We all have one: the friend whose quirks are mildly amusing in person. But place them under the magnifying glass of social media and those minor quirks become major, hard-to-ignore annoyances. Or, as one friend recently remarked about an acquaintance of ours, “I’m embarrassed for him every time I go on Twitter.”
Not everyone has the personality for social media. It’s something we never talk about, but it’s a huge consideration for marketers as they enter into the space. Because putting the wrong person out there in the online world can have disastrous effects.
Take the insecure CEO who tends to overshare personal information. Now he may be made tolerable in person by his big heart. But online, that big heart isn’t visible and all the audience hears are the wince-inducing twitterings of a man who’s uncomfortable in his own skin and his inauthenticity (and therefore his company’s) is going to be what they come away with.
Ditto the overly chipper CMO. In person, her glad-handing and cheerleaderesque personality may be made tolerable by efficiency and an ability to make people feel special. But online that won’t come through and what you’re left with is someone who thinks she’s a morning talk show host, and the resulting impression among your customers that they’re dealing with an out-of-control egomaniac whose sole focus is on herself. That’s not an image you want to put out there for your clients.
Now there’s a converse to this, too–people who come off better online than they do in person. Oftentimes it’s the shy one, the person who’s wonderfully charming in a one-on-one setting, but suffers in a group. This person may flourish in a social media setting, which can feel much more intimate than a large conference room, and you’ll be surprised at how well they’re able connect, one-on-one, with your customers.
Bottom line is that casting is critical for any social media effort. You want to have someone who is both engaging and enchanting. Someone who makes your company look good and makes your customers feel better about your product or service.
And like casting the right actor for a role, the job is much tougher than it looks. If the camera adds 10 pounds to even the slimmest actor, the lens of social media has a similar effect on its actors, magnifying their quirks by a power of 10.
Casting for social media is further complicated by the fact that you are dealing with actors who already have the role. I mean it’s never going to be easy to tell the CMO he comes off like a pompous ass online, with his “Well given that our competitors are all blithering idiots, raising sale wasn’t too hard!” blog replies.
But that’s the job of the agency or the social media consultancy. To figure out who needs to assume the role of the customer-facing online company representative. To audition people internally to ensure that you’ve got the right players in place. To be the one who points out that even though other CEOs have created a following online, yours is likely to have the opposite effect. To create a mix of characters who all play off against each other to create a complete and holistic picture.
All while retaining spontaneity and authenticity.
Clearly, it’s no easy matter.
I think this is an important idea that no one talks about – not everyone has the personality for social media. Some people are brilliant, but don’t express themselves in writing, or need to take time to gather their thoughts. None of this works well in a rapid-fire environment like twitter or IM.
We’re filtering people to get only the ones who use our new tools well. I suppose this has always been the case, but it’s getting starker.
Toad, the thing I like about you is you take on interesting subjects and offer an unusual point of view. One might say you are quirky, especially given your blog name “Tangerine Toad”.
I would hate for some “marketing profs suit” (if there are any) to edit you or block your point of view and take that away from us. I think it is important to be very careful about telling a CEO, CMO or whoever that the way they are blogging is embarrassing. Of course, if they are giving out confidential information, making threats and that ilk is a problem. However, exposing a bit of their personality seems to me to be a positive.
I believe we already have too many spin masters working with our politicians and CEOs. It is slippery sloop. So, while I agree we need to monitor what people say we have to be careful not to sanitize it to a point that our company bloogers have no personality.
Toad,
Excellent post and POV. Harry, however, offers a caveat to which we must pay attention. Although I’m confident your post is not based on censorship but on using the correct voice, your words might be misinterpreted by some and lead the business to a place where everything written or spoken is reviewed and approved by HR, Communications and Legal. A disaster for social media.
That said, I agree that we must carefully choose our spokespersons, because doing otherwise is foolish.
You bring up such an excellent point here. We’re all supposed to be active in SM, but some people are just not cut out for it. The question is, how do you silence someone who has taken a prominent voice and is doing damage?
