When Language Gets in the Way
We all need to become better communicators – nobody disagrees with that, especially those in analytics or market research.
But what does that mean in practice?
In a recent blog post I touched in the trend for B2B folk to post self-celebratory selfies, often with little or zero substance. It's all over LinkedIn.
Does this FB-inspired stuff work amongst the working adult world?
B2B Selfies in MR - the Road to Influencer Status?
Likes are generated, sure, even if they're invariably in the low double digits – and often from people within the same company, or those who have a narrow interest in "liking".
A bit like parents clapping their child's performance at a school concert.....whether this kind of post really generates value in the hard-nosed world of business is questionable.
Interested to hear from those reading this who actually do business selfies on this. Perhaps there is a case for insights folk becoming influencers?
As for the monetisation of B2B Social media - this may happen in future, sure, but if that’s the objective, there are going to be a lot of disappointed people like myself who are looking for genuine connection, sharing and engagement.
The Power of Words
Moving on to "words": we have a problem. We need to talk.
Loads of people are simply peppering their submission titles and presentation talks, let alone articles, with jargon....
- Future-proofing
- At scale
- Human centric
- Pop-up
These borrowed words are heavily over-used and often seemingly take the place of what people actually want to say. They nudge thinking aside.
They also indicate belonging, you're part of an imagined tribe. “I’ll say what she’s saying sort of stuff.”
Nothing wrong with imitation as a principle - but it should be a starting point from which you develop your own angle.
Just repeating phrases such as the above is a short-term game - reader interest is invariably aroused through people who have their own voice, talking about things that matter to them.
Using jargon over more personal language certainly doesn't play to our strengths as humans, so I would suggest AI could move in here big time. Google can fill in the words for us ;)
Second problem: overpromise.
If you’re a conference promoter and you say "sign up for the world’s most important xxx for xxxx with the world’s most important speakers – and tickets are selling fast", what impact does that actually have on the reader?
Eye-rolling at best, move on, scroll-on more likely…..we filter it out.
But you likely won’t find any push-back published – we live in an age of zero-criticism online.
Silence isn’t necessarily golden though.
For the insights industry, we need to reflect our ambition - to provoke, inspire, nudge behavioural change - in the way we present ourselves.
That can be very simply talking about what we do - in an uncomplicated, involving way. Siamak Salari's LinkedIn posts are entertaining, but play to his abilities as an ethnographer.
We should think like business people, sure - but write more simply as market researchers, about our wonderfully fascinating daily task of engaging with people in all walks and manner of life.
Whether that's something posted on Social Media or what we experienced in an ethnography.
Engage - Go On!
So the next time someone posts a business selfie with a colleague of that person commenting that so-and-so hit it out of the park – challenge yourself to be honest about your reaction and consider commenting. Criticism isn't the same as negativity.
Not holding my breath – but we tolerate average to poor communication at our own peril. People will switch off.
Curious, as ever, as to others’ views.