Many man-hours could be saved if brands, companies and social media marketers were not reluctant to address their audience on social media the way they too would want to be addressed. But, alas, we can’t have it all in this life, can we?
Also Read: Umm… Do I Still Need A Facebook Page?
Just ask yourself, how many times have you had all this unnecessary back and forth of content plans and strategies? That’s right, countless times. And all of this for what? To kill the natural flow of language with something more procedural – content that looks like a user’s manual.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about clarity and structure. The problem though, is that the vast majority of brands sacrifice their character and desired tone of voice for the sake of making everything super, spring clean, like a confession of a crime not committed. We then all end up seeing updates on the newsfeed that follow the same pattern: alert-explain-CTA-link. BORING.
Just have a look at the wonderful job Tasty does on its Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/buzzfeedtasty/posts/1718327511753224
https://www.facebook.com/buzzfeedtasty/posts/1715833938669248
That’s right. Unpretentious, spontaneous and intuitive. Tasty succeeds in resonating with the audience’s needs. Not just any audience, but the audience it truly wants to speak to, discuss with and engage. It’s not eloquent, it’s spot on. And maybe that’s what brands need. To speak to those that will actually care.
A reason I could possibly identify to explain the phenomenon of all this uninspiring content, could be that a good chunk of brands still don’t quite know how to navigate the digital and social media space. For many of them, this is still an unknown space, a black hole where they have to be ultra cautious about what they write, and how they write it. Many brands are still too self-conscious that any crack in their polished corporate image could tarnish their reputation forever. Well that’s wrong, and let me tell you why.
Because, my friends, the horrible truth we all have to get to terms with is that broadcasting is dead. Speak to those who you really like, the ones that will give you feedback and you might be heard more. You don’t care about everyone… heck, you can’t possibly care about everyone! You can only cater to the ones that are willing to listen. It’s called micro-casting.
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