It’s funny how the people who are the most charming in person can be so off-putting online. I’m one of the shy ones who shines online but hides in a corner at mixers.
It is an issue of being able to write and perform (to communicate well) in the public domain. A good CEO is often a PR machine – a figurehead if you will who is able to articulate a message with accuracy and see that that message is positively received.
Casting is key, but I find that usually you don’t find out until after the personality has been launched into the social media world whether they are fit for the job.
I think as marketers it is critical for us to act as social media coaches and not be afraid to give our senior management constructive feedback on their online persona. With social media we have lost last editing rights — so to make sure our message and brand are represented appropriately we must stay engaged and actively manage our talent.
The toad has exposed the warts of social media marketing. Transparency and authenticity are paramount, so long as they convey the “right” brand persona.
Thanks for the great feedback all.
@Harry- really appreciate the compliment. I am not suggesting censoring CEOs as much as having the guts to tell them “you know, you might want to tone it down a bit, we’re getting a lot of pushback.” Not stifling as much as guiding them.
@phosphorous – in my mind, it’s not so much about conveying the “right” persona as much as not offending people. (But you’re right in that others will see it differently.)
Alan…
Once again, you’ve done a wonderful job pointing out important nuances marketers need to be aware of as they dip their toes in social media waters.
Unfortunately, too many people take this craft for granted and will learn the hard way that mistakes that could be easily avoided aren’t because of hubris and ignorance.
Alan: Great post. I love the metaphor of casting. So true in all communications. (How many of us trusted or cared what Lee Iacocca or August Busch IV had to say on TV?) I’ve started to see education and training efforts around helping executives understand how they come across in social media. Wonder if it’s part of any MBA programs? At the very least, as Harry and Lewis point out, there’s a real benefit to helping executives “see” themselves reflected in the unrelenting mirror of social media and for the rest of us to see more of the true nature of those executives.
Alan – I think you bring up some excellent points here. Social media can be a bit of minefield, and some personalities navigate it better than others, and some navigate certain kinds of social media better than others. In other words, the personality that plays well on Twitter doesn’t necessarily play as a podcast, or on video, or on a blog.
This post is a great reminder than media training for executives has greatly expanded.
Agree that not all exec’s — and not all companies — are cut out for social media. We (in this conversation) all like it and see a role for it, but we’re not the CEO’s we’re talking about. One client reluctantly posts, another refuses because they like “staying under the radar” even though they’re a multi-million dollar player in a small industry.
Social media is a great strategy for those whose culture, industry, customer base and management embrace it. Otherwise, like every other suggestion that just doesn’t fit, it’s very uncomfortable!
@Brad & Tim: Thanks for the compliments.
It’ll definitely be a watershed moment when that sort of training becomes part of MBA programs and I’ll bet that someone with experience as a talent agent can make a nice living selling their services as a “social media coach” for Fortune 500 companies.
@Ann- that’s an important nuance that I neglected to mention- that social media is not all the same and that there is a huge difference between say Twitter and a podcast.
@Scott – thanks- great to hear real life examples of how this is all playing out.
This can be a tricky situation if you have a CEO whose ego demands that he also be the spokesperson at all times as part of his (ok it could be a her but it never has been in my experience) personal profile building.
With a media release you can quote the CEO and have someone else do the interviews. In the social media setting there may be some trial and error involved, particularly if you get someone who thinks it’s all about debating rather than engaging. I think some real life examples of what not to do would be helpful in persuading people that the rules of social media and the lack of tone in online communications poses some very real challenges with which they could probably use some help.
If I can come up with any, I’ll post them in another comment.
Thanks Ruth- that would be great to have some real world examples.
I don’t think we can expect to pull someone out of our current organization (the CEO, CMO, etc) and force them into the social media environment. For most organizations, a new role has to be created, and a social media savvy person who becomes well acquainted with the company becomes the liaison to online communities. I’ve seen some disastrous cases of offline personalities not translating well online. Just because someone is a talented executive, doesn’t mean that they’ll be an online wunderkind. Thanks for this refreshing and honest POV!