Recently I saw a special on Pixar’s movies, and the documentary included the following scene from Toy Story 2:
After the video, the doll explained “You never forget kids like Emily and Andy. But they forget you…”
The film’s director, John Lasseter, explained that if you saw this you didn’t think of these items as toys, but you believed they were real. How easy is it to watch that video and think ‘Aw she got left behind!’
Pixar does a wonderful job of taking inanimate objects, and making them seem ‘real’ and more human to us. This is a big reason why their movies work, because when it’s easier for us to view the characters as ‘real’, then it becomes easier to connect with them, and easier for us to become interested in the story that they are a part of.
And if you think about it, this is the exact reason why social media works for companies. It makes companies ‘more human’. Social media has the power to transform behemoth companies into an organization of people just like us. When I was at #DellCAP a few weeks ago, I asked the group of ‘fans’ of Dell the reason why they chose to evangelize the company. I explained that I wasn’t sure if I was an evangelist for Dell, but if I was, it wasn’t because of the products they sell. It’s because of the people I have come to know that work at Dell. And those connections have been formed via social media. So if it comes down to my next computer being from Dell or Compaq….well thanks to social media, I already have several friends at Dell, and can’t name one person at Compaq, so guess who probably gets my business?
Just as Pixar makes inanimate objects ‘more real’, social media is making companies of all sizes ‘more human’. Which makes them more like me, and easier to connect with, easier to trust, and easier to justify doing business with.
Not sure where all this fits into the ROI equation, but it’s a real benefit, right?
Well said! Social media is all about building relationships. Relationships make people feel special and give them worth. That’s a win-win situation.
.-= Heather Villa´s last blog ..6 Ways to Expand Your Income Potential =-.
Heather I think the big promise of social media, especially for companies, is that it can make them more human. That’s especially true for larger companies. It makes it easier for us to connect to individuals at companies, and that helps transform it from being a large company that I cannot relate to, to a company like Dell or Radian 6, that has employees that I know as friends.
That matters. And it’s a big reason why social media matters, and why I am so passionate about the connections that the tools help facilitate.
.-= mack collier´s last blog ..5 smart ways to create additional content for your company blog- =-.
Very rightly said Mack! Socializing makes blogs more human and closer to people.
Mack: Brilliantly (and succinctly) stated!
DJ Waldow
@djwaldow
.-= DJ Waldow´s last blog ..6 Things I Suck At =-.
You’ve nailed it, Mack. With the proliferation of social media in our personal lives, it only makes sense that businesses will try to emulate that as well. The way people are connecting with each other is changing, and people are expecting to see the same changes take place in how they connect with businesses.
Just like how a positive personal experience inside a physical store can turn someone into an advocate, the same is becoming true of experiences shared through social media! When you lay things out as you have in this post, it’s hard to imagine any company wouldn’t be looking at how these new tactics and channels could be improving the way they do business.
.-= Mike Templeton´s last blog ..Stop Planning and Start Doing =-.
Mike you nailed it, it’s about using the same tools your customers are using, and for the same reasons. That makes the communication you have with these customers much more effective, because it’s being spoken in a voice they can relate to.
Nice! Love the SM analogy… because you already know how much I loved Toy Story’s “real” toys!
.-= Ann Handley´s last blog ..Map Your Twitter Data to Boost Customer Engagement =-.
Heh! Like I told DJ, I like to find stuff that’s far more interesting than boring social media tools, and relate it back to how you can more efficiently use social media.
Kinda sneaky, but hey 😉
.-= mack collier´s last blog ..Understanding why Social Media works- in less than 3 minutes =-.
Well said. I had a poor experience with Time Warner Cable on the phone today… I tweeted about it and before I knew it they were trying to help me out on Twitter. Now, they still haven’t fixed the problem, but at least I felt like they gave a crap and will give them more time to fix it.
Hey Floyd, it’s good to see more companies doing, this and being proactive about finding customers with issues, and reaching out to them. But as you said, the followup needs to be in place, and that’s where a real impact can be made.
.-= mack collier´s last blog ..Understanding why Social Media works- in less than 3 minutes =-.
Mack, yet another simple but fantastic post! 🙂 Keep it up!
.-= Ekaterina Walter´s last blog ..LinkedIn New Social Features =-.
Mack, I found you via Heather and I love this post.
As Heather says, it’s all about building relationships. You know, I think in our society we crave real relationship these days. There’s so much spin and hype. You can’t really keep up a highly stylised game using social media. If you can’t be real you quickly get found out. It’s going to be fascinating to watch and indeed be part of its development in the coming years.
Thank you Christine, and thanks to Heather for pointing you here! Yes, it’s too much work to not be yourself anyway. Although it can definitely be scary to be open, especially for tight-laced companies that have no idea what social media is or how/why it works.
I totally get that, so I think baby steps are fine at first, but the key is to keep pushing to improve. If you can communicate with customers in a voice that they recognize (their own), then you win! And while social media can help with this, it’s not the only way to do so, but that’s another post for another day!
“I like to find stuff that’s far more interesting than boring social media tools, and relate it back to how you can more efficiently use social media.”
Wow, you mean you don’t want to rely on hieroglyphical-type charts and graphs that look like a amalgamation of paint samples from your local Sherwin Williams?
Really Mack… get with the times. This whole “relating social media on human terms” mantra… spare us.
(tongue planted firmly in cheek)
Yes you are correct ,socializing makes blogs more human and closer to people. Thanks