Social media content: Real, or just what we wanted to hear?

Parole Board chairman: They’ve got a name for people like you H.I. That name is called “recidivism.”
Parole Board member: Repeat offender!
Parole Board chairman: Not a pretty name, is it H.I.?
H.I.: No, sir. That’s one bonehead name, but that ain’t me any more.
Parole Board chairman: You’re not just telling us what we want to hear?
H.I.: No, sir, no way.
Parole Board member: ‘Cause we just want to hear the truth.
H.I.: Well, then I guess I am telling you what you want to hear.
Parole Board chairman: Boy, didn’t we just tell you not to do that?
H.I.: Yes, sir.
Parole Board chairman: Okay, then.

–From Raising Arizona

I’ve been playing around with Scribe, a plug-in that seems to be gaining traction with the blognoscenti (my thanks to Lee Stranahan for mentioning it).

It’s obviously an incredibly useful tool if you need to be found. Combined with one of the easily available SEO-friendly WordPress templates that are out there, the plug-in guides you in your writing to help you create posts that are more likely to be found.

Because these things are following in sequence, I want to make it clear that what follows has nothing to do with Lee, who I have no doubt is writing genuine posts (sometimes painfully so) in his unique voice. I’m sure he’s using this to augment rather than substitute, which is definitely the right way.

With that said, my question for readers is this: Are you creating content that reflects you, or are you creating the content you think people are looking for?

Businesses get hammered by this all the time: They design products by focus group that just have to work. They create engines to offer what people are searching for now. And to some extent, that works. More often, though, they get left in the dust, their lunch eaten by the daring new product or idea.

The problems with overemphasis on SEO are manifold. In no particular order, off the top of my head:

• Search is changing. Search is becoming social.
• People are unpredictable; what they liked yesterday may not be what they like tomorrow.
• Manufactured content just can’t cut it. As audiences become more sophisticated, the genuine will become a premium. And there’s no faking you. It has been said many times: Find out what you can be the best in the world at and do only that. I believe this is a big part of the reason that search is becoming social–because it helps us avoid manufactured content that exists only to trick us into clicking. Your voice is what will sell. You may be able to be found, but who’s going to buy it once they get there?

Someone is sure to tell me how much money his or her system is making, and don’t get me wrong–SEO has its very important place. You can definitely make it harder for yourself to be found. Increasingly, though, the “marginal searcher,” the one who is on the fence, will go to the real content as evaluated by his or her friends. Stories, narratives, anecdotes, jokes, character–these are the hallmarks of the great brands and enduring companies.

Ironically, this is an age-old truism. Anyone who’s been around the professional world for a while understands that the real value of one’s network is precisely this filtering mechanism–how to cut through the chafe and get to what’s real. So the next time you go to optimize your site (and you obviously should), ask yourself whether you’ve created what the authors of Inbound Marketing call “remarkable content”–content that people will want to find, not simply stumble onto.

What are you doing to keep it real?

More from CrossCut

• Authenticity in social media and communications: How to keep it real
• Who introduced you to Social Media 2.0?
• Social media tip: Put your back into it

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• How Not To Use Social Media (The Arkayne Blog)
• Two Companies That Said No To Social Media Scams (Tech Crunch)
• We All Live In Public Now. Get Used To It. (Tech Crunch)

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