Transparency

Lets talk about transparency today.

It's a fun subject if you are open to the world and a sore subject if you are trying to remain in control of your social media experience.

Why is transparency so important in social media?

The answer to this question is simple. It is important because it shows your fans that you are a real person, just like them. It makes them comfortable with you and allows them to see you as a real, fallible, complete human being. It helps them bond with you. It helps you bond with them.

The whole point of transparency in social media is that you own everything. Not in a literal sense, but in a sense that you own your success and your failure.

Why is this important? Because, owning both your success and your failure shows that you have integrity. Integrity is basically what transparency is, only transparency takes it one step further by you actually talking about the stuff you have integrity with.

Let me explain that last sentence. Since the whole debacle with @ThatKevinSmith and @SouthwestAir is still kind of burning in the background on Twitter, lets use that as an example.

If you take a look at Kevin Smiths blog and twitter posts, you'll see a man who loves transparency. I believe he calls it "owning it", but it is the same thing in all reality. We're talking about a guy who admitted that he sat on a toilet and it broke free from the wall. Not just admitted it to a few close friends, he admitted it to the world. Kevin has integrity and transparency with both his success and his failure.

Take a look at Southwest Airlines. They put on an air of transparency. They try to respond to customers in a timely manner. They try to do the right thing for the most part. However, they still fall into the corporate strategy of "we must control everything" and as we all know, that just doesn't work with social media. Southwest Airlines has integrity and transparency with their success alone.

Where did Southwest Airlines go wrong?

They took away a mans dignity and then tried to buy it for $100.00. Had it been anyone else, the price might have been right. The whole situation would have remained anonymous and the world at large would never have known. They would have controlled the situation.

Instead, as fate would have it, they did it to someone with approximately 1.6 million fans, and he was transparent about it.

Where they really went wrong though was to allow it to go on this long without an honest, heartfelt apology. You might wonder "Why should they apologize?". Well, for one, they did embarrass him publicly. Another reason is, it's the human thing to do in this situation. Who cares if he ranted and raved about it for 48 hours? Who cares if he is right or wrong? Who cares if Southwest Airlines was right or wrong for that matter? The bottom line is, Southwest Airlines embarrassed someone, got caught, and rather than owning it they passed it off as policy.

In Southwests defense, it sounds like the woman who contacted Kevin, Linda was her name I believe, was trying to be sincere and own the situation with Kevin. However, her second call to Kevin and subsequent blog post show that she was overruled when it came to having transparency in the whole issue. That is where Southwest really screwed up.

What did Kevin Smith do right?

I bet this is the part where you expect me to say "everything" right? Well, you'd be wrong. I don't agree with everything Kevin did. For one, he used is webcast (SModcast), a forum he previously told his fans wouldn't be used for rants, as a platform to hold an almost 2 hour rant about this subject. He even went so far as to apologize several time in that rant to those fans for doing it. Yet he kept doing it. So, in the end, he owned it, was transparent, and that is good.

What did he do right though? Well he didn't lay down and take it. If you are serious about being in social media, you cannot just lay down and let things roll over you. You have to speak about the things you love and hate. You have to talk about the things that make you happy and sad. The best, or possibly worst, part is that you have to do all of this WHEN it is happening. Or nearly when it is happening. No tweeting "I'm getting in a car wreck" while it is happening please.

Kevin, as he says, OWNED the situation and spoke openly about it. Yes, he did rant. Yes, he did rave. His fans loved it because, like him, they would want to rant and rave about it if they were in the same situation. They were outraged too and he was saying what he and they felt about the situation. That is what I am ultimately talking about folks. The bond between you and your followers. The synergy that exists where you feel "blah" , you write about it, and they feel it with you. They understand your thoughts and feelings. They may not always agree, nor will they support everything you do, but in the end they will see you as a person and not just a name. That is what social media transparency is and that is what Kevin Smith did right.

What should you do to be transparent?

Take a page out of Kevin Smiths book. Own everything that happens to you. If you sit on a public toilet and it breaks off the wall, talk about it. Laugh about it. Cry about it, if that's what you would do. No matter what you do, be open and honest at all times with your followers. Don't hide anything because, eventually, if you get successful, it will come out and it will not be good for you. Right now, Southwest Airlines is feeling the pain from not owning the situation. Learn from their mistake and own your social media experience.

As always, let me know what you think. I like to discuss this sort of thing and love to hear divergent views on my thoughts.

More to come...