Why is the corporate voice of social media so rare? Let’s consider the Wizard of Oz for a moment.
Perhaps they fear the man behind the curtain will be exposed, just ordinary corporate drones controlling the levers of a broken marketing illusion?
Toto was, and social media is, not afraid to pull back the curtain. The great wizards theatrics did not scare Toto and he exposed him as the man behind the curtain.
This was how corporate real estate brokerages were built. The message was PUSH with a few “worshipped” top producers - subsidized on the backs of many 2 & 3rd quartile agents. The rhetoric is always the same, we are number one, we are the best, and no one can beat us. The carrot and stick.
They were mighty real estate factories belching out endless propaganda and spin. Consumers had no venue for feedback, no collective voice, until social media came along. Social media is tugging on the curtains of the corporations giving us glimpses into the dark inner workings of the vast illusion factories.
First, let me suggest someone to have in your RSS feed, his name is Jay Baer and his blog is Convince and Convert. He is a true hype-free social media strategy consultant, speaker, and author.
Here is what he has to say about the subject with corporations in general:
The biggest obstacle standing in the way of companies’ embrace of social media isn’t the tools, or measurement confusion, or even being able to make the time to do it day-to-day. The biggest obstacle is corporate culture.
Corporate real estate brokerages fear social media and the curtain being pulled back. One disgruntled client can make quite a ding on the finely polished image (brand) of the corporation. A few dozen can bring the mightiest brands down.
Social media pulls back the curtain. From the symbolism hidden within the Wizard of Oz:
Notice how Toto was not scared of the Great Wizard’s theatrics, yet he was so small in size, compared to the Wizard, that no one seemed to notice him?
The smoke, flames and holographic images of Oz were designed to frighten people into doing as the Great Wizard commanded.
Toto simply padded over, looked behind the curtain, saw it was a scam, started barking until others paid attention to him and came to see what all the barking was about.
Who was behind the curtain?
Just an ORDINARY PERSON controlling the levers that created the illusion of the Great Wizard’s power and authority.
Example: This was in my twitter stream from an agent with a major San Diego real estate franchise the other day…
A perfect example of corporate spin, lies, and half truths.
Number one?
What is the quantifier?
Free training?
Nothing is for free.
Cutting edge tools?
A plain paper fax machine, cubicles, pbx phone system, and a coffee maker.
Sad really, but you can imagine the corporate reluctance to jump into the transparency of social media with no swimsuit. The emperor has no clothes.
Back over to the Convince and Convert Blog for a few closing thoughts.
There’s only one precursor to successful social media adoption, and that’s believing that it will work. Too many companies are “experimenting” with social media because they feel they have to, not because they want to do so. And that’s a recipe for finding flaws and bailing out at the first sign of smoke.
Unlike every other form of marketing and communication ever devised, you can’t treat social media like taking medicine – something that you do when you have to, and only because someone told you so. The impacts and effects of social media are too broad for that. And the guarantee that you will fail at some point is too iron-clad for you to pull up stakes the first time someone posts a negative comment on your blog.
What is behind your companies curtain?
It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked. - Warren Buffet
