« Is your corporate blog credible? | Main | Sorry, I didn’t see your e-mail. Was it important? »

December 15, 2008

When pigs fly? Maybe social media’s not as tough as you think

Lately I've been listening to clients who have a lot of angst about social media: They'd like to do something, but they just can’t figure out how to overcome the legal, financial and other barriers.

Our advice usually goes like this: Why don’t you try something easy? Maybe start a quick poll. (Yes, that counts.) Allow employees to rate content. Or, since nearly everyone either has a digital camera or a cell phone that takes photographs, ask employees to submit photos.

But the third suggestion is often met with possible obstacles. “What will employees submit photos of?” clients wonder. “How can we ensure that the photos are appropriate?” And: “Won’t the photos be poor quality? After all, we have standards to uphold.”

And this makes me think that these folks aren’t quite getting the social media concept. See, the idea is to encourage participation, and to allow communication to become more informal. The point is to allow different viewpoints and voices to be heard, not just the usual corporate perspective. Along the way, maybe you can even allow fun to enter the equation.

For example, how about asking people photograph themselves wearing pig snouts? Okay, I’m half kidding, but only half.

There’s a candy company called Fat Pig Chocolate that has incorporated a pig snout into its wrapper. The idea is for consumers to “unleash their inner pig” by uploading photos of themselves wearing the snout onto the company’s web site.

Who would do such a thing? According to Paul Parton, the brand-planning partner at The Brooklyn Brothers, a creative collective, a lot of people. “The idea sneaked online before the brand was officially launched, and one digital image on one Web site begat lots of digital images on lots of Web sites,” he writes in Media Post (free registration required).

“Now there are about 2,000 pages of content devoted to Fat Pig Chocolate—simply because it's an engaging idea that invites people to participate,” says Mr. Parton.

Maybe you don’t want to go all the way to people wearing pig snouts. But how asking employees to submit photos of themselves wearing the company logo? Or funny hats? Or holiday apparel?

It could be fun (and even better, it could actually get employees to participate).

Posted by Alison Davis at December 15, 2008 10:58 AM