Social Media Gurus are a disease

So over the last few weeks and months I have noticed that there is an ever increasing backlash against those that claim to be social media gurus. Most of this backlash you see on Twitter is coming from those that some might call the “We were here first” users of social platforms but I find myself completely agreeing with them. But rather than add to the chorus of those who are pushing back, I want to share what I think the real problem is:

“We forgot about word of mouth.”

Social media is not new.  I believe that all mediums have a social aspect to them.  If think back to the invention of the printing press and the impact it had on the Men and Women who founded this country.  The spread of “newspapers” and books on the tyranny of the British tax code led to a nearly unified rebellion  by many across the colonies. 

Often when I hear people talk about the how “Twitter is changing everything” I laugh.  Because while I get that twitter and other social platforms are changing our ability to stay in touch.  These tools are just enabling us to have conversations that we might have had by other mediums.  Real change occurs not by a medium, but by people how people use it. 

One example of how a medium can change everything is the case of Martin Luther. Enabled by book making techniques and distribution methods not previously leveraged Martin Luther translated the bible into the common language of the day (German). According to a Wikipedia article on Martin Luther:

His translation of the Bible into the language of the people (instead of Latin) made it more accessible, causing a tremendous impact on the church and on German culture. It fostered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the translation of the King James Bible.

This work using the common medium (read: books) of the day had a wide ranging impact. 

Back to Word of Mouth

So let me tell you a story about why twitter is important and why we don’t need “social media gurus”.  I recently returned from a trip to Florida and I was flying Continental.  From the moment I got on the flight in Orlando, it just seemed like continental couldn’t get anything right.  By the time we landed and I found out they had lost my luggage, I had enough of Continental.  I actually understand that it is difficult to ensure every bag gets to its destination and I understand the logistics of air travel are very complex, but for me I had enough of customer service people who would not listen.

The end for me was when I called their customer care number and asked if my bag had arrived at Sea-Tac.  The customer service rep called the baggage delivery firm and confirmed they had my bag.  I asked the rep if she could confirm a time range when the bag would be delivered. She said the baggage company would call me in 1-2 hours and tell me the delivery window.  When I asked if she could just confirm the delivery window since she had their contact information, she promptly hung up on me. 

I have had my luggage delivered before so I looked up the name of the delivery company and called them.  They informed me that my bag was out for delivery and my window was 45 mins to an 1 hour.  The fact that this was so easy for me to find out on my own was enraging.  So I sent a mail (polite but firm) to the CEO of Continental. I didn’t want anything, no coupons, no money, just for someone to consider my time as valuable as theirs.

How does this relate to social media? 

If you don’t already know, I was sharing my experience with everyone on twitter while I was dealing with the situation. I basically was telling my friends. Avoid Continental; They promise the best customer service in the industry, but when the rubber meets the road…

The good news for Continental is that I received a phone call from the EVP of Marketing within an hour of my email. He went above and beyond to apologize and follow-up to ensure my bag was delivered.  While I am sad it took an email to the CEO to get someone to listen.  It made me feel better (which I shared on twitter) and I am choosing to fly Continental this week.

Both the positive and negative aspects of my experience were a part of every conversation I had that Friday. At scale like the Dell Hell incident, these conversations can mean a lot more to the success of a business and their marketing efforts than any amount of spend on advertising.

Using Social Platforms to make an impact

So your company is getting hip to the social media scene and you are about to hire a snake oil salesman Social Media Guru, I say think twice. It is not to say that there are not those out there who can help you develop a strategy specific to the social web, but why not first go back to the old world of “word of mouth”.

• What is your story and would anyone want to share it? Would anyone want to hear it?
• What kind of experiences would make your customers delighted?
• What kind of experiences would piss them off?
• Do you even know what customer service is?

Remember being on Twitter does not make you Zappos. What it makes you, is a company with a Twitter account. Which in the hands of a business that does not understand the deepest desires of their customers won’t move the needle for your business.

So get real. Start making something that has value and then bring it to the marketplace.  Listen to what customers are saying the good and the bad and make course corrections.  Remember that despite Comcast being a participant on Twitter they are still most known for a culture that doesn’t care. 

True innovation for your company begins at home, when from the top down or bottom up (doesn’t matter) you start putting people before profits, real values before shareholder value, and as Tom Peter’s recently wrote:

I devoutly believe that long-term commercial excellence is a direct product of an enterprise wholly devoted to its people and its community;

…

Think openness.
Think community.
Think excellence.

So start thinking about what it will take to generate real word of mouth for your business.  I just read this slide deck from some friends of mine over at CultBranding.com and I think it is a very appropriate example of kind of thinking we should be doing.

UPDATE: There was a nice post over at Business week about this topic you should read:

Beware the Social Media Charlatans

Jeremiah Andrick

Tagged as: marketing, Social Media Douchebags