Media in the New Millennium

posted by Doyle

B.L. Ochman wrote a good piece in in Ad Age with one possible reason that large companies fear social media — too many are too serious too often. The article mentions Motrin’s recent colorless response to the Mommy Blogger Outrage.

Too often, companies not only come off looking foolish, but they also miss opportunities. The online community is looking for open conversation — that’s why blogs from people at corporations often succeed, while blogs from corporations often don’t. When responses are scrubbed and double-scrubbed by a herd of attorneys, PR and HR folks and c-suite execs, the appearance will be communication by committee (which it is) and the tone will often be safe, but ineffective. To me, that’s sort of like staying at home all day every day because you might get hurt if you leave your house. It might be safe, but it’s no way to live.

In the end, it’s OK to acknowledge a mis-step with a good attitude and, when appropriate, a little humor. That’s how humans do it, and it’s time for companies to start letting their humans communicate with the other humans in order to be effective players in the social media space.

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