Did you forget how to be social?

A comment to my last post got me thinking about the vastly different ways individuals use social media and in order to strategize effective social media campaigns. I’ve had to step back quite a few times and think about the reasons why I used to use social media — the days before I had clients and, well, an agenda. I used to log online to connect…to socialize.

Let me take you back….wayyyyy back to yesteryear, back to 2004. The dawn of Facebook, and I was lucky enough to be one of the first to get involved. Graduating from high school right outside of Boston meant that a number of my friends ended up at Harvard, and when Facebook launched on their campus, they wouldn’t shut up about it.

Harvard friend:

“Ohhhh mahhhhhggeeeeeeee, Jessica, this dude Mark created the coolest site. I’ve found so many cute boys on campus from it. He said he might expand it…you should totally ask.”

Then it spread to my friends more of my friends’ schools throughout the Northeast (while I was at the University of Alabama), like my friend a Qunnipiac, who turned every conversation from a dialog into a monologue…a Facebook testimonial. After I finally heard enough, I shot over an e-mail to Mark Zuckerberg requesting the site open up to my school. It didn’t take long for me to become totally addicted. It had been two and a half years since I graduated and I was anxious to know what my old friends, acquaintances, and high school crush(es) were up to on their respective universities. Facebook opened the portal into their worlds. And through their network I connected with their friends and friends of their friends and so on. For years I updated my page haphazardly (which means those photographs from my sorority were tagged without remorse), I was married/engaged/complicated/relationship with my best friends. I used it as a dating tool. I used it as a stalking research tool. I used it to socialize.

Embarrassingly enough, it wasn’t until 2007 when I received a “friend request” from one of my clients’ CEOs that I realized potential repercussions of my online habits, and I panicked. I didn’t want to open up the portal to my world to him…it was my social sphere. Where I cut loose and did whatever I wanted to do. Acted like a fool.

After the panic subsided, I gave it some thought. Grow up, Jessica. Facebook was starting to become less about socialization and more about networking. I got it. I knew what I had to do. And with one quick click I deactivated my account. I didn’t want any trace of what used to be.

I built my page back up slowly, pulling in friends and colleagues. It was the first time I really recognized in my career what it meant to own my “personal brand” and I was determined to do it correctly. Instantly I switched into networking gear, and shortly there after it became a marketing tool.

Because I made that transition so quickly, sometimes it takes me a moment as a marketer to remember that 300 million people didn’t sign up for facebook just to read my marketing materials. Many of them came to connect, just as I did years ago.

“Social media supports the human need for social interaction, using Internet- and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many).” – Wikipedia

As more and more brands reach out in social media, it’s becoming increasingly more important for brands to research their audience and observe how and WHY they’re using the space. I’m willing to bet the majority of them (your audeince) logging in aren’t there to hear your brand message, so it’s your duty to respect their use of the space. Become a friend with your audience (and if you’re fortunate enough for them to become a fan of your brand’s page, understand them). Approach like a human, not a brand. It’s okay, you can do it. Socialize.