3.1 The ABC’s of Social Media
About 15 year ago, I heard a quote somewhere that really stuck with me “A students teach
B Students to work for C students.” In the last 3 years I started to realize how important is
was to think and act like an A, B or C student depending on the situation. In addition to
this, it is important that we are able to embrace other roles as part of the bigger picture.
All three of the roles have pros and cons and for this sub-chapter I want to communicate
how we can leverage mostly the pros as it pertains to Corporate Social Media.
A Students-Generally A Students are good at setting rules and/or following them. This is a
great way to add structure to the chaos of social media. A Students are accountable and
when they have clear and define goals they show up consistently to make things happen.
The challenge for them is to avoid trying to learn everything about something that will be
changing in a few months. If this is the case, when managing an A Student let them know
going in that this process is temporary and it is important that they put this in their short
term memory.
B Students- Generally B Students are a bridge to between different personalities they are
well rounded always thinking short and long term. B students are great at filling gaps to
make sure that the team is always flowing towards accomplishment. B Students are able to
wear many hats and manage others to thrive in their role. B Students are at their best when
they are more focused on engaging the team with a more hands free approach. The best
way to take care of this is good solid selection of the right employees or team members
while using the right incentives.
C Students- Generally, C Students are creators, and catalyst with a make it happen now
attitude. More action, less planning. The more they plan, the more mistakes they make
because frustration sets in without a short term goal in the near future. Feel free to keep
them in the dark on certain things until it is ready for action, or if you want to pick their
brain on how to simplify the process. This chaos when harnessed in the right manner
they can be very powerful especially when it comes to the social networks.
Right now in your own way ask yourself, which role is my primary role? Which other roles
complement my business practice? What roles am I seeing flowing better inside and
outside of my business model? How can I leverage this experience to generate revenue
and create Social Media Assets now?