learning to speak human
TRANSCRIPT
'Learning to speak human'
New Rules of Engagement in Communications
Adriana Lukas
October 2008
Communication is not a skill
It is a survival trait
Skill only in certain contexts
hierarchymedia & third parties
collective message & voice'objective' & balanced
What if the context changed?
Existing communications context
For 100 years companies have been pushing what they think people are interested in out through one way communications channels.
But now that people are redefining the rules of engagement, companies have to rediscover how
to interact with people.
cont'd
It’s about unlearning a lot of behaviors and re-acquiring the voice that businesses used in the days before mass advertising and promotion in the conversations that occurred between the
village storekeepers and the people in the community.
- Marc Monseau in Hanging with Mommy Bloggers
power to createtools, direct communication, bypassing
media & intermediaries
contextdata, storage, human mind,
personal interpretation
distributionaudience, web, blogs, micro-blogging,
social networks etc.
+
communication is now default
+
=
Existing relationships
existing relationships with media & journalists
existing relationships with business leaders
why not relationships with those you need to reach and influence?
New relationships
web is direct communication
P2P & many-to-many
model of relationship already understood: one-to-one
social media tools help 'scale' direct relationships
apply to existing objectives in the new context
Organizations will work tirelessly to de-personalize every communication medium they encounter.
The public works tirelessly to flee to actual interactions between real people, and our
organizations work even more diligently (and with more leverage) to corporatize and anonymize the
interactions.
The irony, of course, is that an organization with guts can go in the opposite direction and win.
- Seth Godin
The expression weasel word derives from the egg-eating habits of weasels.
An egg that a weasel has sucked will look intact to the casual observer, while actually being empty. Similarly, words or claims that turn out to be empty upon analysis are known as "weasel words".
vague generalizationsuse of the passive voicenon sequitur statements
use of grammatical devices such as qualifiers and the subjunctive mood
use of euphemisms e.g. replacing "firing staff" with "streamlining
the workforce"
'Empty eggs'
Examples of corporate speak
As XYZ Inc. grows and becomes a leader in the industry, the need for communications
becomes even greater. Our customers view our professionalism and ability to deliver, among
other things, on how we well communicate our status and commitments to them ... Let's
move forward and demonstrate to our customers that we are talented professionals
and have pride in what we do. Remember COMMUNICATE.
http://www.weaselwords.com.au/corporations.htm
'The nature of our business has enabled us to develop enduring, meaningful relationships with our clients
supported by our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of quality of advice and ethics and integrity in
everything we do...
Together, we are excited and enthusiastic about our ongoing co-operation and collaboration and the prospect
of further jointly developed initiatives that will create benefits for our clients now, and in to the future...
This is an exciting development in the growth of our company...'
seamless/seamlessly integrated
unique soared synergistic robust solutions turnkey best-of-breed mission critical leading interactive value-added revolutionary wide-ranging solution provider integrated thought-provoking
utilize highly-seasoned facilitate strategic leverage proactive empowered organic growth best practice granular bandwidth industry-leading next-generation world-class unmatched innovative paradigm/paradigm shifting win-win
service offeringstouch basevalue addedbottom linecore competency open the kimonopush the envelopeblue sky win win out of the boxbest practice stakeholderon the same pagesynergy
run it up the flagpolethe big picturerevolutionarylow hanging fruit leveragingbest in class
Our company is an industry-leader in innovative utilisation of words, strategically leveraging their unique value proposition to uphold its position as the world-class communications
solutions provider with unmatched, seamlessly integrated and robust best practice. Turnkey is out, revolutionary is in. Being proactive is the only
way to be empowered. Let our highly-seasoned people who can turn the paradigm shifting and the
revolutionary into organic growth, facilitate your transition to the next-generation challenges.
A win-win solution, surely.http://www.mediainfluencer.net/2007/07/words-that-pr-killed/
PR spammers wiki
In the spirit of sharing, here's a current list of PR companies who have sent me unsolicited (and
almost always irrelevant) product pitches. Please add your own.
http://prspammers.pbwiki.com/FrontPage
Examples of human speak
Jonathan Schwartz & safe-harbor statement2005
Disclaimer I'm required to include the following disclaimer and safe harbor provisions (which do, in
fact, exceed the blog in length) as a part of this communication. I was going to be frustrated at the requirement, until it occurred to me we'd just set a bit of corporate communications history - blogs are now an official communications vehicle at Sun. We
should tell the SEC to update the regs.
http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/the_future_of_the_internet
Jonathan Schwartz & safe-harbor statement2006
Please read the Safe Harbor Statement at the bottom of this page - it's important (and beautifully
written :).
http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/update
Jonathan Schwartz - safe-harbor statement2007
Please read the scintillating Safe Harbor Statement at the bottom of this page....
Jonathan Schwartz & safe-harbor statement2008
Please read the luculent Safe Harbor Statement at the bottom of this page....
http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/comments_on_q2
DellNow, if you'll allow me to shift gears just a bit, here's
our own 22 23 Confessions list:1) Ok, we goofed. We shouldn’t have sent a notice. To my earlier point, we appreciate the reminder from
the community. Point taken. Yesterday, we also responded to a related IdeaStorm idea from user
jmxz. To see more, take a look for comments from our own dell_admin1 and my good pal richard_b.
23) Did I mention that we goofed?
http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/06/16/18397.aspx
You are doing what?!
It was a busy night.As a former journalist, I appreciated how
undeniably juicy the story would be: Johnson & Johnson sues the American Red Cross and other
parties over…. What?! … the use of the RED CROSS?!
It was almost too easy.
http://www.jnjbtw.com/?p=96
Amazon
Amazon Sends "Best Customer Service E-mail I've Ever Received"
http://consumerist.com/consumer/good/amazon-sends-best-customer-service-e+mail-ive-ever-received-332639.php
Timbuk2broken messenger bag
blogger response to customer service:
That I was not expecting. A swift, generous reply beyond understand my predicament of being
across the pond and unable to quickly return the bag for repair. A free replacement, no questions asked. These guys now have not only a customer
for life, but a UK rep.
http://goodonpaper.org/entries/generosity-comes-with-international-shipping/
http://www.mediainfluencer.net/2006/01/goowy-spam-faux-pas/
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/008429.html
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/008429.html#101048
Goowy fiasco
CBS: cuts the B.S.
CBS issued the following statement to the New York Post:
We think readers are extraordinarily bored with this infantile and nasty pilling on… and will continue to focus not on baseless
rumor and conjecture, but on the quality and depth of the broadcast – which is second to none.
http://www.starkmanassociates.com/blogs/eric/cbs-katie-couric/
Comcast Cares
customers service where customers are talking about Comcast using the same voice as them
http://twitter.com/comcastcares
The blander your press release, the more easily others can spin it
Existing press release
New press release?
facts, just the facts, ma'amdirect communication
direct distributionlink to blog or your 'domain'
your side of the story
P.S.
If social media, human voice, authenticity, transparency and direct relationships have done so much for individuals, imagine how
much it can do for companies
