I Call Bullshit. Outsourcing Your Social Media Voice
I'll make this as straightforward and concise as I can (trust me, I'm completely aware of just how long winded I am)
No less than three separate articles crossed my desk today regarding this topic, one that was written by a friend of mine. There have been countless others over the last few months as well as a lot said on this topic on the various twitter chats. The long and short of it is this, they all say "DON'T OUTSOURCE YOUR VOICE!", meaning that you can let outside agencies handle various logistical matters, etc. related to social media, you can let them write those posts that will simply be scheduled and broadcast, but DON'T under ANY circumstances allow someone on the outside to engage in dialog on behalf of your company.
Are you kidding me? I can see how on the face of it this makes sense. Social Media dialog can be a very personal thing, and if you best understand your organization you should be the one having that dialog right? Sure, if you want to. But it's also fine with me if you say "I don't get it", or "I don't have time for that nonsense", or "I'm a real stick in the mud and have nothing to say".
Listen closely, just because you are inside of a company doesn't mean you automatically have a clue about how to execute your "brand voice". It doesn't even mean that you understand it better than an outside agency does. Hell, I'd wager at LEAST 50% of the agencies understand the nuances of your brand voice better than you do. Don't forget, it was likely that agency or one like it that you turned over your entire brand to. They are the ones who spent those days and nights scouring every possible meaning of a line on your logo, the demographic studies, the customer feedback panels, etc. They are the ones that had to try and explain it to *you* so that you would buy it. Yes, that brand now represents the way *you* want your company to be represented but you didn't depend on someone internally to do it you handed it over to someone on the outside. And all of a sudden you can't depend on someone on the outside who has more social media expertise in their little finger than you will ever have to speak on your behalf in such a way as to support your desired brand voice? Seriously? Tell me this, if all this is true then exactly why do we hire beautiful, well spoken people with acting experience to do our TV commercials? Wouldn't the internal person be able to portray your company best?
And yes, before you bring it up, I realize that the above scenarios don't reflect all types and sizes of businesses. But i absolutely stand by the fact that any company, of any size, can outsource social media if they so choose...and i mean *all* of it. There is no example of risk in doing so that you can bring up that I can't throw a real world analog with exactly the same risks back in your face. Feel free to try.
I feel the same way about this as I do all of this talk about "Transparency". Authenticity I can buy, transparency on the other hand is a load of shit. But that's another rant for another day.
Matt Ridings - @techguerilla
9 Comments
So you got me thinking, companies have been outsourcing their voice to experts for ages... that's what ad agencies DO, christ that's what I do.
I hear you about the authenticity factor though, seems to be a better yard stick for legitimacy in these regards as well. A company that is true to their voice and hires an expert to spout it for them is all good in my books. A company that hires an expert to deceive its customers... well.
p.s. - it remains to be seen whether I'm a "masterful bullshit artist", but it's yet another example of how "authenticity" is required to maintain our relationship, ..even if we're only talking about the relationship between a reader and some lowly blog :)
really been enjoying the couple of posts I've read so far. Keep up the
great work old boy!
Ah authenticity. It reminds me of that other illusive mistress of my
more optimistic youth: enlightenment; if you think about it too much
it stops even meaning anything. I guess they're both more about living
it than talking about it. But sometimes, I can't resist.
At this point, I'll let Greg speak for himself as I don't want to put words in his mouth. Speaking for myself, I work for a company, Powered Inc., that helps other company with their social media efforts. Whether it be strategy, conversation management, social CRM, Facebook presences, ambassador programs or branded online communities -- we always stress the importance of brand participation. AND, we find that what works best is a partnership of the brand plus Powered helping behind the scenes (maybe in some cases providing moderation or community management) but usually letting the brand speak for themselves.
With that said, you make a good point regarding agencies helping brands with their positioning/branding/ads/etc. The only caveat is that many of those efforts are intentionally formal and aren't two way conversations. That doesn't mean someone at an agency couldn't help a brand with it's social participation, but many agencies just don't think that way -- present company excluded - lol.
Looking forward to your thoughts...
Partly, my strong opinions on this topic are derived from my personal experience. Given that I've had to fight this battle within the corporations themselves I've had to sit down with the companies and agencies and see if there were logical arguments for/against outsourcing that couldn't be overcome. And to be clear, I'm not advocating that anyone outsource, simply that it's ok if you choose to. Each company is different, each agency is different. I work through and on behalf of more agencies than I do directly to the clients where social media is concerned. They need the training and cultural shifts just like the companies do. I just think it's disingenuous of us to treat social media as something so entirely unique that we can't equate things like the outsourcing of call centers for sales and support as rough equivalents.
People in agencies tend to advocate for outsourcing, people who want to run social media within a company tend to advocate against it. Big surprise.
Although I work for an agency, I tend to fall about mid-way between (blended approach). To that end, I think we're mostly on the same page.
Agencies can do lots of things for a company/brand ... and again, as you suggest, in many cases can do it better than the brand itself (because the agency knows the community/audience, knows the tools, knows the brand strategy, etc). But when it comes to making personal connections and forming relationships, can an external agent act (over the long term) as an effective proxy for the brand? I tend to think not - or at least that there are limitations.
If a company's goal is to change the way it works - to be more collaborative with all its stakeholders - to create products and service experiences in association with its customers - I think that the relationships should be real and personal between PEOPLE at the company and PEOPLE in those stakeholder groups. An agency might make the introduction, and probably even keep the seat warm ... but I don't think it can effectively participate in a long-term, give-and-take relationship that's transformative to the business. Generally speaking.
Thanks for pushing my thinking, Matt ... this is fun.
To your point regarding relationships, do you really want "personal" connections? Shouldn't it be "personalized" connections..but at the brand level? The reason I bring this up is that you can't ignore the issues that arise by creating truly 'personal' connections with a brand (e.g. Frank @comcastcares leaving Comcast..are his 'personal' connections now left in the cold? if he went to competitor does he take them with him? how is the value transferred? how long to re-establish that level of trust with the person next in line?). I'm not saying don't do it, just that we could have (and I have) entire conversations and articles on that item alone.
As to a company goal of transformation, is this really a social media issue? Culture shifts don't need to be made because of social media. They can be instigated by culture media, but it has to be a broader initiative for broader reasons. Otherwise it's like a junkie trying to quit to make someone else happy, honorable, but it doesn't work unless you're doing it for yourself.
Leave a Comment