Social marketers: Junior high lessons

Emily Riley | August 16, 2006, 02:41 PM

After a few varied phone calls this week with marketers, I was thinking of the emotions that came up when we talked about the following tactics: "Blog," "Mash-up," "Buzz." The mere mention usually induced that combination of fear and anticipation often associated with a first crush. When we talked details, even-handed decision-making started to take a back seat to fear. The most popular question: "Should I assume a new personality to be liked by the masses?"

With the proliferation of social media today, marketers are faced with a choice; introduce yourself, or let your fear take over. And just like in junior high, marketers will be tempted to do something rash in order to make a good impression. A word to the wise: Don't try to be something you're not, and definitely introduce yourself. In fact, Jupiter surveys show that people are far more likely to trust a company than they are to trust the random strangers they encounter on MySpace. Think about what your core brand really focuses on and choose someone within the ranks that fits that image in their own life. If you're a cool techie company, let a cool techie talk to the fans (and haters.) If you're a trustworthy financial services provider, have a trustworthy service-oriented employee be your spokesperson. After all, the best relationships are those built on trust; it works online as much as it does offline. (Remember when we used to call "offline" "the real world"?)