So it was with some surprise that I heard several people bring up personal social media strategies within the past week. The concept, if I understand correctly, is that you should approach your personal social media use similar to the way an organization would:
- Set goals
- Determine an audience
- Create strategies
- Evaluate success
"Well, today I really need to boost my positivity rating at work, so I will compliment the CEO once (and only once, so I don't look insincere), offer to pick up lunch for my supervisor, and make sure someone sees me doing the abandoned dishes in the kitchen sink."
People who do think like that are either evil geniuses or complete jerks. Probably both.
I do recognize that while our day-to-day activities are transient, content that's put online is relatively permanent. And yes, that kind of gravity should require additional planning and consideration.
But is it really feasible (or enjoyable) for individuals to operate under the "set a strategy and monitor it" model?
Here's my hang-up: life changes. Your goals change almost daily. For an organization, goals can remain far more stable. You can have large, umbrella objectives like "engage members" and "increase sales." But most people can't really make those kinds of goals for their lives because too much changes too quickly, and it takes time to build an audience.
For instance, let's say you're a regular person with a day job. You like talking to people and reading random, interesting articles throughout the day. Your goal with social media is to entertain yourself and meet people. You develop a network of people who like to socialize and share interesting information. Go you.
But then you become unemployed. You need a job more than anything.
Should your goal in social media change with your goal in life? If you have a network of people who enjoy beers and silly links, will they appreciate your sudden change to "mobile development thought leader"? Will they still want to hang around you when you focus all your energy on pumping content you think will help you get a job as a mobile developer?
You could spend months building up an entirely new network, just to reach one specific goal. And then what? Do you need to continue in "job hunt" mode, constantly trying to prove your worth once you're gainfully employed? Or can you go back to socializing and silly link sharing?
The obvious answer is that your social media strategy should encompass and reflect all parts of yourself at all times, right?
A mobile developer's objective should be "to develop a diverse social network, including people who share silly information, who enjoy socializing in person, and who work in the mobile industry, while also building my own reputation as a thought leader in mobile development."
Barf.
...
OK, I actually believe that's perfectly valid. I just hate thinking about life in that way. I'm an Intuitive(N)/Perceiving(P) Myers-Briggs personality type, which means I like to have an idea of the big picture and to just figure out how to get there as I go. I don't like setting goals and laying out strategies and tactics if I can help it.
Clearly, I know that I'm interested in interactive marketing. I know that I like to laugh and to make people laugh. I know that I'm awkward but do enjoy meeting new people. I know that beer and coffee are the two greatest beverages on earth. And I know that I measure success based on progress in my field and by growing a diverse, positive network, increasingly comprised of real-world acquaintances.
Do I really need to say, "My social media objective is to develop a diverse, positive network, including people who enjoy, among other things, beer, coffee, humor, and gatherings, while also developing my reputation as a competent interactive marketer and occasional humorist"?
Do I need to set SMART goals for this objective? "In November I will increase @ replies containing the acronym 'LOL' by 15% for a total of 25."
On November 30, should I "circle back" to measure my progress?
Should all of my interactions be calculated against an objective?
I'm genuinely conflicted about this idea. On one hand, how can people work on being their authentic selves if they're constantly holding their interactions up to some arbitrary goal? On the other, how can you be expected to know what you're doing if you haven't actually articulated it?
Maybe I'm being a bit rosy in imagining that people generally have a grasp of who they are and what they're looking to do on any given day without clearly articulating it. Or maybe I'm being naive in thinking that it's possible to just fumble along and have things work out the way you'd hoped.
Or maybe every aspect of our lives is becoming a little too results-oriented. Maybe some things should remain the way they're meant to be: social. Enjoyable.
Does everything have to have a goal?
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4 comments:
Nice post. However, we were not recommending a social media 'strategy' for individuals. That part of our discussion was for organizations. What I called out, very specifically, was a policy for families and some consideration for how you post - what kind of content in what channels. I DO think this is important because I think vomiting details about yourself without putting any real thought into how you might be perceived can be damaging.
