Social Media is a Two Way Street [Social Experiment]

We see it every day, a brand is trying to leave their mark on the social world and more often than not do they create a one way street.

A tweet here, a press release there, and the same message thrown across several social networking accounts at the same time. Does this sound familiar? Many brands still don’t quite understand why social media has become such a popular and regular part of our lives. It’s not that you can share content, but that you can discuss it, connect with people around it, and find new interests (so that’s not the full reason, but for the purpose of the article it is).

So why are companies, brand, and businesses still trying to just share their content, press releases, and one way messages on a platform that was designed to increase communication and feedback? The first issue is education. Social media  education is every where, and I’ve been to more than my fair share of events from self-labeled gurus who claim to hold the secrets, but it’s always the same high-level generic speech.

The second issue comes from effort. It’s really easy to connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts together, and maybe even throw and RSS feed into your Facebook page and LinkedIn groups, but what is that going to accomplish? Are the fans the same as your followers? Are people in your LinkedIn group going to be interested or willing to talk about things the same way as your Facebook page? Probably not because both platforms were designed to be social, but LinkedIn is considered to be professional, and Facebook is considerably more social.

One Way Street Experiment

So this is not going to be filled with methods, communication theory, or the like (be prepared, that series is coming); however, I will simply open two different Facebook chat windows and see how each of my brothers interact with me as I talk to them with two different styles. Generally when you use a chat program in real-time people expect the conversation to flow both ways, but in these instances I will just talk to him as if he was a wall.

As you can see the conversation ended quite quickly and this is even a conversation with my own brother. When brands send out messages that have vague action items such as taking a random poll, downloading a report, or liking/friending them on a similar network it not only acts as a one way street of communication, but is an extension of spam. Moreover, if you have people responding directly to these vague posts and you fail to respond you are increasing your chances of damaging the relationship between you and the customer.

Rather than talking at a person like I did in this example it would behoove you to humanize your brand. If you are going to take the time to create a presence online make sure you share stuff outside of your own content, be willing to talk to followers and fans, and listen (monitor for complaints, suggestions, changes, etc.) to your customers and members.

Two Way Street Communication

Two Way Communication while using social media as a means to convey the messages is a beautiful thing. It can happen in real time, or  on a delay similar to a text message; however, messages are often directed at specific audiences (followers or fans), or directly at a single person. Consider the Shannon-Weaver Model of Communication for a moment (ok I lied, Comm theory ahoy!)

What was initially intended to explain how information is transmitted over a phone can just as well explain how people, companies, and brands should be utilizing social media.

The initial tweet/Facebook update/blog post/etc. is posted in that persons own words (encoded), it then travels through the social media platform and is affected by noise (other updates in your timelines and news feeds, other blogs on an RSS feed, and a plethora of other items that can alter even the context of a message, this is then received by the intended person/follower/fan/etc., but as perceived by how they decode it. Each person will decode a message differently based on their phenomenology (how we view the world based on our experiences and education).

However, one thing we are  all familiar with is how to differentiate messages that appeal to us and clear advertisements or spam. That said at this point a user may just ignore your message as it was ineffective, impersonal, and they feel it does not require physical feedback. Further, for those who directly reach out to another individual or group of people while applying their social norms and peaking their interest you could in fact receive physical feedback.  If you ignore these people though you are not only damaging your relationship with them, but potentially losing sales, memberships, or whatever source of revenue that supports the time you are wasting on the various social media platforms.

Two Way Communication Example (Sort of)

So clearly this wasn’t a completely natural conversation with my other brother as I wanted to be clear he was the “control”, but you get the point. There is feedback, direct responses, and I’m not trying to sell him my kidney. Social media is for communication, not spam.

[Shannon-Weaver Model image via URI.edu]