Rebecca Leet made a great analogy about the difference between communicating through social media and communicating through more traditional mediums.
Until recently, communicators were playing golf, Ms. Leet writes on Getting Attention, a blog hosted by the marketing consultant Nancy Schwartz.
“Golf is the old communications environment in which your organization had great control,” Ms. Leet writes. “Except in crisis situations, you had time to plan, create, and deliver communications. You had time to create its message.”
Today, however, the game has changed.
Communications is no longer a solitary sport. Tools like Facebook and Twitter have added a new element. Instead of plotting your shots, you have to react to what others in the game are saying and doing.
To keep the sports metaphors intact, Ms. Leet writes that communications is now like tennis.
“A tennis player has to be able to react immediately to the shot that is coming at her,” Ms. Leet writes. “She has to be in the right place, at the right time, and have the stroke (read communications skill) if she wants to stay in the game.”
Unfortunately, too many nonprofit professionals are still playing golf in social networks.
They send out messages, but they don’t take the time to respond to the volleys that are flying back at them.
As a result, they are failing to take full advantage of these networks and they are missing opportunities to engage with those who are attempting to connect with them.
With that in mind, there are also plenty of examples of nonprofit communicators who are not only playing tennis in social networks, but are playing it at a world-class level. With that in mind, who is the Roger Federer or Serena Williams of the nonprofit social-media world? Post a comment to share your nomination.
0 Responses to Are You Playing Tennis or Golf With Your Social Media?
scarey1 - April 30, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Unfortunately, Peter and Rebecca have no clue as to how important golf is to creating an orderly process to check facts and ensure that the tennis players are knowledgeable in the subject matter areas they pretend to be at times. Sometimes the analogy is not tennis, but rather a chicken running around with its head chopped off. Too many off the cuff pronouncements by tennis players indicating what they think without a clue as to what the survey says. Certainly it is a good thing to be nimble and react appropriately using good research and common sense, but to promote quick reaction to every situation is fool hardy and will eventually lead to decisions made by group think and not fact. So, play a little of both and you are probably better off.