Social: Popularity Contest or Perception Supercharger?

As a marketer who started running social feeds almost 9 years ago now, I have learnt a lot about popularity and the assumptions of influence.

Lesson? That accounts with significant numbers, even though many had come by this audience non-organically, could certainly aid a brands distribution in national chains. That an extremely successful brand may actually be perceived as otherwise due to more modest follower numbers. 

Lesson? That followers, like most things in life could be ‘bought’ and ‘sold’.

Lesson? That mostly, all of the above, on balance was bullshit.

You see, I have always taken the position that social CAN be a game changer for business. But it’s not about numbers. It’s about stories.

Real stories, real people, real voice. All these connect. And connection superchargers an audience’s perception of the business and it’s momentum. Regardless of it’s base numbers.

I approach running all feeds and writing all social media strategies this way. How do you want to be perceived? When a customer walks away from your business experience how do you want them to feel?

Warmth, intelligence, high touch, empathetic, funny. Responsive, real, kind. Efficient, effective, proactive... These are all brand elements we ensure a businesses social narrative and extremely importantly, their community engagement, is honouring as well. 

After all, in today’s environment social is a major, at times THE major, touchpoint for your brand. Recent events in the Adelaide Hills Wine Region, one of our major clients at Felt, hammered this home more than anything else I’ve ever worked on. The community was literally waiting on our social rollout as fire swept the region. It was definitely one of the first places they went to find information  about what was happening.

So get rid of ‘must do’s’ and influencer led ideas around social media marketing - and start being... YOU. With a certain level of planning and ‘pretty’. 

AND if you lack time or confidence in doing this, speak to someone who can coach you through the process. It is an area of your business that really does DESERVE investment. 

Almost 9 years down the track, this I know.

Happiness + discomfort. Why I don't love social...

Social media does a pretty emphatic job of telling us to ‘live our best life’ have ‘no regrets’ and that happiness is indeed all around.

This has always been something I’ve struggled with greatly. ‘Cos? It’s BS. 

You see I run a what has become a social media agency but I truly don’t love social media... Not for me the bright lights of Silicon Valley, the Digital Marketer bucket list items of meeting Mark Zuckerberg or other such digital comms heavyweights. The woohoo's and the ra ra's.

In order to run my first Facebook Business account, over 8 years ago, I had to actually open a personal page... and because of my deep level of discomfort with the platform, I was compelled to find comfort with it. To relate to what I was doing. To resonate.

So I set out to research what competitors in town were doing with their pages. And without fail they were posting pretty garish sales driven content. My subject was the stunning and historic Lord Nelson Brewery and I just couldn’t come at running it’s content this way.

So? We started to storytell (or ‘storysell’ if you like). And suddenly, I was in my element.

Tales of its colourful and sometimes sordid history, images of its stunning sandstone facade, details of its Georgian fittings and fixtures, an irreverent ‘Old Lord’ tone of voice and plenty of vivid, smashable and colourful brews. 🍺🍺🍺🙏🏻

And the people loved it. Within 2 years the page had had traffic of over 50,000 (please note I don’t mention likes as I find to this day that likes are not an adequate way to measure a pages engagement) and an always steady business was consumately booming.

Now, I am not saying that Facebook ( and not long after Instagram) was the entire measure of this growth. New ales were released, a consistent EDM rollout was established, the pub turned 175 with a knees up shindig, its position as an elder in the Aussie Craft / Indie beer community was acknowledged with several gongs and Gourmet Traveller Wine awarded it Best Pub Restaurant wine list, 2 years running. 

But I am saying that digital marketing played an incredibly powerful part in ensuring it was top of mind with its people through consistent and engaging brand storytelling - reminding them that they could visit, taste, endorse and dine in a way they could engage with.

And the rest? Well it’s history.

Always learning,

x Jess

A note on addiction & the middle road

I have been following David Gillespie since reading his first book Sweet Poison. The book affirmed my strong intuition and the direction of my fledgling business at the time - that the sheer volumes of sugar we consume in our modern diet are extremely damaging. 

