Yesterday, my boss encouraged me to keep writing in my blog. I knew I should have been doing this, but hearing somebody else suggest it was the extra push I needed transfer my writing to my blog. But because of some stuff I published, things turned a bit sour for me today.
I guess I got in trouble today. That's weird for me to say, because I rarely get in trouble. I'm boring. The only time I really remember getting in trouble at school was in the 1st grade when I got caught walking out of the boys bathroom. (My friend Michael was about to flush a styrofoam cup down one of the toilets, and as a seven year old I just HAD to see that!)
Anyway, of course I apologized and fixed the content immediately.
There were two problems that were brought to my attention.
1.) The main problem was that I overstepped some lines of confidentiality in a blog post. This is of course inappropriate and I changed the content of my post immediately to better respect client confidentiality. Upon accepting the internship, I signed a document staying I would honor client confidentiality. Of course. This is nothing but reasonable.
In our weekly staff meetings, we first discuss our list of current clients. Some of these clients have an (NDA) at the end of their name, meaning that we have a Non-Disclosure Agreement with them-- aka, we can't tell anyone they're our clients. The rest, we are allowed to discuss.
Today I learned there is a difference between saying "Client X is our client" to a curious passer-by and saying "Client X is our client" on a blog. I go to great lengths to follow instructions, so now that I am aware it was inappropriate, it won't happen again. Fortunately, it was quite simple to go through my post and edit the writing to address this issue.
But then there's number 2, which is longer and gets me into a tangent about something else!
2. I was asked to not blog about the tools I use in my job. I can see some reasoning to this… if my company pays good money to use an amazing program to aid in their work, that should probably be kept confidential so competitors don't buy the same product and get on our playing field.
However, I was asked not to blog about even the free tools that are helpful in my job. This, I have a huge problem with. I love social media, because it's just that- it's social. It's to be shared. I think everyone should be aware of what they have access to at their very fingertips. I think being secretive about a free, easy to use tool is dishonest and goes against the strong commitment to sharing that social media has created for many people.
These free tools shouldn't be seen as competitive advantages- they should just be seen as tools. First of all, if your competition is really any kind of competition at all, they will already know about the freebies. Secondly, AGAIN, these tools are free and available to the public, and I think that trying to profit from the fact that you can make use of them is akin to trying to profit from the fact that you are really exceptionally good at breathing in air.
However, I consented to this request as well and edited the tool names out of the post.
Next up is my tangent. I've been thinking about this in one way or another for a few weeks now, and I'm just beginning to piece the words together in a way that makes a bit of sense. This is just a simple prediction. I'm not placing any bets, I'm not trying to convince you that THIS IS HOW IT WILL BE!, and I'm not trying to get you to think the same way I think. This is just a little prediction of mine, and I will enjoy measuring it up with what happens as the industry changes.
Social Media Marketing. Right now it's hot. It's up and coming. I think a lot of the things it has to offer are here to stay for a good while in one way or another. But overall, I think the industry may be a short-lived one. (Maybe another 10-15 years.)
Right now, companies that have existed for 5, 10, 20, 50, or even 100+ years have had to ADD social media into their pre-existing marketing, PR, and communications strategies. In other words, they didn't begin their marketing strategies with the concept of social media in mind. It was a change, a shift.
In the future, the people that start businesses are going to come with some of the core values of social media planted in their heads. In other words, social media will be an element of their overall marketing plan from the get go. Also, as time goes on, more and more people will understand social media better. As more people become familiar with social media platforms and the fun (and often free) tools that compliment them, the need to hire an outside agency to do some of the simpler tasks will diminish.
Anybody can use Twitter. While I may not have thought to use Twitter as I have in my internship in my personal life, the way I have approached people and talked to them has been primarily my own. I already had experience building a brand- Me. Doing it for clients is different only in the fact that the audiences are different. And in my PR courses, I have learned to think strategically about what an audience would want or expect.
Where value will remain for Social Media Marketing will be in the listening and outreach platforms. These super deep searching databases are just far too costly for the average company to afford on their own for their in-house marketing department. But if an agency can purchase the platforms and then support 20 clients through them, the agency-client relationship will be a beneficial one.
What I hope to see pop up in the next few years are communications courses that train people in social media. (I wonder if WVU's COMM program offers anything like this!)
Not classes that explain how to use the computer programs that are beneficial in the marketing side of social media, but rather, classes that just explain how effectively communicate with people on various social media sites. I could probably teach such a class, and feel that I DO teach such a class when I'm explaining the use of Twitter to a new user. I want to explain to people:
"THIS is what you're looking for.
THIS is how you approach people.
THIS is how you get them to talk back.
THIS is how you get them to like your brand (you).
THIS is how you get them to have a full blown conversation.
THIS is how you foster a meaningful relationship.
THESE are realistic results you can expect."
You know, really general guidelines. Because none of that is very hard or complicated. Just not a lot of people care enough about it yet to play with it as much as I have.
Lessons Learned Today:
*ALWAYS double check to make sure you are not breaking any rules.
*Do the Rachel thing and ASK ASK ASK questions! I'd rather have someone be annoyed with my many questions than be annoyed that I did something incorrectly.
*An internship is equally about figuring out things you like AND things you don't like.
Today was probably one of the most important days of my internship so far. This was a great experience to have at an internship, and not a "real" job one day.
PS- I don't like the term "real job". Life is everybody's REAL JOB and everything you do matters.
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