Communication Nazis: A Term of "un-Endearment"

A guy I know met me in the mall a couple weekends ago and as he kept me back from perfume shopping, he told me about his plans to visit the UK soon.

Him: Going to help my cousin with his business for a little while. He does exonerations.
Me: (utter bafflement)
Him: You don't know what exonerating is?
Me: (utter bafflement, followed by reflection, then by more bafflement, then more reflection and mind searching: Exonerate means, ummm...to free from blame or guilt, right?)

I was baffled because I knew what I thought exonerating was, but the dude clearly was not in the legal profession, nor was he a P.I. but I could have been wrong!

Him: He digs up dead bodies so they can do autopsies.

It took everything in my physical and mental being to not laugh, and I feigned edification, with an "Ohhhhh". Poor guy was so confident in what he was peddling, and so pleased that he taught me something, that I did not have the heart to tell him the word was exhumation, from the word, exhume. Maybe next time.

As confused as I was during that brief conversation, so too are some of the people we write for. Show of hands if you have started reading something that just went right over your head because it was either chock full of jargon, or just written with the simple objective of baffling you. A gentleman I do not even know this week, accused people like me, communicators working in finance, of being Nazis when it came to communications. Now the dude does not know me or what I do or even how I do it, and calling me a Nazi was not going to get you listed in my good books, but sadly, dude has a general point. Some of these financial documents you pick up in a bank can just turn your grey matter green, and while there is an audience for that hardcore communication, not all clients are the same.

Now to be honest, when I write for work, I am also learning because I hardly know what these people are talking about when they start to get all technical with the financial terms and jargon. The extent of my money vocab is "pay me" (kidding kidding). But again, it comes down to knowing the audience I am trying to write for - people who are probably just like me or worse, and don't quite get the really hardcore moneyspeak. I am a purist writer at times - anal about spelling, grammar and abbreviations, but over the years I have come to grips with my reality and the reality of the different audiences I have had to communicate with in various roles. So...

1. Think of the audience and not yourself when writing. You may enjoy writing with lots of colloquial terms or use a lot of big words, and that may work for you. It may not work for your audience. And ask yourself, what is it that THEY want to know about this topic, not what I want to write. Don't be so self absorbed that you miss the point of who you're trying to reach. Think of them sitting in front of you, because you are indeed writing directly for them. If you don't approach it this way, you can very easily lose them before they even hit the second sentence.

2. Use simple language. Don't be a Nazi. That is not even a cute term (take note, don't ever use it), so don't force the technical terms down the consciousness of your readers. Sometimes even if the audience is very savvy, simple is still always better. Simple works. Less is more. The writing is clearer and to the point. It was @Trini_Mitz who pointed out an example in a local media article where the journalist used a huge word and then put the meaning in parentheses (brackets). I mean, if you know the word may not be understood, why use it?

3. Be correct. Get both your facts and your language straight. Good articles are well researched and structured, and reflect on you.The dictionary and thesauraus are your friends. Use them. Please.

Please.

3. Don't be daft. If you write for your pleasure, chances are you're writing about something you're passionate and knowledgeable about. However, if you're part of a comms team somewhere in some place where you don't know what the heck they're talking about half the time, wouldn't it be super if you actually started reading and learning about the industry you're now in? Don't let your writing come off as ignorant or fluffy. I still grapple with some of this dry financial stuff, but I read a lot (a lot!) and ask questions if I am not too sure and of course, you can let a subject matter expert review it and contribute. I mean, what's the worse that can happen? You learn something new? The horror!

4. Edit. If your subject matter expert is doing the writing and we know sometimes they can do the whole jargon thing, because they are not thinking like a communicator, then do the needful and apply the first two tips when editing the article cause most times it will need that human touch. Lend YOUR expertise to theirs.

So next time you're writing for Jill or Jack Brown, don't take it for granted that someone out there REALLY wants to read your stuff just because you're writing it. It's a bit more involved than that. Aim for more head nodding as opposed to blank stares of confusion.

Photo credit: http://fysop.wordpress.com

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Social Media Burnout - How much is too much?

I manage about 15 social media profiles (I really think it's more, but I have lost count...but 2 other blogs will add to this number), some professional and some personal. And it will keep growing, no doubt about that. How many do you manage?

And those are the ones that everyone else seems to use - YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Flickr. When I went to a social media conference last year, and realised how many sites other people were using, it was almost like a shock to my system. Ning, Yammer, Posterous, Tumblr...blah blah blah...more and more and more.

I have however not jumped on to every social media train at the station for three reasons:

1. Relevance: I need to be where my audience is and quite frankly, I don't think Ning for example is that widely used (if at all) in Trinidad and Tobago...yet.

2. Repetition: Some sites offer the same features of another. Though I do have YouTube, I can also upload videos directly to Facebook. Photos too. I can post events on my Fan Page, and build a discussion and community around it, and don't necessarily have to create an event on Meetup. Some social media sites are basically a one-stop shop...for my needs anyway.

3. Sanity: I have not cloned myself yet and the interactions should not just be about how wide one's presence but also how rich one's presence is, and I think it's good to focus on the ones I do manage and build on the relationships I have there, before boldly and blindly leaping into the unknown. I see it almost as diluting the concentrate to let more and more people have the opportunity to drink, but in the end, noone likes the drink.

Working all week with social media (in addition to doing other things) can be tedious and social media burnout is real. It can become annoying if you let it. Sometimes it's good to take a load off. I don't do any "heavy lifting" on weekends to give myself a break from all this social media hoopla. I either log on just to engage in things I enjoy doing online, like vacation planning, brushing up on my foreign languages with online tutors, or catching up with friends. If I am online at all.

One has to spend a lot of time with it if it is to be effective. It's a commitment akin to a marriage. lol. But do we want "noise" or do we want "value" when we spend our waking moments with social media? A lot of people talk about the tools which make managing various profiles easier, and yes, this is great. However, how much is too much?

Some people like to rush the numbers. Build the follower base. Grow the number of fans. Bosses like to see numbers - lots and lots of numbers. Yes, that's all well and good but how many of these people are genuinely interested in the long run, in what you have to say? How many are really giving "tit for tat" when it comes to generating content that is beneficial to your business? I have followers on Twitter, who could not give two hoots about my tweets. It's for this reason that I don't just add any random follower. The noise is loud enough, without adding meaningless chatter/haggling to it.

Do we ever consider whether our audience is getting burnt out as well? Is it just too much, in too many places? And is it being managed in such a way that the human resources available can keep these sites fresh and exciting for the audience?

Not only that, but the attention span of contemporary audiences are getting shorter and shorter. I remember when Hi5 was THE THING. Then came MySpace and that was THE THING. Now Facebook and Twitter, among others, are running the scene, but for how long? And while the myriad of options means you can further segment your audience, as well as create opportunities for increased communication delivery, one has to be mindful that the myriad of choices does not begin to become stale and that interest/attention from your audience does not start to wane.

How do you manage your social media profiles, and avoid social media fatigue, both on your end and the audience's?

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