Image by Marjoree.

Many great communication minds emphasize the importance of creating content for social media. It’s all push, push, push! Just consider PR icon Richard Edelman’s words (yeah, I’m going to tattoo you again on this, Richard. In spite of your rebuttal):

…we must help clients provide their own original content and enhance the dialogue with credible and creative material. We need to continue to convince clients about the importance of including bloggers in the outreach to media, of allowing their own executives to speak spontaneously, because there is a clear dialectic between control and credibility.

Yes, a blog, blogger outreach, a Facebook widget or the latest corporate socnet or even better, a user generated contest! Woo hoo! Yay,these big splash makers would have almost certainly worked three years ago. Today, it’s just another corporate social media content machine.

Indeed, when Scoble and Israel delivered Naked Conversations in early 2006 creating a blog and engaging with folks on your site was new, novel and special. Now, we’ll give you a bozo button!

Why? Because, silly, it’s Social Media. Not, "Drill me with your messages again, please!" People could just go to a car dealer event for that, couldn’t they? "Hey, what kind of payment can you afford?"

So what if people can comment? If you publish one-way, over controlled messaging to an a non-existent or unengaged community, failure is likely!

To really get engaged in social media and benefit an organization, listening comes first. Novel concept. "You mean you asked me questions, read my profile, listened to my concerns, and then actually talked to me.  All before you even tried to get something from me or push me your content? OMG!"

Networking skills supersede messaging skills in social worlds. In a community –  become an upstanding member before content creation — especially if your brand is not a well known one.  Then you may be surprised by the fact that if well crafted towards stakeholder interests, your social media will be embraced and touted by others besides you.  That would be Word!

As in mouth.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Social Media is an ongoing series. Prior entries:

You may become Internet famous in social media. What does that mean, and why should a corporate marketer care? So you can become one of the cool kids, of course!

And who doesn’t want to be a rock star? Simply act like a wild, crazy, heroin-addicted drunken pirate, respond to everyone, and get lots of love online! Then you can have tons of social network friends, get asked to speak at lots of echo chamber conferences, and maybe even make a little scratch!

Not bad! Especially when the parasocial benefits start rolling in!

Of course, as an organizational communicator may want to hire someone to leverage their social media fame. And why not bring in someone else with online experiences for the company or non-profit? It saves time!

But communicators beware. While great at creating their own personal brands, a vast majority of these Internet rock stars — a.k.a. social media experts — have not been trained in core communications theory, nor do they have significant communications experience.

“Dude, you don’t know the rules! There is no market for messages.”

And while that profound Cluetrain statement is true, knowing the path’s dangers does not usually translate into branding or marketing expertise. These so called experts can tell you how to blog, execute a tactic or two, but can’t deliver the strategic goods. They don’t understand stakeholder groups, the need to execute in the media forms with concentrated pools of stakeholders, or building a tangential conversation (a.k.a. value proposition) on an organization’s and stakeholder group’s common interests. Popularity contests do not equal ROI.

But hey, the good news is you’ll likely receive a great conversation map or social graph or chart or thingie! That’ll keep the boss busy for a while (image by trumpetflickr)!

Maybe it’s better to check to see if these famous consultants have done any prior work first.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Social Media is an ongoing series. The first entry was “Shiny Object Syndrome.“

Ah, yes (image source: MacMonkies). Social media. Where to start for so many businesses. Perhaps the beginning shouldn’t even be strategy. It should be… “STOP! Don’t do it!”

Many businesses engaging in social media start with Shiny Object Syndrome. This strange disease that affects the mind causes companies and individuals to adapt the latest social communications tool based on peer pressure, buzz, or a strange desire to be one of the first.

Shiny Object Syndrome usually begins in the CxO suite where an often competent and brilliant executive who knows nothing about marketing or PR stops by a line manager’s office and says, “I read about Twitter today in the N.Y. Times. Why don’t we have an account, Jane? Are we going to lose out again like we did on blogs? By the way, did you see competition X just laid off 50 people. Bad times!”

Of course, Jane creates the Twitter account. Then when she shows it and her six followers to executive X, the response is, “Great, send them links and tell them about our web site!” One month later, Jane still has only six followers, and no new web site traffic. Hmmm, another victim of Shiny Object Syndrome.

Unfortunately, while in the short term placating a need to play with the newest communications toy, Shiny Object Syndrome can create terrific wastes of money. That in turn, can create terrible consequences for marketers and PR pros like Jane.

Getting beyond Shiny Object Syndrome requires the lead communicator to STOP! Then go back to the master communications plan. A healthy evaluation of social media tools should reveal whether or not stakeholders are even using these Shiny Objects. From there you can begin to evaluate whether social media really belongs in your plan.

But that is another chapter in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Social Media.