You are Talking, first and foremost.
All communication technology is augmented talking. Written language is talking that can conquer time and distance, granting it range and longevity. Printing press was the same, with the added benefit of speed. Video, IM, Radio, all technologies that take talking, and give it the scale that one-to-one communication can never have.
But you knew that.
So why is the conversational aspect of social media such a big deal? Because by the time communication strategy had wormed it’s way from an abstract concept into the DNA of the modern brand, there was so much technology in the way that the roots in talking were obscured. The broadcast model - the basis of modern communication strategy since the industrial era - is hard to relate to talking, because in conquering the distance, speed and longevity limitations of talking, reactivity and intimacy were sacrificed. No one looks at a TV and thinks immediately that ‘this is the spawn of conversation’.
It’s all augmented talking. The difficult part is the urge to reinvent the wheel, when we all already know how to talk. The magic comes when you realize that you don’t need to take modern corporate communications, and derive a way of talking from that. The talking part has been figured out for centuries, and it’s faster to learn how to adapt the brand and comms strategy to that, than it is to develop a new way of talking that both fits into the existing biz structure, and doesn’t immediately alienate people.
It all started with talking. So why should your communication strategy start any other way?
