12 Step Program for Old School Communicators

Robert French offers business communicators a 12 step program to get over their addiction to Old School communications techniques.

A couple of the steps:

• We admit that WOM / social media no longer allows us to have total control over the message.
• Admit to yourself, those in your organization, your stakeholders, and to any other interested human beings the exact nature of your wrongs.
• Seek, through prayer, meditation or whatever works for you, to improve your conscious contact with whatever overlying force guides your life. Human beings, customers or stakeholders - whatever you want to call them.
• Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps. Try to carry this message to other communicators, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

 More advice about social media comes from B.L. Ochman, who offers her Top 10 Reasons Your Company Should Not Blog.  Some of here reasons:

• You can't control every message on a blog. (But message control has always been an illusion.)
• Dozens of other blogs probably cover the same information. To be successful today, you need to define a narrow niche for your blog and become an expert in it.
• Everyone and her dog already has a blog. Even whores have blogs these days.
• You need approval from legal before you can publish anything. Don't bother blogging if every word has to be vetted by legal or PR. You need an authentic voice.
• Writing something interesting every day is hard. Most people would rather have root canal than write something coherent, pithy and provocative every day. It takes talent, skill and training to write down ideas clearly and make them interesting to read.

Link via Spamouflage.

Tags: social media, blogging, 12 steps, business, organizations, communications

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Comments

[Robert French]

Thanks for the link, Eric. It was a wee bit tongue in cheek, of course.

However, it was also in that "Nobody" spirit for those that just can't seem to even consider the possibilities of new tools and tactics.

You know, after thinking about this, I'm probably going through all 12 steps over and over. Maybe one day I'll learn something. Here's my promise to keep trying.

[Eric Eggertson]

I had a good laugh with your list, Robert. I don't think I'd ever get through a 12 step program. I'd keep wanting to get the first three just right, and would never get around to the last nine steps...