Social Media: the real curse of our days. You can’t not be there, and once you are, you don’t know what to say. Is it possible to stay relevant and true to your soul while uploading tiny pictures that tirelessly scroll before your eyes?
Regarding this concern, wisdom lies in common sense: how many broadcasters can claim to be “relevant” while uploading 4 contents per day? Is the concept of “broadcasting” still relevant? Is Instagram our new television?
Keep reading and learn how the concept of “sustainability” can (once again) give us some insights on the matter.
What does sustainability mean?
The English Oxford Dictionary defines sustainability as “the degree to which a process is able to be maintained or continued while avoiding the long-term depletion of natural resources”. A sustainable development is a development that moves in circles, that does not run on resources without giving back. In economy, being sustainable means generating profits and continuing to do so - while expanding the enterprise and the investment within itself. Sustainability is also defined as a socio-ecological fact: by persistently and dynamically approaching a common idea, a system is established. This results in a sustainable growth, where the goal is not to attain the ideal but to enjoy the positive effects that this “search” carries with it. Lastly, cultural sustainability is the process by which we maintain cultural beliefs, cultural practices, heritage: culture is both an enabler and a driver of economic, social, and environmental development.
What does all this have to do with social media?
Social media is one of the most powerful communication artifacts of the last 10 years. After the revolution led by Steve Jobs and its “personal computer”, social media gives every user a “personal channel” where to convey (literally) anything we want. Social Media embeds within itself the notion of “peer-to-peer” communication: traditionally, from the 1949 Shannon and Weaver Communication Model, communication has been defined as a linear system. A linear communication system is typically described as a model in which a sender encodes a message, and then sends it through a channel. At the end of the channel, the receiver is waiting for the message to arrive, to “decode” or reinterpret it. The Shannon and Weaver model is also called, for reasons that will be evident to any reader, a “mathematical” communication model. Further investigation in the field led scientists to conceive a second model based on interaction instead of linearity. The Interactional Model of communication is thus bidirectional. People send and receive messages in a cooperative fashion, as they continuously encode and decode information. Here we glace, for the first time, a hint of co-construction, where the players continuously create and receive messages. Lastly, a Transactional Model appeared: it assumes that information is sent and received simultaneously through a noisy channel. As we can see, the channel no longer is a white canvas, but an active player too. For the first time we find the “background noise” and the “fight for attention” that so peculiarly characterize our days’ media.
But guys, again… what does all this have to do with social media?
Yep, sorry - we got caught up with the theory. Social Media channels are simultaneously a communication channel (where users can code-decode, aka SPEAK between each other) and a broadcaster: a sender, a station, where one can speak to many (in other words, a top-down communication). This has probably never happened before in human culture. Never before the same channel was to be used as a mean (a “media”) and a transmitter (think about any tv channel). And it does not stop here: the users can comment on the provider, too. Not only can they speak between themselves, they can also speak to and with the big players, the “big brother” eyes, the gods of Hollywood.
The de-structured form of the social media channels is especially conceived to give no pedestals to any transmitter, and vice versa, any transmitter can create its own pedestal (when its contents are viewed, commented, liked, shared by users).
In a nutshell: for the first time in history, you can have your private tv, you can say what you want, you can show what you want. But remember that, anything you do… people can comment on that. And be heard.
Ok, please stop with the theory… what do I have to do, to do social media right?
Translating all this theory to the highly empiric science of social media management, we can deduce that you need to be relevant every time you speak, you have to speak about things that are of sure interest to your audience (and that means not always and only about yourself, of course). Then you have to remember that you’re in a channel full of noise so everything you do - do it carefully.
Narrowing down the path to social media stardom, you need to establish your fundamentals into 3 imperative concepts: audience, palimpsest, and physiological growth.
Let’s unbox each one.
Audience: the people you are talking to. Your present target, your desired target, your competitors’ target. You have to dig deep on them before creating any social media strategy. You have to know them just like the front-window neighbor you continuously spy on - but no, more, you have to know them in the depths of their inner desires. You have to know what they need - and even more what they aspire to. You have to know what their favorite technology brand is - and what their daily routine looks like. You have to know what keeps them awake at night - and what makes them sleep like a baby. Only then, you’ll be ready to draw the basics of your social media strategy.
What about the palimpsest?
Yes, the second imperative concept, yes. The palimpsest is not the content you propose. The palimpsest is the “cadre de valeur” you have carefully created for them. The palimpsest is what makes them willing to continually follow you. The palimpsest is what makes them proud to read you - and share you with friends. It is much more than content: it’s visual inspiration, it’s copywriting excellence, and positive messages all along. Is truth, and power, and wisdom.
And the “physiological growth”?
When you know your audience, and when you have chiseled and refined a great palimpsest, you are ready to make your social media pages grow. You’ll continuously receive feedback from users (and remember: on social media, no answer is an answer) and hence you will evolve, refine, rethink your palimpsest based on them. And remember: your content strategy will need to be tailored to what’s going on in the world, too. If you’ll be good at this all… your pages will grow. Organically, with a sprinkle of social media adv. Think about them as house plants: the correct light, the timed watering, a pinch of fertilizing. And voilà, a new leaf is born… Forget all about the 2012’s follower booms when everybody was opening their first accounts: that era is beyond passed.
What are the most common mistakes that occur when doing social media?
We’d say the most common errors are typically 5: too much frequency (and this is a capital sin), too much schedule, over-information, poor information, poor messages (yes, you can read “shitty” for poor).
The “too much frequency” sin occurs when you “need to post 5 contents per week” (or worse). “Too much frequency” encysted in you the idea that you need to post… Honestly, you don’t need to post, you need to do great content. I know it’s hard, I know they didn’t warn you when you started reading this article, but honey, someone gotta tell you. This leads us to a whole new value reference setting… And yes, you’re working for your audience, not for Instagram :-)
“Too much schedule error” is partly related to the first one: for sure you need to have a schedule, but you also need to be relevant in the moments that your audience (even unexpectedly) is aroused. So leave room for a little bit of improvisation, and when we speak about community management… it’s all improvisation, just like jazz or freestyle hip-hop.
“Over-information” defines the (evil, no doubt) effort of “putting it all in that small copy”. One concept per post is, on the other side, elegant, symmetrical, simple, empathetic, and pays the due homage to the golden ratio.
“Poor information”... aka: if you have nothing to say, just don’t say it. Better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt…
“Poor Messages”: when you post anything on the net, it could be potentially read by a dramatically large number of thinking individuals. Being a brand, and being on social media, means that you’re automatically a cultural player. Use your cultural relevance wisely, positively. Promote progress.
And so, do you have any “golden rule” for doing social media right?
Think about relevance, timing, message, and emotional response.
Relevance: anything you say, must be worth saying.
Timing: you act inside a cultural framework. You need to know what’s happening in there to be sure to never be “displaced”.
Message: you have the responsibility to act for the good… and given the amount of people watching, you’d be a fool not to.
Emotional Response: when doing anything, on social media and in communication in general, ask yourself “How do I want people to feel when they’re reading this?”, and “How do I want people to feel about my brand?”. That will give you a pretty straight guide.
