All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Brand

Make Me Social’s Phil Grech named his blog The Social Media Mullet because, like the hairstyle, it will discuss the fusion of “business” and “casual” under the banner of online communications.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Guess what I’m going to write about?

That’s right: not Thanksgiving. Even better, I’m going to write about why we should not be afraid to be ourselves – even online – even if you are a business.

Defining and refining the voice of the brand begins in the onboarding process. The onboarding process involves a lot of information, but one of the more critical parts is defining the voice. Every brand should have their own unique voice. Depending on the client, we suggest a possible position on the sliding scale of how our tone should come across when writing content.

Let’s say that one side of the scale is professional and the opposite side is personal. You never want to be completely on one side or the other. Rather, you want to adjust to be somewhere in the middle, perhaps leaning more strongly on one side or the other. A financial corporation would do better leaning on the professional side, while a fun, hip restaurant would do better leaning on the personal side. In both situations however, neither lose touch with one side or the other.

This is what works. This is what we have seen work. This is what we have tried, tested, and proven to work. But sometimes, people feel that their voice should be “all professional, no personal.”

I understand the hesitation to relax and loosen up a bit. It’s your company in someone else’s hands.  And the people who want “all professional, no personal” have great intentions. But it doesn’t work. As an example, take a look at this clip from The Office.

Funny, right? But it also makes a point.

Social media is an ongoing conversation. Social media directly reflects how we communicate in person, as human beings. In fact, the success of a social media site will partially depend on how well it can best replicate the process of human interaction. Replicating this process online is a difficult endeavor considering scientists are still studying and trying to figure out the experience in and of itself.

There is one thing we can easily extract from human interaction however. It’s that we want to know that the people we are talking to are people. We want to know that the people we are interacting with have a voice. No one wants to communicate with talking heads (except for The Talking Heads). We want personality. We want charm. We want a little style and flavor.

The people are asking for it, so don’t be afraid. Give it to them. If you’re going to have a brand, you’re going to have a voice. Let that voice be heard.

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Phil Grech is a Content Manager for Make Me Social. He published his first book, “Don’t Waste Your Hands”, in 2009. He studied English and Philosophy at Flagler College. In his spare time, he reads, works out, drinks an unhealthy amount of coffee, and searches for good conversation.

Social Media Etiquette: What’s Better than Elevator Music? Elevator Gossip!

by Gerrilyn Koontz
Posts | Bio

In the past few weeks, what seems to be the latest fad are elevator-themed Twitter accounts. Just as it sounds, these accounts are sharing snippets of conversations shared inside company elevators.

First, it was @CondeElevator which has, since August 11, stopped Tweeting. Making headlines more recently, is @GSElevator, run by a Goldman Sachs employee.

Here is a brief look at some of @GSElevator’s latest Tweets

For obvious reasons, Goldman Sachs wants this Twitter account terminated and has been aggressively pursuing the issue.While the GS employee says they created the account for amusement during the summer lull, he or she has gone to great trouble (like using an unregistered laptop that was paid for with cash) to keep their identity a mystery.

Where does Social Media Etiquette tie in to this? From my list of 15 Tips, I think this would fall under #15: Post wisely, post well.

Whoever is running the account has hopefully realized by now that if (and when) their identity is revealed, they will most likely lose their job. What may have started out as summer fun and games, as quickly snowballed into a much bigger situation.

What do you think about the mysterious @GSElevator account? How would you handle the situation if you were Goldman Sachs?

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Gerrilyn Koontz became a full time content manager for Make Me Social after graduating from Penn State in 2009. Originally from Birmingham, AL, she is happy to be back in the South living in Anderson, SC with her husband Erick and their cat Reid.

Social Media Etiquette: Here’s A Definite No-No

There are so many social behaviors that can easily be associated with the phrase ‘good etiquette’: arriving on time, writing thank you notes, and men opening doors for women. (ok, that last one might be a lost art, but you get the idea).

What you probably haven’t thought about (as much) is the idea of Social Media Etiquette.  As online conversation and interaction become more & more a part of everyday life, it is important to think about the impact our words can have. Let’s start off easy by identifying a “Definite No-No”.

In March 2011, someone with access to the @ChryslerAutos Twitter account dropped the f-bomb when they tweeted: “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f***ing drive”.

Chrysler quickly took down the tweet and posted an apology saying that their account had been compromised. At the time, the account had 7,500 followers. Today (less than 2 months later), it has 10,000 followers. From the numbers, it looks like this could have been a publicity stunt (although unlikely). Let’s hope for social media etiquette’s sake, it wasn’t.

photo courtesy of mashable.com

What’s the takeaway? If you have access to someone else’s account information, whether that be a friend, the charity you volunteer for, or a Fortune 500 company, double check before you make a tweet! (and especially before you tweet about #gettingslizzard)

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Gerrilyn Koontz became a full time content manager for Make Me Social after graduating from Penn State in 2009. Originally from Birmingham, AL, she is happy to be back in the South living in Anderson, SC with her husband Erick and their cat Reid.