This Wednesday I was lucky enough to attend the PR + Social Media Summit and listen to a number of thought leaders in the public relations profession share their insights on the importance of social media. One of the presentations that stuck with me after leaving the summit was the closing keynote given by Augie Ray, the director of social media from Prudential Financial. The presentation, “The Right Question That Builds Your Brand in Social Media,” focused on how to create meaningful social media content with a focused purpose.
Augie is well-known and respected for the work he has done through social media in the last five years. For this reason, people come to him with a number of questions on the subject. He said that out of all the questions he receives about social media, the most frequently asked are:
- What should I post?
- How do I succeed in getting followers?
- What should I say to get my audience to engage?
Augie explained that while these are common questions, an important question is overlooked: why? While it is obviously important to know what to do with social media, it is even more important to know why you are using it. Without a why, your social media content will lack focus and purpose, and will have no real meaning.
Augie explained that there are three steps to creating social media content that is meaningful and focused:
- Discover a higher purpose
- Make it real
- Live it on social media
Augie talked about a few organizations who excel at this practice. One of these is Chipotle, which has recently gained a large amount of attention due to its use of social media. Chipotle knows its purpose, “food with integrity,” and brands itself in alignment with this idea everywhere. The brand focuses on the higher purpose of creating food that uses quality ingredients and is respectful of animals, the environment, and farmers. This message, and not simply a desire to gain followers or customers, fuels Chipotle’s social media use. The company stands out because they focus on differentiating themselves from other fast food chains in a way that has meaning. They don’t just claim to be the best, they try to show it, live it, and make it real to their consumers.
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I love that you chose to post about Augie Ray. Two of my biggest takeaways from the Summit were “purpose” and “people”, and Augie covered “purpose” so well. Its easy to get caught up in lists that give you “10 tricks to improve your writing”, but the fix is simpler than that: get back to the basics, get back to the WHY. I am so glad I was able to hear his presentation and I think your post captured everything that made it great.
Hi Janie!
I missed this talk, but how you covered it gave me a good overview of what was said and covered in the presentation. I liked that Augie took the numbers out of the equation and kept to basics. It makes me feel like anyone can be good at social media! Great post!
Elise
Janie! I thought this post was very well written and informative. You really covered all of the bases of Augie’s presentation and I appreciate your attention to detail. The part that stood out to me the most was how you explained Augie’s three steps to creating social media content that is meaningful and focused:
” Discover a higher purpose, Make it real, and Live it on social media”.
Very helpful! Keep up the good work.