Compromise, negotiation, communication.

These could be the buzz words for state of the nation or its football team, or the summary for the emerging commercial habitat of social media.
The big boys have taken note with O2 having just appointed an inaugural head of social media and whether you’re a managing director of a bed manufacturer or a country manager for a software company, everyone seems to be talking and writing about the addition of social media to the marketing melting pot.

However, like the adding of chilli to a bolognaise or the telling of a non PC joke at a dinner party, it’s hard to know when and how much of this new ingredient to add. Members of parliament have lost their jobs, leaders in the city have been reprimanded and who knows what other gaffes and typos are going to result in corporate head rolling.

So what is social media all about?

It is a mass route to market that cannot be ignored but of what value is it and what is the best angle of attack?

For me there are two main areas of value.

For an enterprise size organisation it gives the opportunity for a personal touch. When “Dave”, the software engineer, gives you a direct answer to a direct question with technical knowledge and a practical solution it gives massive value to that brand and the type of PR that LSE graduates can only dream of. A customer feels, as all customers should feel in an ideal world, appreciated and listened to. It is a way to educate and inform customers of the benefits of their products whilst at the same time giving a personal service.

Secondly, it is a shiny new way of bringing products and services to market. As long as the tweeter or facebooker does not overload the reader with too much sales patter and jargon it can be a gentle and easily digestible way of getting a message across.

So when do we wake up from this digital dream?

The situation is that this is a new medium and there are not many that can claim to be historically proven experts in the field. For me it is all about communication and about being a good communicator. The problem is social media is just as it says on the tin, social. For anyone who speaks a lot will know that occasionally, in hindsight, you wish you hadn’t have said those particular words.

And so here lies the problem. Because we are human, and part of being a human is learning through trial and error, mistakes will be made. It is all about the balance of providing a value added service and translating knowledge to the masses. This needs to be done in a social, personal and informative way that allows the customer to feel enlightened and special.

So let’s not shoot the messenger who is translating a message without much content to work with. Let’s not jump on the back of those who are blazing a trail. Let’s accept this new tool as a slightly strange looking but highly useful addition to the marketing tool belt.

For facts and figures or more information call Oliver

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