Social media is…  social.  And at this stage, I think we as individuals have mostly gotten our arms around how to interact professionally in an online setting.  However, a lot of companies still struggle with what type of “voice” they want to portray in social media from a corporate perspective, with many defaulting to typical “marketing speak”.  This often feels like something that is published but not engaged with.  One might consume whatever information they share, but one wouldn’t respond and talk to a logo. 

That said, other companies have chosen to be present and personal, where replying doesn’t mean speaking to a black hole.  I found a great example of this of the NFL posting on Reddit.  It might be a bit hard to see the replies, so I will quote them below.

First let me dig into the first exchange where the NFL replied:

User:  Keep the content company u/nfl!  It’s gonna be a long offseason and this is what gets us all through!

NFL:  don’t worry, we got you

“we got you” – LOVE how casual this is!  The NFL is a giant organization leading a multi-billion dollar industry, and yet they managed to have a personal moment with someone that felt authentic.  Even though they used “we”, it still was clear that a person was behind the words, as opposed to saying something like, “We at the NFL believe…”  Now, I’m sure some corporate people were absolutely cringing with the grammar, but that’s really what makes it so authentic. 

Here are some of the replies to the NFL’s post:

Love that you guys are getting active on here

Holy crap.  At first I thought it was just the oddly specific user name.  Turns out it’s the official account of the NFL.  I had no idea they were on here.  It’s nice to see some active participation from the league.

Feel free to not feature The Lions, we don’t need reminders.

It’s so clear that people want to interact with people and not brands.  And what is great about this strategy is that it builds trust, where consumers now feel slightly less that it is a faceless brand, and more a collection of real people who care about their needs and concerns.  It’s somewhat equivalent to commercials that feature Jake from State Farm.  Nobody wants to interact with the brand State Farm, run by out of touch PR and legal departments, they want to pick up the phone and talk to Jake because they trust him. 

Of course, this is just a piece of a larger puzzle of community culture between a brand and consumers, and a few casual interactions will not erase other grievances they might have.  But it is clear there is a beneficial strategy to getting personal.