Recently, I finished a course called Building Social Media Relationships, at McMaster University.
It was meant to be a beginner’s guide to understanding and fostering relationships in these mediums. The class itself was good and after I’d often hear those catchy metaphors (Stoke the campfire! or Don’t feed the trolls!) we learned, play over in my head. However, despite my understanding of the concepts, and having some experience managing social media professionally for a company, I still struggled…
I often asked myself, why is creating the content so hard? I know the tools- all of the yada yada of when to post, how to make a catchy title, reimagining content for different platform, being ethical and all that jazz…. But really, why is it so hard?
I see the internet as this place where the idea that life is like drawing without an eraser, becomes more real than ever.
From my personal observation what I’ve found with so many people who use social media, is they forget to step back and ask why am I doing this? What is the purpose of broadcasting? So often, we see ideas get thrown out there with no plan or strategy. People using Twitter or other platforms, to tell us about brushing their teeth or sharing bad selfies (*insert my shudder here). On the other extreme, we see people pushing their self-brand with a laser focus 24/7, 365. Always posting new schemes for revenue, whether it be through seminars, on-line training, e-comm., or being a brand affiliate for a tooth whitener, it’s honestly comical.
And then I think- that’s exactly why creating content for social media is so hard. Knowing the reality of poor content that people consume, is exactly why I feel an ever greater responsibility. It rests on my shoulders to create something great, that even if I am sharing something about plants or say bath towels- it must be with purpose.
And that is intentional design.
What do you think? Do you ever feel this way about the state of our content in the realm of social media?
-Sz