Let me start with a story about fishing (I finally get to combine my love of fishing with my love of marketing)…

A fisherman finds a new fishing hole that produces fish on a daily basis. The fishing is fantastic…he has so much fun day after day that he feels it’s a shame to keep it a secret. So he decides to tell just one friend. The word gets out and soon, the fishing hole is flooded with fisherman and they fish and fish until there are no fish left.

Due to the fact that the fishing sucks, the original fisherman decides to seek out new waters.

Because he’s a great fisherman he finds another hole and has great success. And, because the fisherman isn’t that smart he tells the same friend. Soon this hole is destroyed too.

Does this story sound familiar? It should. As, it’s what we’ve done with every major mode of communication that humans have ever invented.

Communications channels are like fishing holes. They’re fragile. It’s easy to ruin them. Flood them with irrelevant information and soon your audience seeks other sources of information.

For a while it doesn’t matter…especially if If there are no new sources of information. Then the audience is stuck. The demand builds and builds; the users beg for ‘something different’. The channel owners laugh all the way to the bank.

This party continues until a new communications mode is offered. Something new. Something better.

Then users jump off the ship they’ve been desperately seeking to escape.They flock to the ‘new thing’ and for a while the system works ok. That is until we get greedy and start trying to realize greater returns from a pond that isn’t growing.

We’ve ruined TV. We’ve ruined radio. We’ve ruined telemarketing. We’ve ruined email. We’ve ruined our websites.

Let’s try not to ruin social media too.

I wish I had bigger ears. I’d like to know what everyone is saying. I’d like to get honest, critical feedback on a real-time basis. It would be great if I could hear the murmur of discontent. Or, truly understand what motivates and delights you.

I wish I had a smaller mouth. I’d listen more and talk less. I’d spend more time trying to process and understand what you are saying before I blurted out my first response. I’d shout less, and put more thought into the things I say. I’d stop filling the void with noise, so that when I spoke I truly had a voice.

I wish I had better eyesight. I’d pick up on your subtle signals. I’d notice you when you were unhappy. I’d be able to see things coming from further away. I’d see the path before I began to walk. I could truly see you.

I wish I had a bigger heart. I could empathize with you. I could get to know you better; become your friend instead of your ‘friend’. I would spend less time on the rational and more time on the emotional. We’d both be better off.

If you could ‘genetically alter’ yourself to be a better [fill in your role] (marketer,entrepreneur, boss…) what would you change?

PS – Of course I don’t need to wish for any of this because all of it’s possible today. It seems simple, but these small changes could make all of the difference.

Many organizations look to social media with the hopes of magically reducing their marketing budgets. They dream that all they need to do is create a cool Youtube video or Facebook contest and suddenly their message will go viral – mission accomplished.

Unfortunately, for every viral campaign that worked  (like the Mintos/Diet Coke videos or internet-born star like Justin Bieber) there are literally millions efforts that did not.  This equates to millions of blogs, Facebook pages and Tweets that go unnoticed, unread and unloved.

If it’s so bleak, then what’s  a marketer to do?

A good rule of thumb should be that you shouldn’t approach your social media efforts with the attitude of ‘what’s the least we can do?’. Your audience will spot the lack of effort you put into your blog. They’ll notice the unkempt Facebook page. They’ll be able to tell an auto-DM from a personalized message.  They’ll spot the lack of investment in time and resources across it all.

Instead, be generous. Spend that extra bit of time on writing your blog post. Ensure that it’s updated on a fairly regular basis. Buy that extra light to make your Youtube videos that much more polished. Hire somebody to help answer questions on Twitter. Convince your CEO that he/she should write the blog posts personally, and from the heart.

If your customers are a key asset, then invest in their engagement. It’s the least you could do.