Find Your Voice: Puzzling Over Pronouns on Social Networks
The sheer mass and popularity of social networks lures advertisers into thinking they are the next big thing. On the other hand, social media proponents wonder what advertising has to do with their communities.
Marketers need to understand the issue from the perspective of simple grammar: Social media is first person and advertising is second person. Are we part of the marketing process or are you the object of advertising?
The debate around monetizing social media comes down to an understanding the difference in two simple words: My versus You. In its quest to attract attention, advertising tends to think of us as objects in the second person, i.e., “Hey you, pay attention to this message and click here.” In contrast, social media is more about a community or network and tends to think of itself in the first person, i.e., ” We should discuss this some more” or “join my network of friends.”
The difference in person has a profound effect on how information and messages are interpreted and even accepted. Interruption isn’t tolerated very well when talking with friends. However, interruptions are more acceptable when we’re getting free content from places such as television or the Web.
The first person of “my” or “our” reflects possession, ownership or participation and works well with social media. On the other hand the second person “you” often appears targeted or even declarative when used in advertising. “You” can be either explicitly stated in direct response or inferred in branding, aspirational campaigns. Some of the best copy ever penned uses the “you can do this” strategy. Consider John Caples’ 1925 classic: “They Laughed When I Sat Down At the Piano But When I Started to Play!” The ad for mail order lessons ends with a direct call to action and four uses of the word “you:”
“If you are in earnest about wanting to play your favorite instrument — if you really want to gain happiness and increase your popularity — send at once for the free booklet and Demonstration Lesson.”
Direct marketing is a decades old industry focused on getting someone to do something. Today’s consumer doesn’t want to be told what to do. Something has to give.
What happens when advertising strategies based on the proven stimulus-response model are executed in a first person world? Nobody seems to really know. On the one hand, optimists bet someone will figure out how to monetize the traffic through advertising. On the other hand, pessimists bet people won’t put up with being interrupted or sold to when they are doing something personal.
Marketing is the alignment of needs and solutions to everyone’s benefit. What are the needs when a person participates in social media? They probably want to learn something, interact with others, and generally enjoy themselves. They certainly don’t want to be talked to by an outsider. The term “engagement” best summarizes this thought, used here in the broadest sense, not as the metric of a web site.
It appears that the struggle to understand and deliver “engagement” is really about a shift in grammar, from the second person to the first person. The challenge for marketers is to think about how to be invited to participate, rather than presume that paying for ad inventory is good enough to get in to the party. Inclusion in a social network is like joining a private conversation—you can’t barge in with your opinions flashing like a gaudy banner. Invitations are extended when you’ll provide something of interest or value and play by the community’s rules. In short, the group needs to trust the marketer.
Anthony Power is VP Interactive at Studeo, a direct response agency. He can be reached at
[email protected].
