Avoiding brand blah

There’s a danger, when we talk about how important it is for brands to become conversational inside and out, for companies to assume that everything they do must therefore be shared; that everything is interesting. In truth, being conversational means having a pervasively social, sharing approach but also knowing when to select and withhold.

As Chris Brogan’s post on brand small talk shows, or a quick glance at a brand Twitter feed will tell you, there’s a lot of really useless conversation going on out there, with brands trying to shoehorn interest around inherently unnoteworthy things. In fact, as social media gets noisier, it’s those who know how to pick their moments, and their topics, who’ll create real impact. In conversation with your friends, it would be pretty annoying if you just whittered on about every aspect of your life. You can, and should, listen constantly - but exercising a bit of restraint when it comes to talking is what elevates a brand from being the equivalent of an insecure teen permanently attached to their moby with verbal diarrhoea to being an engaging, socially savvy adult.

Brought into the world on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 and filed under Uncategorized.