I read a very cool piece on social media at www.businessinsider.com . Although he was harsher than I would have been, one of the points that resonated with me was this: “You’d never give the intern permission to write the corporate press release to accompany an announcement, so why the hell are you listening to the 22 year old who says, ‘We’re going to do this social media thing because it’s cool?”
And it is a very, very good point. Why would you? In fact, why DO you? It’s just a plain fact that my in-box is full of clumsy social media attempts from, well, Jedward, basically. When I had a mini-melt down over a really awful approach the other day, I ended up speaking to the guy whose genius idea it was. It was actually scary how few social skills he had in dealing with someone rather cross. He made things 100 times worse instead of just a tiny bit better. Not everyone has amazing social skills, and it doesn’t really matter in many walks of life, but in social media it does. It’s occurred to me that this is really what is wrong with so many approaches and why they go wrong.
Here’s one that I’m using my new ‘delete, don’t react’ policy on, just for the sake of sanity.
“Hi Editor,
I’m working on the online marketing for a client of mine who is a highly respected XXXXX. The client is XXXXX and they have their own range of beauty products in the marketplace. As a well placed beauty blogger I thought your blog at British beauty blog would be a great place to get some coverage of the products. I have products that I can send out and I was looking to get some reviews of the products themselves.
I’m working on the online marketing for a client of mine who is a highly respected XXXXX. The client is XXXXX and they have their own range of beauty products in the marketplace. As a well placed beauty blogger I thought your blog at British beauty blog would be a great place to get some coverage of the products. I have products that I can send out and I was looking to get some reviews of the products themselves.
I think the site would speak really well to my client’s demographic so look forward to hearing your thoughts!”
Can you see what went wrong there? Hi Editor for a start. I mean it is almost endearing it its simplicity, but making a mistake on the blog name half way through is kind of unforgiveable. And, to be blunt, I just couldn’t give a sh*t whether ‘the site’ speaks really well to his/her client’s demographic. Really, I couldn’t. This is a very good example of my original point – why did you put the 22 year old in charge of social media? Don’t do it anymore. Please. Or if you must, don’t let them on the phone and please try and ensure they know how to rattle out an email that sounds intelligent, informed, mannered and personal.
I’ve got a whole file of social media bloopers.. I’m collecting them like I collect nail polishes and can safely say that while my nail polish collection has been years in the making, my bloopers file has taken moments. It would be nice to know that somewhere in the ether is someone who has a mix of both social media skills and social skills.
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