Phoebe was right: Rules first. Tools (a distant!) second.

Do you remember that episode of Friends where Phoebe, in her zany way, was teaching Joey, in his gullible way, how to play the guitar? She wouldn't let him actually touch or, heaven forbid (!), even look at a guitar.

Nope, he first had to get into the "zone" of being a guitar player. It was silly as, naturally, Joey needed to practice in order to hone his skills.

But when it comes to social media, Phoebe's a girl after my own heart. Her zany ways make a heck of a lot of sense.

I'm telling clients to learn and look and then...and only then...go ahead and touch. See, when I'm teaching a client or a colleague about social media we start with the basics. And the basics are two-pronged. First, I need to show them what blogs, Wikis, social networks and podcasts actually are. But then I need to stop and explain that these are merely tools that drive a trend.

And trends trump tools every time.

Yup, every single time.

What's more? Those trends come with some pretty hefty rules of the road.

So no touchie until we know and respect the rules. Because I'm not about to be at fault for someone contaminating this medium (I hope they're not touching when my back is turned).

And there is so much to learn that they needn't touch for a while. Just look and learn and digest. Ya know, get into that "zone." Because it's a pretty steep learning curve migrating away from top-down, company-in-control, managed messaging practices.

So it's rules first, tools a distant (!) second.

PS: Many times the client need not even launch a blog. I'm not at all of the mind that every company needs a blog (only if it adds value, not more noise). But all companies need to listen...and there aren't better tools for listening than the ones we have here.

Comments

[lolly]

Loving the anology CK!

[Ike]

Is this the vaunted intersection between Smelly Cat and LOL cat?

[Nathan Snell]

Haha, great analogy. I loved Friends :)

That sounds like a great method. There are many things I am we as bloggers fail to notice anymore, being so close to all of it. I like the rules first :)

[Elana Centor]

So what are your top 5 rules? I was having lunch with a PR expert at a major health care organization yesterday and spent most of the lunch providing a primer on social media* which I wanted to do and had fun doing.)
The organization has hired a social media consulting agency and my lunch partner wanted to have some basic information so she could participate in the conversation.

Having checked out the agency I suggested asking why, if they are social media experts, they don't have a blog.

So my number one rule for companies hiring a social media expert is -- they have to be participating in social media to dole out advice.