meish dot org: life, unfolding

A few days ago, I read one of those articles that social media consultants seem to constantly be producing, about how to make a Facebook fan page successful.

They mentioned widgets and SEO and viral activity and all sorts of other tips and techniques, but failed to mention one very basic thing. The omission was glaring - to me, at least - and rather sad.

At the time, I made a note of it on my tumblr scrapbook, saying:

I read 5 Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page but I’m still wondering where “making a product that people want to become a fan of” comes into it.

But it’s been festering in my head ever since. Surely the best way to make sure your fan page is successful is to make something which inspires fandom. Then it just happens.

‘Twas ever thus!

Then this evening, I read Matt Haughey’s experience of buying a playground swing/slide set for his garden. He compared the experience to that of social media marketing, and said:

maybe instead of getting your company on twitter, paying marketers to mention you are on twitter, and paying people to blog about your company, forget all that and just make awesome stuff that gets people excited about your products, hire people that represent the company well, and when your stuff is so awesome that friends share it with other friends, you may not even need “social media marketing” after all.

Too right.

Social media is sometimes waved around like a magic stick, or an enchanted bean, which only some people - hallowed (mostly) self-identified consultants - can manipulate or unlock the secrets of.

But it’s not. Among other definitions, and at its most basic, social media is tools, situations and applications which enable people to talk to & with other people, about stuff they’re passionate or curious about.

Consultants can tell you interesting things about social media, and how it’s being used, and how it might develop or change over time, and how people might use it, but anyone - including me - who tells you that you absolutely MUST do X or Y to definitely make your magic social media beans flourish and grow, is making it up.

Sorry.

Andy Budd touched on this earlier this year when he pondered whether social media consulants were harming social media in the long run:

I don’t mean to sound cynical, but I do wonder what value a lot of social media consultants bring to their clients, and how long that value will last.

[...]

The problem I have with social media consultants … is less about the value they bring to their clients and more to do with the affect it’s having on the web.

Most social media consultants are actually people who are experienced enthusiasts with opinions about about tools and technologies - that’s fine, and they can play a really valuable evangelism role for organisations which need convincing about why social media matters, or how to get started.

Some (fewer, though) may even have valuable experience (professionally or as a passionate amateur) of actually building communities or creating products and tools which help people to share, curate and curate content (rather than just using them and talking about them). Again, they can tell you some really interesting stuff about user experience and interface design and the ethnology of participation.

And all of this can help your audience start talking to you, and to each other. No doubt about that.

But this knowledge and experience is only useful if you:

a) apply it in relevant ways for you and your audience/community, rather than following someone else’s recipe to the letter and
b) concentrate effort on making or having something which people want to talk about in the first place.

No amount of magic fairy dust can make an average, lacklustre proposition or product into a social object. Social media isn’t an exact science, full of calculated recipes and formulae. It’s about people.
And passion.
And communication.
And real stuff or experiences.

Last year at HICKtech in Owen Sound, Ontario, I gave a presentation about social media and community development which had as a central motif a big picture of shambolic detective Columbo, as a reminder that people participating in social experiences online (which only people like me ever call “participating in social experiences online”, while the people themselves call it “twittering” or “joining a Flickr group” or “writing on someone’s facebook wall”) need three things that homicide detectives always come back to in such hackneyed shows.

They need:

• Means
• Motive

and

• Opportunity

The echo-chamber of social media marketeers spends a lot of time thinking about the Means (ability, access, tools) and Opportunity (social graph, stimulus, habits, behaviours) for people to get involved in or pay attention to social activity online, but not nearly enough time thinking about Motive.

Why do people get excited and talk about stuff?
Because they care about it.
Because it’s good.
Because it’s worth talking about.

I wish product makers and media owners would spend a little less time thinking about manipulating audiences, and a little more time thinking about making good things to begin with.

To rather savagely paraphrase Matt Jones’ recent call to arms (now available in T-shirt or limited edition print form):

People get excited when you make good things.

So make your thing - whatever it is - good.