People like to say that social media is a conversation. As a business, you are no longer simply broadcasting to your customers, you are communicating with them. A blog is certainly a business grown in the social media garden, but sometimes bloggers write as if they were delivering a key note speech, not conversing with their friends.
If you are really looking to have a conversation, start by talking that way. Unless you blog in academic circles, there is no need to write like you are looking for a Pulitzer Prize. Just tell me your thoughts, and I’ll tell you mine. As you can see, I write to communicate and converse, not to show-off and amaze. I’m not impressed by long words and complex sentences. I am impressed by great ideas and insightful opinions.
For most of us we just want to hear what you have to say. We are building relationships through blog posts, comments, @replies, and Facebook discussions. In a virtual world removed from emotion, it starts and finishes with language. Talk with me, not at me.
2 Comments
1 James Frey wrote:
The same goes with publications and other tools intended for a general audience. I recently received a Annual Report to citizens from a local school board (distributed through the local newspaper). It was titled “Telling our Story” but the headlines inside read like a report to government bureaucrats: Overall Assessment of Provincial and Board Priorities, or Understanding the Provincial Accountability Pillar. Not very engaging and story-like unless their goal is cure insomnia.
2 EF wrote:
Agreed. It just seems like common sense. Know your audience/consumers, and make sure your language (as an aspect of your service) proves that knowledge. I guess it just seems even more relevant in social media-related business because they are, by definition, based on social interaction, so conversations are happening constantly as the foundation of your presence.
Thanks for your thoughts, James.