StartupCafe

I tweeted a couple of thoughts last week about social networks and these caught the eye of creative Dave Black of Black Arts. There’s a lot of pressure for businesses to get to grips with the variety of social media ‘out there’ and embrace them all!  But is that the right thing to do?  Dave says (with a few edits from me):

“Social media and networks are pretty exciting and new – sort of. Talking isn’t really new. In fact, what “social” media do is model and facilitate existing ways of communicating and make them global. For example,

• Twitter is the little comments and chats we have between our larger, more serious conversations.
• Email is a letter – formal and private.
• Facebook is meeting your mates in a pub where you all chat but other people can overhear you.
• StartupCafe is a cafe – it’s chatty and informal, just as it should be.

It’s important to think about this when you consider how to use these media.

One of the biggest and most damaging fallacies I see self-styled “social media gurus” trotting out is that everyone should use Twitter, Facebook or whatever the latest trend is. This is a REALLY BAD IDEA for two reasons:

• Firstly, it’s just not true. Brands are like people, and not every person socialises or communicates in the same way. We all know people who are quiet/reserved, tend not to do much small talk but who think deeply and make occasional, considered and very valuable contributions. We also know people who are great fun, talk nineteen to the dozen all day but who rarely sit down for a serious talk about big subjects. Brands and businesses differ just as widely.

• Secondly, in the long run it’s damaging to your brand for it to talk the wrong way. Imagine a law firm. We expect law firms to speak with authority and be precise – so we can trust them with serious, difficult business. Now imagine that a law firm starts tweeting a hundred times a day saying, “@Judge ur wrong m8, my client is well innocent LOL“. Sounds silly, but for that law firm it’s serious, and will erode the foundation of their relationship with their client base.

Talking the wrong way at the wrong time can land you in hot water. The key to serious success in design and branding is to know when to be serious (and when not to be). One size doesn’t fit all; your customers are not the same as everyone else’s. Your brand needs to pick the ways it talks to them carefully. It needs to talk to them at the right time in the right place. Don’t be the guy selling life insurance at a funeral.”