Newsflash: No One Cares About Your Blog

Sound cynical? Unfortunately, for many brands that's the welcome they can expect as they finally start to turn to social media as a part of their marketing and communications strategy. Launching a blog, or a Facebook page, or Twitter account isn't hard to do--the hard part is deciding how to use these tools. Ironically, the thing that most brands have to worry about isn't negativity (as they often fear), it is indifference. The most common "backlash" against company sponsored social media initiatives are the embarrassing sounds of crickets. No one visits and no one cares.

It doesn't have to be this way. The one thing people respond to is other people. So instead of focusing on your shiny new blog or cool new Facebook app--the place to start is to figure out who will be the people behind it. Find the individuals who will be interacting on behalf of your brand in social media, and then give them the tools and support to do it well. All the companies that get credit today for doing social media well--Zappos, Dell, Comcast--have all become comfortable with letting individuals from their company become the faces for their brand. These are the voices that I often call "accidental spokespeople." Within them is the real secret to using social media to be a brand that actually matters: offering a real human connection.

This post was originally written as a guest contribution for FastCompany.com and is republished here.