss to them – if knowing this they decide to still delegate then that is their choice. It is our job as their marketing partners to give them the very best advice – as you know Pat, sometimes that just does not happen!
April 12, 2013 at 11:51 am |
Time out boys. There’s merit in both standpoints.
Company owners, management and staff have unique viewpoints that no agency personnel can ever expect to realise as they themselves are not exposed to the daily interactions that company personnel are.
Social Media is built around peoples inquisitiveness in the interesting facts and postings that differentiate your or your company’s site and product/service from all others.
Not all companies will internally have the necessary skillset to best maximise the opportunities that arise in SM – so, in some circumstances, training is not the ultimate solution and a close relationship with a professional agency will maximise the returns and impact of a professional campaign.
Agencies have come a long way from just being creative fonts for advertising content and do, in a lot of instances, provide a level of professional excellence in execution that many small & medium firms cannot afford of maintain internally.
However, as digital world mediums divide and multiply on what seems like a bacterial rate, clarity of focus in SM may be too much to expect for any company employee but basic training will enable a better understanding of the metrics and effectiveness of certain core principles and lead to better and clearer briefing of agencies in designing any new campaign.
April 12, 2013 at 9:06 pm |
great post Robert – as I said in the post you can learn how to do use social media properly but you can’t learn how to speak like someone else.
This is Facebook and twitter …Linkedin is also hugely powerful – your personal posts and interactions should never be delegated