The Positive Effects of Social Media

Honesty is the best policy! Everyone in agreement say ‘AYE!’

Well I have always thought so and having been brought up with Christian ethics, I have always kept it simple and told the truth.

One of the reasons why I love my job is that I am dealing with truths. Social Media is making the business world a more honest stage to work on and that was a huge pull for me. All the guys (and they know who they are) we have met that screwed us around, played with us all to get what they wanted, think that dishonesty is by far the best policy… will soon be obsolete!  Hoorah!

So how do you get the best out of a company or brand, how to show the heart of a brand, their story, their past, present or future, You show their truth!  And the consumer is far more clever now than 10 years ago. Companies have to be up front about how they capitalize on public profit. It is more obvious now, to Joe Bloggs how a company makes its profit and so all the hidden tricks and ‘in-house deceptions’ that were carefully locked away from public view are now rightfully exposed.  Of course it has opened up a huge area online for a new black market but these pickpockets won’t last!  I mentioned in a post a while ago, “The Social Media Blaggers Won’t Last” and they won’t!  There is nowhere to hide, (unless you wish to spend your time trying to outwit of course and what a waste of energy that is). We have presented a case whereby a successful business simply has to show their cards on the table because consumers want the truth. And these people that offer ‘this truth’ across their social media channels (in brilliant ways of course!) are winning the social media game. I spoke about how much I loved the VO5 campaign this Winter. Well it is a great example of this exact concept.  It encapsulates honesty, truth, creativity, encouragement and the engagement of it fans!

Imagine if X factor changed their whole profit scheme and you could tweet your vote? So, no more making money out of the public voting system by phone.  They would have to make their money elsewhere, (oh and stop exploiting these kids talent to line their own pockets, Ahem). In the US version they actually tell you who is at the top each week.  Kind of pointless as you can probably guess who will be in the top three in the final, no?

There are plenty of other obvious reasons for; Employees have realized that there is nowhere to hide from their bosses and employers end up with a better understanding of the staff they employ. Which in turn can only make for a good relationship, and in turn great company environments and in turn (again) a great business, product, brand or service.

Not forgetting, the customers, who can give feedback easily and liberally. Their freedom of speech is protected and the company will gain vital information to improve.

Social Media can and will make a better society for us all to live in.  I was reading Bruce Kasinoff’s article back in August 2012 about how ‘technology is making honesty the best policy’. I loved his outlook of ‘extreme truth’. He also mentions the book, called ‘Extreme Trust: Honesty As a Competitive Advantage.’ He claims the ideas inside it are going to change your life. The basic premise is that:

“Lots of traditional, widely accepted, and perfectly legal business practices just can’t be trusted by customers, and will soon become extinct, driven to dust by rising levels of transparency.”

Well I agree with the above.

How?  We are transparent human beings!  Some tell the world what they had for breakfast; some say what gig they have just been to. Nonetheless, all our friends, family and social media network ‘live’ in our virtual world and the big guns that own that space on the web can see our digital footprint. Not ignoring the dark side of all this, the boom happened quickly and we are having to catch up to try and lock down on the people that misuse this candid tool which is an industry in itself, but in my humble opinion, the more up front you are in life the more you will be via social media. That coupled with the information available to us, (even government records are available online and in fact, 99% of all web content is owned by someone and they have every right to share it with the world!) it is making us a more open and honest people! Can’t be bad eh!?

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