Over at his PR Squared blog, Todd Defren’s working a killer series about social media charlatans, miscreants and half-asses. Todd’s post dovetailed with something I’ve been thinking a lot lately, namely, that plenty of so-called “social media experts” are making it up as they go.
Don’t get me wrong: There’s nothing wrong with making it up as you go. There’s a reason I’m starting to use the phrase “emerging media” instead of social media. This is, after all, a medium that is rapidly evolving. But I cast a skeptical eye at anyone who claims to be an expert in a field that’s still in infancy.
For the rest of us, the art of improv offers some great insights on how to “fake it ’til you can make it” in the social media arena. Here’s a few tips I’ve adapted from history’s best improv innovators:
Don’t Deny
Artful improv centers on the players making offerings to each other. Denying a fellow player’s offering can bring a scene to a halt. Consider this example:
Player A: Welcome to Lola’s House of Innuendo. I’m Lola.
Player B: You’re not Lola.
Kinda kills a provocative scene, doesn’t it?
Denial is a killer in business, too. Whether it’s a comment to your blog or a phone call from a customer, think of feedback as an offering. As in improv, a good answer unfolds and expands the scene. A defiant answer contracts and stifles the scene.
Making Your Partner Look Good Makes You Look Good
Improv newbies have a heightened tendency to ham for the spotlight. But as any improv vet could tell you, serving up a juicy offering to your stage partner is better than being an attention whore. As a rising tide lifts all ships, a well played scene lifts all of the actors.
In business, lifting your customers to success will pay dividends. They’ll return again and again and likely return the favor. The improv lesson applies in social media, too. Those who focus solely on self-promotion usually find an audience of one; those who contribute to the conversations started by others, by comparison, earn “Best Supporting Actor” nods for their roles.
Think of it like volleyball. If everyone wanted to spike the ball, and nobody was a setter, the game wouldn’t be much fun to watch, would it?
Tell a Story
Most stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. We’re introduced to the characters, a conflict emerges, and the characters work to resolve it. When an effeminate gang leader and a stuttering cheerleader have to work together to solve the economic crisis, the story is sure to be engaging.
My main complaint with the conversations that take place on blogs, Twitter and elsewhere in the social media space is that they fail to tell a story. If you write a blog, how can you use storytelling to engage readers? What do the characters (readers) in your story bring to the scene? How can you draw out the nuances of their characters to enrich the discussion? How do you lead your readers toward the resolution of a conflict?
Enter and Exit with Purpose
In good improv, every move has a reason. Entering or exiting a scene should be justified. You started a business for a reason — to fill a need — right? You should have a plan for leaving, and a reason. The same goes for social media. Why should you start a blog? What purpose do you satisfy by interjecting into a conversation? Is there a reason you need a Facebook page?
Provide Info About Your Stage Partner
When a scene starts to sputter, an effective technique is to tell the other character something about himself. And be specific. “Hey, I didn’t know you could walk on stilts” not only brings a spark to the scene, it also adds dimension (in this case, height).
The best conversations on blogs, Twitter, etc. are those that explore the depths of those involved. I’ve often welcomed friends to an in-progress conversation by introducing them with an offbeat fact. “Tom is an awesome guy” is one type of endorsement, but “Tom’s blog post on the future of journalism was a wake-up call to the news industry” adds much more dimension.
Raise the Stakes
I was in an improv scene once that contained this line:
“If you put another pie in front of me, I’m gonna pass out.”
Yawn. Imagine how the game would have changed if the actor had upped the ante:
“If you throw this pie at the cop, I swear, I’ll strip naked and run down the street.”
Sure, it’s over the top, but you get the point. Risk is a good thing, says Chris Brogan. Put yourself at risk. Expose yourself. Be audacious, as Skellie says. The higher the stakes, the more likely we are to see something we wouldn’t see every day. Want to stand out from the crowd of competitors? Raise the stakes.