Social Media offers many benefits to many different businesses. It can help you build your reputation, attract potential customers, and communicate with your clients. Smart businesspeople everywhere are piling onto networks like Facebook and Twitter, trying to get their piece of the pie, and realize these benefits; in an increasingly-crowded and noisy market, there are a lot of people trying to find their way. Guiding them to do it — the art of social media consulting — is fast becoming a growth market.
Like any growth market though, social media consulting is attracting its share of idiots. They’re easy to spot, if you look at the title. Many are self-proclaimed experts, gurus, or mavens. However, in their ignorance, by self-proclaiming such a title, these “consultants” are giving themselves away. The fact is that proper social media marketing, if you can call it that, hinges on interaction. The biggest benefit businesses will get is from participating in two-way conversations with their customers. It’s the gradual back-and-forth that will grow your brand over time, as well as improve its visibility. Andrew Hyde wrote a decent post about this the other day.
This being the case, any expert or guru title is oxymoronic. It’s like talking about how great you are at listening. It’s like going to a party, climbing up on the couch, and announcing that you’re the best qualified person in the room to have a conversation. And also that everyone else is inferior at the act, because they don’t hold the right credentials or skills. Pretty ridiculous. But more times than even I expect, this very approach is used.
Consultants using this approach may have short term success, but their lack of focus on interaction will stunt any real benefits from their efforts. Over time, their clients will become wise to the trickery, and seek out someone taking a more sustainable approach. Consultants who get it, and who avoid the social media guru complex, will enjoy better long-term success, better serve their clients, and better contribute to the growing social media landscape many of us treasure.
If you’re looking to get into social media consulting, please avoid the guru complex. If you’re looking for someone to help with social media, do your due diligence, ask around, and select someone who does it right. It’s worth it.
This is part of the #getcreative series of blog posts… a collection of thoughts by different professionals (on different blogs), centered around the topic of creativity. You can see a list of other #getcreative posts at the end of this one, or see the whole conversation here. If you’d like to join in, just write a post, tag it with #getcreative, and let people know about it on twitter.
I’m a fulltime professional copywriter. By trade, I help companies clearly communicate who they are, and what they do. I help companies build their brand, better reach their customers, and ultimately build a community around their products/services. I help them write better stuff, and be better companies.
Sitting down to write about creativity as it relates to my job, I had a lot of opportunities. I could have written about nearly any aspect of writing, from ideas to composition, even to grammar and revision. However, I’ve chosen to write about the creative process. It seems important because that’s where everything starts. Done well, the creative process lays the foundation for compelling and effective copy. Done poorly, it merely sets the writer up for frustration and disappointment.
I start each copywriting project with a planning/strategy session; this is where my creative process takes place. I ask questions to myself out loud, as well as parce ideas out longfrom with pen and paper. The message and tone of each piece reveals itself as I think about: What’s the idea here? Why is this cool, and Why does this make sense? How is this going to be read and How can I write it better? I don’t stop the process until I’m hit with such clarity, and infused with such excitement, that I can’t help rush to the computer to jot down ideas.
As you can imagine, once I do start writing I have a clear vision of where I’m going. All I have to do then is fit the right words into the right place, and make them occur at the right time. That’s as simple as figuring out a puzzle, and the end product not only reflects a tidy finish, but the power that only clarity of ideas can convey. I know what I want to say, and because I’ve already run it through my internal filters, I don’t mind saying it. Directly. And simply.
It’s like building your own house. As you put the layers on top of each other — foundation to frame, frame to finish — you have knowledge of what each one is designed to do in the context of the whole. You get how it’s constructed, you understand what’s required as you add to it, and you can easily fix any errors or leaks you encounter on the way. Once you’re done, you feel ownership over the final product, and appreciation for the exterior look as it represents the total effort. It’s the best you can possibly do, and reflects your power in its simplicity.
Writing is no different. If you take the time and effort to go through a proper creative process, you’ll end up with the most powerful, most clear, and best final product. It’s not magic, and there’s no fairy to grant you creative wisdom. Just work, effort, and dedication to seek depth and harmony in each sentence.
That’s how I #getcreative. You?
Other posts in the #getcreative series:
I live in Boulder, CO. It’s my adopted hometown, and I like it. I enjoy the active culture, and the access to outdoor activities. I enjoy the attractive people, and the attractive places they congregate. I enjoy the hot tech scene, and the group of friends I’ve developed through it. I enjoy the sunshine.
It’s no surprise these attributes have caught people’s eye, and it’s no surprise that with people like Andrew Hyde repping the town so fervently, that it’s grown a significant following of its own. Megan Soto’s recent blog post and the comments therein are but the latest example. Just Summize ‘Boulder’ and you’ll get another.
My point here is not to discourage Megan - she’s a friend - nor to discourage others who dream of living in Boulder some day. In fact, I encourage them to come visit, live, and enjoy what we have to offer.
Rather, my point is to try and paint a more realistic picture of the city. Because frankly, while Boulder is nice, it’s no paradise.
There are dirty people here. There are too many bikes, and they run too many stop signs. There are mountain lions, and they eat humans. There are college students, and they don’t act like humans. There are 12,00 foot peaks, but they’re far away. And fuck, there’s not much water here. Or nice trees.
Minor quips aside, the bigger point is that in imitating paradise, Boulder misses out on the one thing I think makes a place divine: reality. There’s an undeniable lack of real-ness here in Boulder. Therefore the city is pleasant, but only for a little while, and only in small doses. To me, it’s rarely fulfilling, or truly life-enriching.
In fact, after an extended piece of time here, I’m readily willing to trade its comforts for everything a less comfortable place has to offer. On a Friday night lately, I’m more apt to go bowling in Longmont with all my toothless brethren than I am to sip $7 drinks in one of Boulder’s bars.
I could just be one reality-starved country boy stuck in a city that’s getting old. Or I could be highlighting an important reason why a city full of promises will fail to deliver on all of them.
Which one is it?
You tell me.
