Social media comes back from The Dead
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 by Jon Clements
It is reputed to be erstwhile Sex Pistols manager and punk svengali, Malcolm McClaren, that popularised the phrase “Never trust a hippy” in relation to a certain British entrepreneur.
Worryingly, the sentiment ended up in the script to the Pistols’ celluloid chaos known as “The Great Rock and Roll Swindle”, going something like: “Call all hippies boring old farts - and set fire to them”.
Somehow, American rock band hatched in the hippy era, The Grateful Dead, escaped the flames and became known for their endless touring and a relationship with their fans, the “Deadheads”, probably unique in rock history.
And it’s this that social media consultant, Steve Goldner, feels encapsulates the - ahem - vibe of social media.
In his latest blog post, he draws the parallel between “The Dead”, their audience and the way social media works: “Tune into your audience, sensitive to their vibe and perception.” For a hard-nosed marketing director or business owner that might sound like waking up at Woodstock, circa 1969, after a bad trip.
But the point, I believe, he’s making is that the way The Grateful Dead listened and responded to their fans - tailoring the concert set list and feel of the show depending on how the audience reacted - was doing something back then that social media is capable of doing now.
For companies this means listening and understanding first, then engaging in online conversation (not selling) and building a relationship, based on trust, with their audience.
Got that? Great - now pass the bong, please.
