by John Furgurson
Eleven years ago, in The Cluetrain Manifesto, Christopher Locke wrote, “the internet has made it possible for genuine human voices to be heard again.”
What do you mean, again? This is a first.
Never has the average Joe been afforded unrestricted access to an audience any bigger than the neighborhood pub. This giant electronic soapbox known as the internet delivers a world-wide audience. Anyone can pontificate at will, on any subject, and potentially reach billions of people across the globe.
On one hand it’s the greatest thing since the invention of the radio broadcast.
On the other hand, it’s a can of worms. Since there’s no barrier to entry, there’s an awful lot of noise.
Used to be, you had to get published to achieve guru status in any given line of work. And the editors in control were brutally picky. They didn’t let just anyone in. You had to have something to say, and a unique voice with which to say it.
Not online.
Any dumbass can start a blog on WordPress or Blogspot. That’s the essence of social media and “Web 2.0” — publishing is now free and open to anyone. (Some estimates have the number of blogs up to 100 million. And that doesn’t count the microblog sites like Twitter)
As the popularity of WordPress and Twitter explode, the quality of the dialog has not improved. Just the quantity.
On some subjects, it’s too much information from too many questionable sources. For instance, you could never wade through all the chatter about Twitter, Facebook and social media marketing in general. “Will it help my small business? Can I build a brand around it? How do I do it? Can I generate leads on Twitter? Where’s it all going?”
I don’t know. But I know this: Just because you have a blog and a few thousand friends on Facebook doesn’t make you a social media marketing guru. There are no gurus in that field. It’s too new, too experimental. Guru status comes from wisdom, proven results and the perspective you can only get from lifelong experience.
But there are a lot of wannabe rockstars. So if you’re a brand manager, marketing director or business owner trying to figure out that social media thing, beware. Many of those purported “experts” or “thought leaders” are just accomplished, online self-promoters riding the next big internet craze.
Here’s something else I know for a fact: Few people can communicate meaty, worthwhile thoughts in less than 140 characters. If they can, they were doing it way before social media was ever invented. They were the copywriters, the journalists, the humorists and the guru businessmen. The great communicators of the world who were published in books a lot bigger than Cluetrain.
Locke preached a sermon of hope for the digital pulpit. He predicted that the internet would forever shift the nature of business communications, and he envisioned a world where the consumer would have a voice and corporations would have to listen.
Pretty good crystal ball, he had.
Many great brands are embracing the online “conversation” and are getting better at communicating on a one-to-one level. They may not be the earliest adopters, but they’re catching on and beginning to respond to our wishes. If nothing else, they’re now painfully aware when people start spreading negative word-of-mouth.
But corporations don’t control the bulk of the internet conversation. It’s the average Joe on his soapbox with a big ego and a pay-per-click budget. Those businesses are popping up faster than you can say, “what happened to Myspace?” And unfortunately, many have the tone of a snake oil salesman.
In other words, despite the advances of social media, (or maybe because of the advances) there’s more phony crap out there than ever before.
The self-help industry. The diet programs. The plastic surgeons. The get-rich-quick guys. And my personal favorite, the golf swing gurus who can’t break 80. What a bunch of crackpots! Every Tin Cup wannabe has an instructional DVD or downloadable E-book available on the web. And they’re all “guaranteed to shave strokes off your game.”
Golf Digest wouldn’t publish any of them on a bet. Most wouldn’t even make it in the infomercial world. But they’re out there, sucking people in faster than the word can spread against them.
The tone is no better than the corporate spiel that Locke railed against in Cluetrain Manifesto. “The voice is like a third-rate actor in a 4th rate play reciting lines that no one believes in a manner no one respects.”
Yep.
Sometimes I long for the good old days when websites weren’t free and there was some barrier to entry on the internet. But not really. We’ll all put up with some noise in exchange for the freedom that blogging has provided. Now I’m just hoping for a natural weeding out process.
Back in the 70’s, executives at Church & Dwight Inc. noticed that sales of their popular Arm & Hammer baking soda were slipping. The loyal moms and grandmas who had been buying the same baking soda all their lives weren’t baking as much as they used to.
• Intimate knowledge of the consumer and the market. The shift away from the traditional American homemaker directly affected baking soda sales. Church & Dwight kept up with the trends, and even led the charge on environmental issues.
If your product or service can elicit genuine smiles, you’ve got a winning brand. Because happiness is contagious. And when people are experiencing stress caused by circumstances beyond their control, that little dose of happiness becomes more valuable than ever.
