Social Media is made for dummies. Social Media MGMT, not so much. And clearly the people behind the efforts of Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty are not really in the know when it comes to maximizing social media impact. In case you missed it [and you probably did] Tim Pawlenty yesterday became the first bona fide potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate to announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee. First bona fide potential?
He made this announcement on Facebook. You know Facebook. The Facebook with the 500 million users, etc.
Pawlenty told Fox News the decision to announce his committee on Facebook came from a desire to be on the "cutting edge" and called the social networking site "the wave of the future."
Mr. Pawlenty you've just wiped out. The Tim Pawlenty for President Exploratory Committee, never mind, this guy will never be president. I like Facebook. Yet, Facebook is not exactly the social mediasphere platform Mr. Pawlenty should be launching from right now. Let's face it; Perez Hilton has more fans than Mr. Pawlenty.
The big problem here is message, or the absence of. The video posted on Facebook is boring, trite, GOP rhetoric greased down in old school Madison Avenue slick. Announcing an "exploratory committee" is simply lame. If Mr. Pawlenty and his PR team think they can out maneuver President Obama in the social media arena with their current approach, they're crazy. The Obama social media machine is focused on message, not medium. Love him or not, President Obama's presence in the social mediasphere is the blueprint on how to deliver "the message."
Yo! Pawlenty! What's the message?! Hometown? Road trip? Ronald Reagan?! During a nearly 2min. video Mr. Pawlenty never even mentions his own name. Guess he's going on face recognition. Mr. Pawlenty and the rest of the GOP are going to have their collective asses handed to them by the juggernaut of Obama's Media Machine because they don't understand how social media really works. They [the GOP] will spend millions of Taxpayer-Funded dollars to achieve subpar results in the social mediasphere. They've been seduced by the aura of a medium they have no clue how to use effectively. For the record, Sarah Palin knows how to use social media [one of her fans did attempt the assassination of a U.S. Congresswoman, lest we forget.] Her message though is unintelligibly convoluted and xenophobic. Note to self: No one ever promised social media would be used for good.
Lesson learned here, commit to your message when entering the social mediasphere and don't be all wishy-washy like Mr. Pawlenty. So while your plotting your company’s next big social media gambit, remember this; on the long and wonderful road of social media the message drives the medium, so map out the message, this way you know where you're driving the medium.
FACT: The 3 GOP "exploratory committees" of businessman Herman Cain, former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer and Mr. Pawlenty have a combined fanbase on Facebook of less than 150,000 as of this blog post. The First Lady, Michelle Obama, has 4,112,104 fans on Facebook. Just saying...
Anthony Chiles
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