Guest post: “The Talk”
Made Social on 24 August 2010 | View Comments
In advance of Social Collective, we have been inviting select people to guest blog and join the SoCol debate, hopefully offering a fresh point of view. We have been asking a range of people to contribute, including those working in social, client side, techies, journos etc with a view of building a wider picture. Any questions raised during this process will be addressed during a panel at SoCol in September.
The latest in the series is from Mr Tweet himself, Max Tatton-Brown, aka @MaxTB who’s talking the talk…
Social Media: “The Talk”
By Max Tatton-Brown
Now, you may be wondering why we’ve called you here for this family meeting. But all will become clear. I just want you to know 
that your marketing manager and I love you very much and we wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.
But what we’re about to say may come as something of a shock.
By now, you’ll have noticed that you’re going through various changes. And not all of them are entirely pleasant.
Of course, you’ve started noticing girls, which is perfectly natural but beware that they may not always be honest with you.
But of course you’ll want to do your best to smell and look good for them. But don’t get carried away, and don’t pretend to be something that you’re not.
Sometimes, you might do something silly. It may seem tempting to try and push the blame on someone else. But if you really hope to grow up, it’s best that you’re just honest with everyone and honest with yourself.
Indeed, you may find some difficulty finding your voice and it may even break. In a worst case scenario, it could give way when everybody’s looking and make you look something of a fool. Don’t worry, it may be embarrassing but you’ll come out the other side stronger.
Don’t be afraid to get out there and talk to people – nobody likes the chap who turns up to the party only to stand in the corner in silence. Especially when their friends are out having a whale of a time.
Sometimes people will make fun of you and have a laugh at your expense. Don’t just ignore them, stand up for yourself! But if you start to hear the same criticism from serious sources too, it might be worth trying to address the problem itself…
Despite all this advice, you can be sure of this at least- one day you’ll look back on these experiences and laugh at how little you knew despite the confidence you had in your convictions. But that’s okay – everyone is going through the same process and we’ve all been there before.
Just be careful whose advice you take and remember one thing.
Do try to have fun.
About Max Tatton-Brown
Max is a technology PR consultant at Wildfire. He tweets here and blogs at maxtb.com and the Wildfire Tech PR blog.
Max is a brazen early adopter- if there’s a beta, he’ll do his best to get in it and work out what the point is. Proudly, he is perhaps the only PR in history to secure an interview through Google Wave- apparently being able to embed a live weather forecast within the conversation was a deal-clincher.
View other posts in our guest blog series:
Sshhhh; Social Media is a Feminine Model by Michelle Rodger
Social Media is Dead; Long Live Social CRM by Eric Swain
Power to your employees! But do brands have the guts? by Danny Whatmough
Helping clients better understand and engage in social media by Jonny Stark
The social media strategy series: Getting Buy In by Gemma Went
The tall and the long of it by John V Willshire
Social Media in the 21st Century – Deja Vu all over again by Paul Smith
The Secrets of Pitching Social Media by Paul Sutton
The social media strategy series: Is social media right for your business? by Gemma Went
Talk is cheap by Peter Bouvier
Show social or show business by Chris Hall
Back to the future… by Adam Vincenzini
Managing Client Expectation in Search by Chris Hyland
Get Excited And Make Things by Stuart Witts
