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.

Negativity - Everyone's a critic

There's a lot of negativity online and I suppose that most of us have become used to it, but why?

I'm used to a constant stream of negativity and criticism in my personal life, the constant pressure from someone who should be supporting me in doubting my ability in everything I do. It's means that when I get that negativity and criticism online from someone who isn't prepared to reveal their identy, I think, "so what!"  They have a long way to go before they will be able to ruin my day, let alone my weekend or week.

And this is what I want to talk about (obviously because of something that has happened to me, but I wont be talking about that). Why do people feel the need to be negative? Personally I think it's because it's easier to look at faults in others than to see your own faults, it's easier to pick on someone than listen to your own doubts and insecurities.

Social media allows everyone to do that, and criticise anyone, at anytime, but always people they have never met. If you start working in social media, get used to it, it will happen and y need to ignore it. It's far too easy for something you say to be taken out of context, and what ymmight think is a balanced and fair reply, can be twisted and used against you. If a stranger was rude to you as you walked down the street, would you respond?

Of course not, you would carry on with your life. If a stranger said to you that your clothes were ugly, would it bother you?  No, what do you care about their opinion?  It's your life, you live it your way.

You have to treat your business social media account the same way. Rudeness and criticism should be ignored when it comes from an online source.

It's Better To Try And Fail Than Not Try At All

I think it's said best here, and worth a read;

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt, excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic"

Good advice doesn't come cheap, only the bad does

Social Media Consultants - Bullshit Advice For A Bullshit Price

Something funny happened today. I saw something on twitter (by which I mean Hootsuite, I'm a professional after all), which for about ten seconds had me worried. This was a post by a 'Social Media Consultant' which made me worried as it could make my life more difficult by giving a few idiots ideas, which would make them a lot of idiots I would have to deal with. So I had a little look at his website, and the first thing I see was a tip about how to attach a photo to a tweet on the twitter main site.

Really? You charge for advice like that?

This made me smile, but what I then read made me laugh, he gave one of the worst pieces of advice I've ever read.  As I'm sure you know, twitter puts caps on how many you can follow, so as soon as you have 2000 followers, you can follow more than 2000 people. You can have as many followers as you like, and only follow zero. Seems fair.

2000 Is Just A Number

Now if you are following 2000 and have 2000 followers, what is the value of your reach? (Reach is how far your tweets and content can go) These 'followers' are people that follow back, who will follow you if the only content you post is nothing, no postings, no content, not even retweets, as all they want is to be able to say "I've got 2000 followers, how many do you have?"  What value is that for building an audience for your business, or even worse, for a charity as he offered his 'Skills and experience' to them. This is a scary thought as for my job and my trade, these are the cowboys, trying to jump on a staitonary 'runaway' wagon, when the horses have broken loose and are nowhere to be seen.

Quality Not Quantity 

It easy to think in the world of twitter that the only thing that matters is how many followers you have, but it's the quality of them that matters. I would rather have ten followers who are journalists than a thousand who hope that I will become their follower in return.  "But you're not trying to sell anything!" I can hear you say. Wrong. I am trying to sell something, it's just that what I'm selling is advice; be safe, it's your life, help us to help you when you need us. You don't have to spend money, you just have to listen. Try selling that message!

Have good content, share it, see what happens, what they like, monitor, assess,  learn and repeat. It's simple really. kinda.

Your opinion is wrong

Social media is kind of weird. You have to keep creating interesting content to keep people hooked, and of course there are the people who get annoyed with you. Everything says you should try and talk to those you upset, but to be honest, I can't be arsed with that. Quite simply some people are too stupid to engage with. A very intelligent man once said, that stupid questions should be ignored. A very wise statement.

So anyway, this very small group of people don't like me, or to be fair, they don't like that their argument is so weak it needs them to shout and be insulting when they don't like the answers. I'm a great believer in science and what it can teach us, and it teaches us one thing, to change our minds. We once thought that we sat at the centre of the universe with the stars spinning around us. We now know that is wrong, and we changed our minds. This is because facts change opinions.  No matter how strong our opinions are, opinions cannot change facts.

It's important to remember that, and that you will sometimes need to change your mind. I'm not an expert,but I understand that if I want facts I go to the experts, who give me the facts that will change my mind. If I don't like those facts, my opinion is wrong.

And this what I'm getting at. If you work in social media, then you have to put up with those people, the trolls. It's a pain in the arse, but then so is sitting on an uncomfortable chair, and I'd rather do that than stand all day.

It's an opinion and a fact.