Open Your Eyes & Look Outside the Bubble

If you work inside the social media or marketing space, it's easy to think everyone understands the basic rules of professionalism online. Even the often touted examples of what not to do have a certain air of professionalism about them. But trust me, not everyone uses social media like you do. In fact, probably most of the real world doesn't. Which is why you need to spend some time outside our little social media bubble.

The last few weeks, I've had to fill in for some of our social media team, while they take vacations. Some of this has involved working on a social CRM project we're doing for a client. Part of the job is vetting the people whose tweets the CRM tool has pulled in. And oh, the things I've seen!

First of all, let me say, I'm amazed at some of the things people put out there in a public forum. Some of these things I wouldn't say or show in a setting with a group of friends, much less on a publicly accessible format like twitter or Tumblr. However, that's not how a lot of people feel. This is their personal space to rant to their small group of friends who follow them. Or to show off to a wider audience. 

A lot of people I follow and who follow me personally, share tidbits about their day and helpful articles and blog posts. A lot of people in the real world use these formats more like a sharing space for a small circle of friends. It's much more personal and doesn't give a crap about proper social media edict. Looking into their words is a little bit scary and a whole lot of fascinating. 

What it does do is give on perspective. This is how the people your brand is trying to connect with talk, share and feel about the world they live in. Spending time away from our own comfortable world and immersed in theirs can only help us understand how to better connect with them. The whole point of brands being in social media is to increase and strengthen the bonds with their customers and potential customers. In order to do that well, those of us who are helping them do that need to pull our heads out of our own sand and stick them into the grittier real world of our brand's customers. 

I've always felt I've understood this client's customers, but this has really opened my eyes to a much deeper understanding. It's something I recommend that all of us do. How about you? Have you spent time really looking into the worlds of your customers? What have you seen? Has it helped you?

Mike McClure, Unable to look away.