I was 14 years old when I became infatuated with the idea of Announcing. I listened intently, and tried desperately to emulate the resonant stylings of the most popular disc jockeys on the air in Detroit, Michigan. For me they were almost as much the sound of Motown as was the music. If they said it, the audience believed it. If they sold it, we wanted to buy it. They could make anything sound like the most important thing at that instant — from on-air promotions to the current time and temperature.
In my mind, this was the art of communication!
Today, thanks to social media, every one of us has easy access to a “microphone.” Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, YouTube, Google + — these new media make broadcasting a message as easy as hitting the ENTER key. Every few days the blogosphere grows exponentially as thousands of words slip from the confines of an imagination onto the broad expanse of the information super highway.
Untold creative genius is invested in producing and delivering messages — in everything from 140 characters to blog posts — from podcasts to YouTube videos. Any one can be an “announcer” in any of a growing number of channels.
At this point it is important to note that sheer numbers (followers, fans, friends, views) indicate that many of these messages are entertaining; some even provocative or compelling. But one can’t help wondering whether much of this is infatuation with the proverbial announcer’s voice; or, to be more pointed, is social media marketing in danger of being more about creating, crafting and delivering a message than it is about connecting, communicating and ultimately selling?
Blanket pronouncements like this are, of course, unfair; and creativity will almost always find a target. But a cautionary note seems appropriate for all of us who believe in the value inherent in social media. The thing that makes social different from most, if not all other media is the fact that dialogue is a critical cornerstone. This is not just about the capacity for give-and-take; conventional broadcast and print have the capacity via letters to the editor and other feedback mechanisms. The distinction is that give-and-take — conversation – is a basic ingredient in the foundation of social media.
In fact, it is the voice of the marketplace that is the fabric of social media. Any who would succeed long-term in social media marketing cannot ignore this fact. To do so — no matter how masterful the message — is to relegate social media to little more than another one-way message distribution channel.
Successful social media marketers listen, instigate dialogue, and focus at least as much on conversation (and what can be learned) as on a pitch or presentation. Probably more.
Put another way — the reason social media is such a robust marketing tool is that it provides for — indeed, at its best, it becomes — a shared experience. And it is within the comfort of shared experiences that real connection is made and communication occurs.
In retrospect, this was the dynamic at work when, as a teenager, I listened to those announcers. Resonant voices and production quality aside, the radio experience was, simultaneously, intensely personal and shared. Social media affords a dimension that makes it possible to couch every marketing effort in the context of shared experiences. Perhaps the most difficult part of the job is being less concerned with announcing and more focused on dialogue.
Master this, and any questions of ROI will likely disappear.
Eric Fletcher