Today a few of us Schipulites attended the Houston AMA Luncheon to hear Rohit Bhargava speak. Rohit is the SVP of the Ogilvy PR group and founding member of the international agency’s pioneering Digital Influence group. The topic for today’s talk was “Why Personality Matters” and Rohit is considered expert on helping companies discover their personalities.
He wrote Personality Not Included, “a new marketing book for entrepreneurs, marketers and all businesses about the importance of personality and a guide on how to use it.” His talk today seemed like a pretty good overview of what I imagine one can expect from the book.
He passed on a lot of great information today but the takeaway I really want to focus on are the five myths businesses harbor when it comes to using Social Media to maximize on their personalities.
Five Big Myths:
Myth # 1: “If we admit we’re marketing, they’ll stop listening!”
Fact: People listen to what they are interested in so BE RELEVANT! Don’t attempt to force feed your audience with boring marketing gobbledygook. Engage them and they will listen. Social Media is a great avenue for companies to share things things that are relevant to their consumers.
Myth # 2: “You should just give up control.”
Fact: What! Why? Social Media allows your company to get the truth about your company out there so why would you remain passively unengaged with your audience? Applications like twitter allow you to monitor what your clients/prospective clients are saying and interact easily and immediately. The example Rohit used was the cable company, Comcast, using Twitter as to help its consumers solve cable issues faster.
Myth # 4: “Our brand is the hero!”
Fact: Sometimes it is okay to share the spotlight or even totally promote someone else. People don’t like companies that are constantly talking about themselves. Highlight others, pay it forward, and don’t just talk at your consumers.
Myth # 5: “Transparency is the Future!”
Fact: Transparency is great. If you practice transparency and actually have good practices, it builds trust. But even more important than transparency is AUTHENTICITY. You can be transparent all day long, but if you’re not being real, no one will be listening to what you have to say.
“Blogging is the answer!”
Fact: So your company has a blog. Great! Just because you have a blog, it does not mean that things are going to be all cake and pie for your company. A blog does not magically solve all of your communications. So don’t slap a blog like a Band-Aid over your issues and ignore them because they will not go away!
So there it it, the 5 Social Media Myths businesses believe as explained by Rohit Bhargava! I’ll be purchasing Personality Not Included and I’ll let you know what I think. 🙂
To read more check out our Search Engine Marketing Blog on Social Media Myths.
’71 percent of all journalists get stories from bloggers,†said Dallas Lawrence at the Central Michigan PRSA Social Media event on November 14th.