After experiencing gestational diabetes with my first pregnancy (I was to go on to experience it with my second as well, despite a complete diet overhaul etc… so there is an element of inherited condition here) this lived experience and intuition ultimately led me to partner with my Aunt and create an alternative baked goods business in 2008 in Sydney, that was completely sugar free plus other things free - well before this was a funky/fad thing to do. 

I still bake (some of these original recipes can be found on my site), still read those early books of David's and still keep our home diet as low in sugar as feasible. Allowing for times like Easter and parties etc.

AND the subject of David’s new book resonates with me yet again.

Fast forward to today and a life spent daily in the social media / digital communications sphere with my consultancy Felt. And this is another area of grave concern I hold. There is no doubt in my mind that my kids are addicts. Truly. 

I know because I am too, its my job, and I see adults around me everyday who are the same. Drawn constantly back to their screens mid conversation, mid child request, mid down time. But? I had 20 + years to develop pathways in my brain pre -computers, mobiles and smartphones and my parents over 40 years. (Remember this next time you feel frustration at an older person not understanding technology. They are waging trench warfare just to get neural pathways built to understand WTF a screen even is!). Our kids? Their brains are wired for the addiction, from the get go.

In our house we implement rules of engagement around screens. None whatsoever before school, TV only after 5 during the school week and agreed hours over the weekend. Friday nights are ‘fat arse’ - for blobbing and treats. But by Friday they are salivating for their screens, sprinting in the door to get to them and can't really connect because their drug is available again at last!

I had a Rudolf Steiner Education and I saw well what complete removal of modern life caused in kids I went to school with - this extreme also doesn't work in my opinion. We were the kids who knew what Biodynamic meant, over 30 years ago. Sugar free, TV free and often fun free! 😉 were common threads among the younger members of our community. But boy we knew our way around a bushwalk or nature play. As a parent now, that sounds like perfection to me, don’t you think?!

David Gillespie is so concerned he is advocating complete removal, apart from school requirements. And? I know he is right. 100% right.

But my Steiner upbringing also taught me what complete removal can cause - social isolation and obsession/ addiction in its own right. So… what’s the answer? I am just not sure except to inhabit the middle road - be really mindfully limited in our usage, acknowledging that this is their culture. Be tough around these rules. Say no to certain platforms altogether. And please please DON’T let them on social media until they are legally allowed to be (which is 13+ across all the platforms). Older if you can push it. They simply don’t understand the vastness and accessibility of that world as children - it’s beyond their comprehension. And it is vast. Vast, ugly, incredibly insincere and completely prescriptive.

Plus parents, PLEASE STALK YOUR KIDS ONLINE. It’s not a breach of their privacy, it’s part of your job. The things we see everyday across the social environments we inhabit for Felt, I don’t want my kids seeing. They will, eventually no doubt. But just not yet.

So… What do you think?

x Jess

Empathy and this Digital World

This article via The Adelaide Review is a great commentary on the reality of the Digital Environment we all, whether we like it or not, inhabit.

I resonate so strongly with this article as work with older Australian business owners often and this is a common thread. Plus the impatience of society generally with understanding how this divide impacts them.

In our Felt Masterclasses on how to run social I use the analogy of digging a trench or pathway in the brain to even start to understand how to use digital technology.

After all I was 20 before I ever used a computer and my parents were 40+. How many neural pathways have already been laid in that time?!

Younger folk started much earlier, so their brain has far more neuroplasticity around this subject. Little ones today won't even have to dig. Those pathways are laid down almost from birth... Rightly or wrongly.

Read on and maybe the next time you feel frustrated with someone older than yourself for their clear lack of how to do it, take a moment to reflect that this is actually probably VERY hard for them. And something, in another lifetime they would never have even given the time of day.

In my case its using the multitude of apps to run business these days. I am often overwhelmed due to being busy and therefore time poor and just cant get my head around them. So at Felt we use a few systems to account for the different generations in the business and how our minds work; paper based, apps etc

Ultimately we still get where we are going. We just use slightly different paths to get there.

x Jess