I believe this is an important discussion to have - because I also think that those people that are most resistant to social media are the same people who think everyone is tweeting not just what they had for lunch, but their every move. The resistance is in not being able to imagine themselves being that open. I encourage thoughtfulness in individuals contemplating dipping their toe in those waters. Not because I think they should have a 'goal' in mind - but because I want them to start off on the right foot. I want to encourage mindfulness around how their story will play out. We all know what it's like to watch the train wrecks. The people that post as if no one is paying any attention? That is what I am hoping to get people, especially newbs, to avoid.
As for personal social media policies for families -- I absolutely think these conversations are critical. As I mentioned - in the same way that I think it's critical to discuss drugs and sex -- we should be talking about how people find us online and what they can find out about us. It's imperative to be very direct with kids about what happens to their data online - now and over time.
I don't believe being safe or being thoughtful is 'strategic' - I think it's necessary.
Thanks for clarifying, Nancy. I completely agree on your points about families and safety. It's important for people to have these conversations with children, especially.
And although I may have misinterpreted your point yesterday, the conversation at Java Meetup last week was very clearly about individuals developing social media strategies - setting goals, defining an audience, etc. There seemed to be general agreement that this was a good idea, and I didn't even question it at the time.
At this point, I'm still not sure I disagree. It *is* useful for people to think about how they're representing themselves, and I can see the value behind creating your own mission/goals. Because you're right - spewing random details about yourself as if no one is listening and with no clear agenda can lead to complete disaster.
I appreciate your input and apologize if I misrepresented your point. It was a really wonderful presentation. I'm sure I just jumbled some words and heard them through a skewed lens (yes, I hear through lenses) because my brain was stuck on the JMU conversation.
Wondering if we've had a miscommunication on the JMU front as well.
I figured (perhaps erroneously) that since the topic for the JMU was "The ROI of social media" that I was talking to people who use social media for their business (of whatever shape or size that would be) and wanted to measure the return on that business investment.
So all of my comments that day were through that lens (other than my comment that if someone is looking for a job, they should have people looking to hire in their networks.)
It never once occurred to me before I read this post, that there were people at the JMU event looking at how to increase the ROI of their personal use of social media.
This mostly didn’t occur to me because…
A) I assumed that ROI was a “business-y” term, so we were all talking about it in a business context (and that seemed to be the case with most of what I heard that morning – like people talking about their clients, how to integrate with other marketing tactics, etc.)
B) I know nothing about social media for personal use. All of my accounts are for business, all of the classes I teach are for people using it for business and I'm pretty much, all business, all the time. Literally, I never think about using it in any other way (which, in thinking of my response to you, did give me pause to think “so what does that say about me?”)
So, would I recommend that you have measurable objectives and goals for your personal networks?
Hells no.
I don't even know what that would look like. Nor do I think it's in any way practical.
I am strategic in my personal life, since my business is me, I am my brand, and the brand is my business... and so on.
But that's hardly true for most everyone else that I encounter.
So thank you for you for a reminder that I should seek more clarification from event planners about the audience for which I am about to speak. I apologize that that was not clear.
Well, I think one thing is clear: I missed the beat.
Maybe it wasn't you, Jen, and I apologize (I'll take both your and Geek Girls' names off this unnecessary diatribe) - but I really thought there was a conversation about being strategic with your personal social media in the same way a business is. It wasn't the main conversation by any means, but I think there was a little aside. People talked about figuring out who your personal audience is - "Want a job? Hang out where the people with jobs are." - and developing a strategy to reach them.
I knew I was being hyperbolic with the SMART goal business about @replies, but I didn't realize how much further my little brain took this concept than what was actually discussed. I wonder what's causing me to hear these words in such a strange way.
I also wonder who else is misinterpreting these ideas? This isn't the first time I've heard the concept of approaching personal social media use with a strategy, and I wonder if there are others who are hearing the warped version of that message, too.
Anyway, I am sorry for getting confused. And for putting that confusion on the Internet. With your name attached.
On the bright side, I was right to find this (albeit made up) idea of-putting. :-D
...No? Not cute? Damn.
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