I dare say that marketing in the 21st Century is not dissimilar to “braving the storm”. The rules of social media (read Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn et al) change constantly, and it is merely through experience (the occasional bad one) that we marketers find out that,
“oh, that technique, that treatment, that meme/post/idea doesn’t work any more.”
It takes nerves of steel to set a course and stick to it until you discover either a safer passage to the promised land or calm seas that allow you to advance along the charted course.
But we keep on paddling, because we know that there are humans on the other end of the message, humans that want and need the information that we are disseminating, and it is through our determination and dedication to the craft that we carry on.
But that is what makes this 21st Century such an interesting sea. So many changes and so many more to come. The social platforms are constantly changing not only to suit the needs of you, their customer, but the tsunami-level changes ahead with the potential break-up of the largest of these companies (Google, Facebook) will pose not only challenges to all of us as consumers and marketers, but also great advantages and opportunities.
The take-away message here is that you should be fearless, yet authentic in your approach. Be you, be brave, and reach out to your audience with the real you, not some stylized version of you. That is not to say that you should show up as a “different you” on every post, but to make sure that your personality and your values come through in the messaging.
As marketers, we look upon those uncharted and tumultuous waves of change and our hearts give a excited little stutter-step. Exciting times ahead. We may end up bailing out water from the bottom of the boat from time to time, but, oh, the new shores we shall see!