Hash -- don't rehash

Note: This is a monthly letter originally distributed to clients and colleagues.

March 27, 2013

Dear Clients and Colleagues:

Now that a new Pope has been chosen, it's time to return to leadership life as we know it.

There's only one slight catch: Nothing is new or normal anymore. Except for stuff on-line, which seems to be where a lot of people are spending an inordinate amount of time. Many conversations now have "on-line and off line" components as if lines can be distinguished anymore. Most objective studies indicate business leaders remain skittish about using social media, while some have fully embraced outlets such as blogging, Twitter, Facebook (for execs. who need a date!) and for the adventurous set, YouTube. A client last year asked whether he should have a Wikipedia entry. Sigh.

Please consider these rules of order when attempting digital engagement:

1.) Hash -- don't rehash. Twitter's niftiest invention, hash tags, have taken off in popularity both among advertisers and consumers alike. It's a way to attach content to big breaking news stories, such as helpful content for storm relief to the other extreme: Contestants competing on reality shows such as "American Idol" and "Dancing with the Stars." Hash tags are cool, in other words, while rehashing old lengthy content already contained elsewhere is uncool.

The Garlington Report (TGR)

2.) Cut down on length. This letter is already too long for social media. Think quick snapshots, not lengthy dissertations. Note to self: Take own advice.

3.) Don't copy what someone else is doing unless of course it works then all bets are off. Examples: Samsung's Galaxy vs. the iPhone 5 is the biggest marketing example although that's not a true digital communications example. Think of your favorite on-line personality whose brand image has been invented in the ether. Matt Drudge pops to mind as does a new entry to the branding category, Dan Schawbel, whose story runs counter to a lot of the typical millennials: http://business.time.com/2011/06/15/how-i-did-it-dan-schawbel-on-becoming-a-personal-branding-expert/

4.) It's not all about you despite evidence to contrary. For those who think saying something stupid might spell an end to their careers, digital media probably isn't for you anyway. Give up the fantasy and focus on core competencies. The words, "I" and "me" should appear at a minimum in any written or spoken correspondence. Don't be Dell or else you'll become an even bigger target; see related post here: http://povblogger.blogspot.com/2013/02/dell-great-deal-horrible-grammar.html

5.) Pay an editor or writer if you can't meet desired standard. This is not intended as a self serving message but could be perceived that way. There are far too many daily examples of bad writing and communication not to list this rule. Just because it's on-line doesn't provide license to be non-literate. Review the daily installment. Hint: It's somewhere in your email right now.

6.) Know thy audience more than ever before. Quit obsessing over message. This is an age old rule that continues to be relevant with a small update. There are simply too many messages a day for Marshall McLuhan's rule, "the medium is the message" not to carry weight. The newest improvement focuses on being the message vs. carrying one. That's a tall order for most business leaders but not figures such as Howard Shultz, Jack Bogle, the Vanguard founder and Neville Isdell, the retired chairman of The Coca-Cola Company, which has been spelled out for the obsessed purists who yearn for the secret formula called Coke business. By the way, being the message requires a cogent POV but that's beside the point.

7.) Focus on the present and what it means looking to the future. Leave the past in the past. This may seem like traditional grieving advice, but it also applies in digital communication. No one, repeat no one, wants to revisit crappy economic twists and turns of the past five years. They want to hear about what it means today and what we can, dare say the word, hope for tomorrow.

Last but most importantly and deserving of an entirely separate instructional, the old adage "know yourself and your story" now requires reaching farther: Know how your story fits into a larger, more compelling narrative, or the larger story for true believers. If you don't know how to tell or construct a narrative then please do yourself a favor and re-read 5.)

 

Thanks for making it this far. Happy Holy Week,

JG

Jeremy C. Garlington
Point of View LLC
Five Concourse Pkwy./Suite 2850
Atlanta, GA, 30328
Phone: 404-606-0637
Email: jeremy.garlington@hotmail.com
Web log: "The Garlington Report (TGR)" www.povblogger.blogspot.com