Today’s online media is just another tool to convey a message. Everyone gets hyped up on being involved in every aspect of social media they fail to notice that they are lacking the strategic message to make the tool useful. Companies today think if they have an online newsroom on their site that they are filling the social media purpose. Online news rooms are nice, but ask any journalist and they will tell you the first place they look for, “the next big headline” is in blogs. So what is a blog…its the old art form that dates back to tribal fires, epic poems, books…its “Storytelling”
I’ve worked for several companies during the explosion of social media, and I have to tell you that one company, that allowed story telling as part of the PR arsenal, really skyrocketed and raised a significant amount of funding. Then one day the CEO decided that storytelling was too whishy washy and he needed to focus more on “sales” speak. On that day the company lost its heart and the respect of the community. I think they are still trying to raise funds.
Its a bold step for any organization to cast aside old tactics such as press releases and try new things to capture attention. Thats why its important for a company to tell its story with appeal and credibility to its audiences. “Sell” tactics don’t work in storytelling or online for that matter. The days of the salesman have significantly changed. If a company plans to succeed in this new digital age they must speak to the people not at the people and they must engage the people in conversation.