Truth Be Told

As more and more businesses pursue social media, the discussion always involves what content to share.  Content is King no matter what industry you are in.  The better the content, the more engaged your audience and more willing they are to share. 

As the year comes to close and marketing strategies are finalized the main discussion is Social Media (why, how, what, where and when).  One of the main social media factors is authentic and transparent communication.  Discussion after discussion with clients is what to post.  My experience in social media has lead to nervous clients wanting to pull down post that provoked a strong response with some negativity. 

My first question is why?  The typical response, "it's bad press and making people mad, people are emailing and calling to complain".  After a few minutes of nervous ranting and concern we start to discuss why exactly people are having this reaction and the positive and negative factors from the interactions. 

The main social media concepts I share with clients are: 1) you are not going to please everybody 2) within your audience are multiple subsets of customers (one shoe does not fit all in size and style) 3) perception is the editor of reality and 4) if they do not talk on your site (page, website, blog etc) they will find a place to do this, thus making it appear as if you were trying to hide the conversation, not trust worthy and un-authentic. 

To exemplify my point, recently a well know band called Paramore had a falling out within the band with two of the original founders leaving at the height of their popularity.  Before the news was officially released, one of the remaining members posted on the band's website their take on the breakup of the band (this was obviously orchestrated by the record label and management). This tactic backfired because details of the break up were not finalized thus creating a "Truth be Told" moment online.  The two members that were leaving the group decided to post their side of the story in a blog post which then was countered with a post from the remaining member as questioning the authenticity of the post.  This prompted the two leaving members to post a Video stating that their blog post was authentic revealing the truth within the band and its demise. 

Bottom online, you can hide and ignore but the discussion will continue with or without you.  As played out in the press for years, ignoring and hiding create speculation of guilt.  Being able to respond to negativity within your context (website, blog, social media site..) allows for editing control, this we did not have when the media controlled all.