This social media stuff is all about getting personal. Becoming familiar with and sincerely, honestly engaging people on a grass-roots level who are customers, potential customers or key influencers of one of the first two groups of people mentioned. And, hoping, through how you treat and involve them, that they’ll spread the word to others about you, your product, service or cause.
On the corporate blogging side, it’s also the personalization of corporations and asssociations. Putting a personality and a name (or names) to a corporation. Think of Bob Lutz with GM. Think of the Randy Baessler of Boeing. (Yes, I know GM has expanded the FastLane blog to include others more than Mr. Lutz, but no one else seems to get the response he does. And, I know there’s a new Randy at Boeing.)
But, what happens when the person behind the personalization moves on (fired, resigns or retires)?
And, what about the individual blogs? In the PR world, it’s well known that Steve Rubel/Micro Persuasion is with Edelman, and, though not a lot, there is a visual connection on his blog. Seeminly, at the other extreme, many?/most? know that Jeremy Pepper/POP PR! is with Webber Shandwick, but you’d never know it by his blog.
But, when Rubel goofs, Edelman also gets the bad publicity. IF Pepper ever would goof, would WS share in it?
In social media marketing, rash mistakes and people coming and going can be very public.
So, blogging and other social media and the personalization that comes from it gives audience/users/consumers more of a connection. A relationship. And, (hopefully) positive feelings or thoughts tied to a product or company.
But, at what cost? If that personalization is tied to a person — Randy Baessler at Boeing or Bob Lutz at GM — what impact will them leaving have (or what did it have in Randy B.’s case) have on its audiences’ perception of the corporation?
Ultimately, being able to connect on some level and developing relationships — even if only on a cyber level — benefits us. However, like everything else in life, there are downsides that need to be dealth with.
And, that’s where great planning, the right communication and the proper medium can make those downsides not so down.
– Mike
