Social Media Is Rocket Science

Knowing where you want to be isn’t enough

Knowing what you want to achieve with social media is easy; you have a target, you aim at it, and often miss.  Why is this?  Well it’s a lot like rocket science.  If you aim at Mars you’ll miss, because the Earth is moving and so is Mars, which obviously means Mars won’t be in the place you’re aiming at.  And if your rocket doesn’t work there’s no point in aiming at it anyway.

You need specialists

So you’ve picked your target, but what do you need to get there?  First off you need to get a team, you need someone who knows how planetary physics work, and you need an engineer who can build you a rocket.  The first part is easy, Isaac Newton worked it out for you a long time ago.  So you need someone who can use those numbers and turn them into something you can use.  Now you need your engineer who can then put them into a real thing.   You can then load it with whatever you want to get to your target, and get it there at the right time.  Sounds easy in those terms.

Using rocket science for social media

Whoever sets the target, needs to listen to the specialists, because picking targets is easy, hitting them is hard.  To hit your target you need to listen to your specialist who tells you that you’re aiming is off, and the rocket isn’t powerful enough to hit your target.   Social media is a science and an art in one.  You need to understand the limitations and strengths of the medium, and each platform within it.  If you don’t, then your rockets will miss Mars, and any time and money you spend will be wasted.

Social Media – Use the Force (to tell your story)

Star Wars - it's everywhere

Even if you haven’t seen the original Star Wars film, you’re aware of the story, it’s become part of our culture, seeping into to so many parts of our lives.  The reason for that is The Heroes’ Journey, identified by Professor Joseph Campbell (and used in every Disney film), a story archetype that stretches back to the verbal tradition and there’s no reason why you can’t use it to tell the story of your brand.

Because social media is a never ending story you can’t follow the heroes’ journey all the way to a clear and happy ending, you have to mix it up a bit.  To explain what I mean, I’m going to use some of the characters from Star Wars.

Dramatis Personae

Darth Vader – The serious part of your story

Han Solo – The plucky individual who finds a new purpose

Luke Skywalker – The hopeful dreamer who follows a higher cause

Princess Leia – The idealist

Ben Kenobi – The sage who gives advice

Chewbacca – Loyal and always there to support

The Droids – The comedic relief

Telling Stories

So how does this fit in with your brand?  Vader and Leia are the boring press release one hopeful, one less so.  Han is your standalone piece of content that doesn’t quite fit in, but is there to push the story forward in a positive way.  Luke is the story of your brand, hopeful and always there.  Chewbacca is your loyal user generated content, there to give you a hand in times of need.  And the Droids, well, they’re there to remind you that social media should be fun and is about entertaining people.

And don’t forget, it was the Droids who told the story to the Ewoks, and are in each film, so their importance cannot be underplayed. People go to social media to be entertained, not lectured.

Change It Up

There’s no reason why you can’t mix up the characters in your story, Luke with Leia can be dramatic or idealist. The Droids and Chewie can be funny.  Even Ben can give advice to Vader.

Know what you’re trying to say and say it with a passion because if you don’t believe in it, no will care about your story.  You have to believe.

And never, ever forget; Han shot first.

The Problem with GQ and FHM

I used to read the lifestyle magazines for men such as GQ, Arena and even FHM.  In those days it was still known as For Him Magazine, but when Loaded came out everything changed and we ended up with the international monster that is FHM and lad culture.

The first two were never aimed at me really, it was just an idea born out of the time that everyone should aspire to own a lot of crap they didn’t really want.  The big apartment in London overlooking the river, painted white and sparsely furnished.  The Bang and Olufsen, a massive TV with surround sound and the BMW in the garage downstairs. 

Who wears a tie when sailing?

The sort of place you now see on TV that serial killers live in.

Did I buy into that lifestyle then?  I’m not sure, I think I would have liked it, but knew in my heart it was never going to happen.  My earning potential then meant I had several hopes of which ‘Bob’ and ‘F all’ featured highly.

I still have some pages torn out of the magazines from those days and I doubt anything has changed.  If you don’t wear this, live here, or use this then you’re not cool.

Turns out I’ve been shit hot all my life!

So right now for men there’s two lifestyles according to the media, ultra cool if you have an income of at least £70k a year.  Or lad culture which lets face it is pretty chavvy. 

Then there’s one media type for men, mainly on TV adverts who’s the hopeless idiot, and I’m none of them and I can’t be alone. 

So I’m going to be blogging here about the other type, the one that the media dare not speak of. 

The one who thinks some of the lad culture stuff is funny, but not the sexist misogynist stuff.  The one who likes to pretend they have style, even if in our heart we’re just trying not to look terrible.  We like our cars or motorbikes because they get us from A to B and we think we look cool in them.

And finally, when we buy furniture it’s because we like it, because it’s comfortable and we can afford it.  

Live Donkey Dead Lion

(Double L DL)