(pic from the entrance to the forbidden city, from my China trip)
The social media space is dynamic but as a participant you must remain static in order to create and maintain trust and quality relationships. The best way to do this is by understanding your message before you get involved in the social media space. Forget about the tools you should be using, how many times you should be blogging, or what your avatar should look like, ask yourself one question (at first), “what’s my message?” How do you want people in the social media space to see you?
Take a look at RyanAir (or it’s CEO), arguably the most crude, rude, and obnoxious airline that exists. Don’t believe me? Google “Ryanair CEO” or “Ryan Air CEO” and the first result is an article titled “Ryanair’s CEO says new airline will give free oral sex.” Now take a look at how Ryanair responded to a blogger that found a glitch with their site. While they may have taken an “interesting” approach to their online presence, it is still consistent, regardless of whether we agree with it or not. The Ryanair message is clear and consistent (google ryanair or check out the ryanair wikipedia page to see what what I mean).
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The point of all of this is to show that regardless of what business you’re in or what you decide to say online, it needs to be consistent. You can’t be a jackass online one day and a sweetheart the next, you will confuse your audience and lose credibility and trust. If you want to be a jackass then be one all the time, if you want to be the world’s nicest person then be one, but again, be one all the time. Your online message can be one of a zillion things:
- the world’s nastiest airline
- the internet company with the best online customer service
- the computer company that builds relationships through social media
- etc.
The point is your message needs to be clear and it needs to be consistent, figure this out before you go out there branding yourself online and building relationships with people.
What’s your message?
