The Social Media Mindset

June 21, 2010 - PRLog -- In this new age of media there are SO many new ways to reach the public it is almost daunting to figure it all out. What do you do, how do you do it, where do you go, where do you start? These are some of the most common questions I hear. The first thing I do is tell people to think of owning a parking lot and that every social media outlet acts like a flagman. Now, you own the parking lot so you have to know how many flagmen you can control and how many cars you can park, but in order to assure that every spot is full as often as possible you are going to need employees to flag people down, it’s that simple.
Step one in any plan of attack is to have a plan, right? So when it comes to social media there is no difference. You have to build a plan and in order to do that you have to be able to determine your mindset and the ways you need to think to accomplish the tasks in this plan. So for those that have a started a social media campaign, and if you are reading this you probably have, here are the two mindsets that work the best and not everyone can do this, but you have to try.

Think like an air traffic controller

You have to be able to think like an air traffic controller. You have to be versed in the ways you can direct traffic, which is the ultimate goal of social media, to the locations you want. You have to be able to focus in where others can’t and you have to be able to react and think quickly along with being able to multitask with the best of them. Sometimes you simply have to be able to say “The runway is clear, come on in” and sometimes you have to respond to “mayday calls”, either way, you have to be paying attention at all times. Sometimes people want to engage with you and it is pleasant. You meet and share ideas and values and build a relationship. They have landed in your airport and you can now have a conversation even if their address is thousands of miles away. This is actually the hard part. In order for this to be useful you have to stay in constant communication and be able to respond to the captains’ questions and concerns in real time. You have to listen as much as you speak, if not more.
Other times, you might have to answer a mayday call coming from the internet. There is an old saying in the business world, “If someone somewhere doesn’t say something bad about you, you haven’t made enough money yet” and it is true for social media as well. As a plane is coming in they may see a clear path to the place they think they want to land and look to the left only to see a bolt of lighting crush at them and have to vere to the side and off path. This lighting could be a bad Yelp review or a post from an angry customer somewhere. The pilot thought they wanted to go to your airport, but suddenly got side tracked and went another way. So, like a good traffic controller you have to be able to direct them to the places that show a clear path again, and bring that plane in the right way, you just never know. Keep your eyes and ears open and be ready for both adverse and sunny weather.

Think like a publisher

So now we know that we have to hire a staff of flagmen to direct people to park in our lot (create social media assets) and that we have to be able to listen all the time and respond to both good and bad information on us and our brand (think like an air traffic controller), so what’s next?
As people join social networks and read blogs and post microblogs they see lots of things, Twitter backgrounds, written and video content, pictures, podcasts and so on. All of these things are an extension of your brand and can be a make or break scenario at any time. You have to consider your content and message t be the most important thing involved in a social media campaign, it is as simple as that. You HAVE to think like a publisher!
You must focus on content and make sure it is what you want it to be, every word and every inch of it. If you think this is not important, please read forward and think of your kids or spouse or significant other. If you do not listen to this, you are wasting time with them right now. By not focusing on the content of your campaign and creating a message that accomplishes what you want, you are wasting time even starting a campaign, thus not spending time with the ones you love.
It is paramount to understand that you must be able to capture the minds and eyes of everyone that comes across you, and if you are doing it right there should be thousands a day. Imagine having 3 of you standing in different areas of town and meeting people (the virtual world). One of you is rested, happy and clear on the way you want to great people. The other is hung over and upset at the world. And the last is drunk, hazy and a bit out of sorts. If I were to travel around this virtual town and meet all of you I probably would like the first one and not the rest.
So, what’s the point? The point is that in the virtual world we are always making a first impression. If I met the drunk you, I might find him funny and meet one of the other you’s somewhere else, but I wouldn’t take the other you too seriously. If I were to meet the sober you I would have expectations of a professional and a clear person being around me when I am with you. Now, if I meet the hung over and crabby you a few hours later at a new pace, I might not ever want to see you again. Follow me?
To modernize this, if I met you on LinkedIn and saw a clean cut person with all the habits of success and then saw you chugging beer in Mexico on Facebook and then saw a video of you kicking an elderly woman on YouTube, I probably would run for the hills. I f I see 10 tweets from you and they are interesting and clear I would want to read further. If I then went to your Twitter page and saw a stock background I would lose a bit of respect but move forward. If I watched a 2 minute video of you and loved it, but the end then saw a misspelled word or a missing clip, it would turn me off. If I went to your blog and loved the first entry and read the second and it looked like a third grader wrote it, it would turn me off. Now, nobody is perfect, but effort has to be there. Sometimes the human side of things makes it more interesting. Just make sure you are selling your book properly by making sure it is a good story first, then make sure it is written in a format people can understand, then sell it.

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