Social media can be shagadelic when it’s used in the right way
It’s been a week or two that has seen some extraordinary dramas play out in the very public forum of social media. Some, like the Jami-Lee Ross affair, have ended in tears. Others, including a cosy shag in Timaru, have turned out swimmingly.
Each tells a lesson in social media that bears capturing as to what or not to do when its Sauronlike eye focuses on you.
Social media guru and recovering aviator Vaughn Davis once told me that only two currencies have value in the social media market. The first is humour. The second is truth.
Ross’ four tweets over the afternoon of October 15 appeared to have little of either. Not only did he fail to manage to get his whole message across within one 140-character tweet (the definition of a person who understands the medium), the next day he completely failed to work out how to use audio. So as a result he resorted to Facebook to air his dirty laundry. In hindsight, perhaps a data point that his judgement here might have been distorted by mental illness.
Thanks to the audio on that Facebook clip the F-word has now been deemed as fine to use in both social media and mainstream news media. Esteemed tomes including Stuff used the word in the clear when quoting Bridges’ conversations with the worryingly wobbly Jami-Lee Ross.
But apart from that, it’s been much ado about very little.
The learning here is that if you can’t be funny, truthful and brief then perhaps you should stay away from social media. Doubly so if your judgement is impaired.
Meanwhile, at the same time across in the retail market of the rag trade, iconic brand Farmers was bleeding equity in the social media forums.
Back in the 1970s and ’80s, Farmers went long in hard-copy direct mail. Typically featuring cover pictures of slim young things, with white but tanned skin and size 6 figures, these glossy pamphlets would arrive in the mail every couple of weeks.
In the pre-internet porn world, many a young boy (and quite a few older ones) had their attention arrested as they cleared these pieces of eye candy from the mailbox. Truly, as Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground noted, ‘‘those were different times’’.
Or perhaps not. Turns out the catalogues and direct mailing still goes on. Fabik Founder and businesswoman Angela Barnett recently received a pamphlet from Farmers called ‘‘Brands that match all the ways I live my life’’.
Not only did it seem an anachronism in 2018, its models all looked the same from shade to shape to age to belly buttons. Yep, they all had exactly the same belly button. Barnett sent a letter to Farmers questioning the form, substance and context of the campaign. No response.
Disappointed, she took to Facebook, where the letter was viewed thousands of times and hyperlinked through to Farmers’ Facebook homepage. No response from Farmers. Nothing. Unlike the public comments that ensued.
So not only did Farmers fail to recognise that the social licence and context for selling bras has changed in the last 30 years, but they failed to even try to respond to the social media maelstrom.
In today’s world you simply can’t afford not to be part of the conversation going on about your brand and there are two parts to this.
First, you need to know it’s going on, which means giving your team members tools such as Tweetdeck and Hootsuite to monitor what’s being said.
Second, you then need to be part of the conversation and own your brand. Even if it’s just reaching out to the person to have a direct chat.
Which is exactly what the Timaru District Council and PrimePort Timaru did to me two weeks ago, when a cosy shag or two was under threat.
A few concerned locals noticed that nine shags (a protected species) were rearing fledglings in cosy nests on a breakwater cantilever. The breakwater was apparently destined for destruction as part of a project to widen the port’s entrance channel.
They reached out to me late on a Sunday night, so I tagged both organisations asking if it was true and posted a snapshot of the nesting birds.
Both organisations contacted me early the next day and by midmorning PrimePort’s chief executive, Phil Melhopt, told me he was personally digging into the future of Timaru shags.
By day’s end the future of the cormorants and their chicks was looking rosy, thanks to the quick actions of a small town down south.
And perhaps that is the essence of smart social media – it allows big companies to act small again.
Hopefully there are some folks at Farmers and in the National Party who realise that.
Mike ‘‘MOD’’ O’Donnell is a professional director, writer and consultant. His Twitter handle is @modsta and he’s a bit fond of Timaru shags.