In my continuing fascination on the subject, I recently read the 1928 book Propaganda by the father of PR, Edward Bernays. What I found most surprising was that not much has changed in American business or politics since the original publication of this book.
Please check out the review over on the Anne W. Associates blog and feel free to share your thoughts: http://www.annewassociates.com/book-review-propaganda/
I tried something new recently. It was risky – well, not really risky, let’s say daring – I applied my fiction voice to my nonfiction work.
Over the years, as I have developed my business writing prowess, I always felt there were certain molds I needed to fit in to and expectations to meet. Often times I found myself writing in a stilted, unnatural voice, like I was listening to myself on the other side of a two-story brick and mortar wall. It never sat right with me. It felt like a chore. I would spend countless collective hours revising and refining, restructuring and reworking – as I am sure any writer has had the good fortune of dealing with – to sound reasonably good. And the good was good, sometimes a little better than good, sometimes it was dry, business-like, professional, regimented, bland and craving a makeover of charisma and soul. Sometimes I hated the venomous amorphous beast that slowly gnawed at my psyche little bits at a time. It made me crazy; my mental wellness was not quite at stake, but crazy nonetheless. But I did what needed to be done, I stuck to my due diligence.
Now don’t get me wrong, I wrote well, when I was into it. And if not well, well enough for the sake of well enough. I wrote news articles and business information for the corporate intranet, website content, ad copy, various employee communications, a few press releases, a speech or two … whatever a Corporate Communicator would write on a regular basis. It did the job, it communicated clearly and efficiently, and I fulfilled my obligation. Nevertheless, it felt distant to me – like another shallow faceless automaton wrote it. I was starved to fight my way out of this monotony.
Since last August, I have been writing a short fiction piece for my MFA writing workshop course. You could say it is a psychological thriller among other things. During the process, I found myself seeing the story and interpreting it into the written language in a novel way. My writing voice, to my surprise, had evolved to a new level. Though it is hard to pinpoint the catalyst, I fell in love with the writing process all over again (I had to throw in one more cliché, really).
Then it hit me in a subconscious sense – because I did not actually speak or think these words – why not use this evolving fiction style, this new voice, in my nonfiction? I tried it out on a few small pieces. I found myself perceiving what I was writing in a new light with a different thought process. I introduced elements of this evolving voice to a recent book review … and it blew my mind. Reading the work back to myself aloud, I could not believe the barrier I had leapt over. The style was so fluid, so easy to follow, so full of humanity and personality. It was, and still is, an incredible feeling. My true nonfiction voice has emerged from the dark depths of white offices with beige carpets!
In my educational quest to improve my knowledge of Public Relations and Corporate Communication, I have found myself inadvertently applying this new acquirement to my conversations and online commentary. Suddenly, I am no longer the student. It’s not that I was nascent at the start, I have worked in this field for a long time in varying capacities and media (mostly of the visual kind).
My current studies are spent reading a plethora of history and craft books on the PR/Corp Comm disciplines, which has given me the ability to link together my scattered and isolated thoughts amidst my misfiring synapses in a holistic manner. No longer am I seeing a challenge from one point of view, it’s all about the bigger picture and approaching this PR/Corp Comm subject it with ease.
This brings me to my writing. After all, this is an exploration on writing, my journey, my … whatever. Where does it fit in? It’s all about communicating well, so writing well is key, obviously. Without a doubt, other key factors are important – speaking well, articulating thoughts and ideas well, knowing how to use the technology to distribute the communications well, and knowing how to read the audience. But at the root of it all is knowing how to tell a convincing story and educate others in the process. Writing effectively is a culmination of those requirements; using language in the right way for the right cause means the difference between success and failure in this business. A typographic mistake or misused word can lead to grave losses of clients or income.
To conclude, as I have yet to make a real earth-shattering point, communicate clearly and with vigor; be the most effective storyteller possible using the shortest amount of words and time. Write the words with love or whatever emotion is best suited for the situation. Just don’t write words for the sake of writing words like I find myself doing with this sentence to over-exemplify this point and beat it into the ground.
The adventure in writing continues soon, with more substance and less abuse of a blog post. And more intent too!
I wrote this book response in early October 2011 for one of my MFA Writing courses and thought I would share it here.
Reading The Zen of Social Media Marketing helped answer some questions I have faced on this abstract subject. Shama Kabani stated in the Introduction, “the traditional marketing rules cannot be applied to social media because social media is not a marketer’s platform.” Therefore, I learned about a substantial methodology that addresses this conundrum for growing online business known as ACT (Attract, Convert, and Transform). I was then introduced to a simple yet effective tool that applies to all of the major social platforms: building credibility on the social web based around my own expertise. Last and most importantly, as referenced in a quote from Jack Humphrey of FridayTrafficReport.com on page 39, “you must think like a user first and a marketer second” when implementing social media marketing.
According to this book, all social media tactics should fall into at least one category of Kabani’s ACT methodology. With a distinctive online presence in place, the first objective is to attract an audience to the branded website, treating it as the online hub for all social activity. A website built around an active blog ensures fresh content is published frequently and keeps the door open to consumer engagement. The next step is to convert those website visitors to consumers and paying customers by earning their trust. This is accomplished, in part, by repeatedly demonstrating expertise to the targeted audience on a subject relevant to both their interests and the business. The final goal is to transform
those successes so they will attract new successes by allowing the opportunity for repeat customers to become online brand evangelists. After it has proved successful, the ACT cycle will continue in perpetuity with new waves of potential customers on an ever-expanding scale.
The constant delivery of expert content to target audiences is a key strategic point in engaging and attracting consumers. To do this, Facebook
offers both Groups and Fan Pages, which build communities around common interests, which can include businesses. Hashtags are used on Twitter as a common thread to carry conversations about specific topics that any interested person can contribute to. LinkedIn offers professional groups and an online forum specific to developing expertise, called Answers. After I read the LinkedIn Answers section of Kabani’s book, I immediately – and rather excitedly – found myself on LinkedIn.com browsing and answering several questions, offering my own expertise in the Graphic Design category and elsewhere.
Throughout the ACT process the importance of being human in social media – not endlessly selling and promoting – is huge. Kabani built the case that behind every user profile is a human being; they want to connect with and talk to other humans, not companies or person-less brand names. It is crucial
for a successful outcome to treat people online with the same respect they would expect in a face-to-face meeting, especially in a time of crisis or when making a sale.
Looking forward in growing my own career, expertise building on LinkedIn Answers will become a standard routine multiple times a week. Most significantly though, I will use Kabani’s ACT methodology as the foundation for writing future social media marketing plans.
Find this book on Amazon here.
D.T. Griffith 