P to the O to the S to the T

I was loaned a copy of Groundswell for my directed study. It was suggested that I could get the gist of the book by reading the first four chapters, so that's what I did. I guess that's my disclaimer that if I write something contradictory to anything beyond chapter 4 that I didn't know it in the first place and willingly admit any mistakes I may make.

The groundswell, according to Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, is "a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations." They write that it comes from the "collision" of people, technology and economics (no, I won't be using a serial comma in this blog). They include a lot of information that is so strikingly simple and commonsensical anyone who's got a lick of social media experience combined with some marketing know-how finds him or herself skimming and looking for the big epiphany.

When does that epiphany come? Here and there, when you recognize you can use some of their examples to sell the powers that be on "the right way" to use social media as a tool for your organization or company. (I've discovered that most executives find it easier to believe advice that's contradictory to institutional preferences for control when it's printed in a book they see other frequent flyers reading in the Red Carpet Club.)

Of those epiphanies, I found the social technographics profile, which is all about understanding customers' online behavior, to be a useful approach. However, the "free" service provided by Forrester's website is a bit of a disappointment when you've got a specific market segment you'd like to profile. Let's just say that when we (that is, the team I'm a part of at said small college) will conduct some research of our own when it's time for our next web overhaul.

The best part of the book (or, the four chapters I read), though, deals with the POST method. POST is an acronym for People, Objectives, Strategies, Technology. It's not rocket science, it sound communication strategy science. Everything we communicators do should be based on the POST. For many of us, it has been since we figured out how to move from SWOT to plan to actions to results.

For those of you new to this world, here's the POST process in a nutshell:

People: This step is essentially the same as any other audience analysis in traditional communication strategies, only it adds the elements of knowing what your audience does online and figuring out what they're capable of doing. As any good marketer (or master of the groundswell) knows, don't do anything else -- even create a facebook page for your company -- until you've profiled your people.

Objectives: Like I said, this stuff is commonsensical. Sadly, though, this is a step that even the most experienced communicators leap past on a regular basis. In the words of Li and Bernoff: "If you attempt to enter the groundswell without a specific goal, you will fail." Look at your audience, what do you want to accomplish with them? Li and Bernoff suggest five objectives that companies should consider pursuing in the groundswell: listening, talking, energizing, supporting, embracing.

Strategy: Picture a trumpet sounding...doot-de-doooo. This is where you plan, let me write that again...PLAN for how relationships with customers will change. How will you engage them and how will it change or grow over time. A vital step to creating a strategy to meet specific objectives with an audience you've defined and profiled is to identify possible unintended consequences of your strategy. Also Li and Bernoff suggest you start small and leave room to grow. The way I see it, it's better to have a small "oops" than a massive "oh s*@%!"

Technology: Finally, you get to "play" with the technology. But choose the tools you use (customer comments, a blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) based on the first three steps of the process. This is where most folks try to start. Here in Kansas, we call that putting the horse before the cart. It just doesn't work, so don't waste your time and your organization's resources — especially in this economy — on doing something that won't work. No matter how cool you want to look, you won't, especially to the people who are in the know. A wise person once told me it's better to have opportunities to miss rather than trying to pursue so many that you don't really capitalize on any of them.

In a nutshell, the POST is all about figuring out who you want to be in your organization's picture, understanding them, defining what you want to accomplish and laying out a plan for picking which dots are used and the steps you take to move from one to another.

The magic of dot-to-dots

I have vivid memories of dot-to-dot assignments in elementary school. Once upon a time, I recall the magic of seeing a figure reveal itself to me one dot a time. It wasn't until I was older that I developed a tendency to look for the image before I went on the journey from dot to dot. How modern of me. Marshall McLuhan and Bruce Powers would tell me that the transition from dot journeywoman to figure seeker was indicative of my development as a left-brained Westerner.

When I was little, the ground (or the pictures of flowers) overwhelmed the dots so that only upon drawing lines from dot to dot did I discover and realize the figure (in this metaphor, a caterpillar). It was always magical to find see that figure as a part of its ground, two things becoming one.

I think that figuring out this whole social media transition is a bit like those connect-the-dots worksheets that smelled of mimeograph years ago (that purple had a bit of magic to it, too). Granted, there are differences, but it's really about moving from point to point in a methodical fashion. I think it might be the only way you can create a picture of social media that's meaningful to you (and your company, organization, whatever) in the noisy and cluttered ground of the Internet and all the possibilities it brings.

For now, the moral of the story is to move from dot to dot with purpose. Sure, it's fun to jump in there and try different dots, but if you move in a random path, your picture won't make sense. The picture's not the same for everyone. Social media provides humanity with an infinite number of potential pictures to be drawn (e.g. communication strategies). If you just close your eyes and start scribbling, you'll never see the picture. It'll just be a mess of confusion in the sea of the Web.

So, let's sit down, pick up a crayon, smell that magical mimeograph (or the cup of joe on your desk), and resolve to move forward one dot at a time.