Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and the word “love” got thrown around a lot. But the fact is, love means different things to different people. If you think about that word “love”…you can learn a few things.
1. Context shapes the experience – We use the word “love” a lot, but the context within which we place that word dictates a lot.
Just one look at these song titles and you’ll see what I mean:
All You Need is Love, Love is a Battlefield, Love The One You’re With, Love On The Rocks, Love Shack, Puppy Love, What’s Love Got To Do With It, Love Stinks, Love Me Tender, Desperate for Love, Love Roller Coaster, Crazy Love, Love Me Two Times, Endless Love, Tainted Love, Radar Love, Love is the Answer, I Love You, You Love Me (yeah…you can thank me later for putting THAT one in your head for the rest of the day…)
You get the point. HOW we use the word has a big impact on the meaning. With Social Media, we need to remember the context. What platform are we using? Who is on the receiving end? What is our relationship with them?
2. Take cues from your audience – If you’re in love, it’s about the other person, not you. If I bought my wife power tools for Valentine’s Day, it would probably show that I’m not a very good listener, and that I don’t know her very well. We need to listen and take cues. In putting this blog together I went to my Twitter community and asked them for the song title suggestions above. I was bombarded with responses, mostly from friends, but some from people I’ve never engaged with previously, and I was only able to use a small fraction of them. But by listening to my online community I was able to get some real answers.
3. Consider your audience – If I utter the word “I Love You” it means different things depending on the object of that utterance. Am I saying it to my wife? My kids? My dog? (Yes, I do tell my dog I love him, though I usually use a goofy voice). Each of those has subtle, yet very different meanings. We even say things like “I love pizza!”….and again, it’s a different kind of love. In Social Media, we need to put the audience ahead of the message, or the message might not get received (or worse yet, received properly). Who is your audience?
If John Q. Twitter, whom I don’t know, asks me if I want to buy insurance, I’ll be turned off and probably block him.
If my friend, Bob the insurance salesman on Twitter, asks me the same question, I might respond differently.
Better yet, if I need insurance, and ask Twitter for advice on where to find what I need, I’ll get a plethora of answers which I will take seriously.
As you create and deliver your messages, think about the context, particularly in relation to whom you are speaking. Do you have a relationship with them? What is the nature of that relationship? Or is it merely just using Social Media to make cold calls?
Remember, Social Media, like love, is not about you. It’s about the person at the other end.
