It was Saturday evening and I was with a group of people in my living room watching a documentary on KISS. There was this one guy who kept talking about how great KISS is and how teachers should be including this band in their curriculum. However when the girl asked this guy a question about the band, he couldn’t answer it. He then explained that part of the reason people should learn about KISS is because he knows so little about the band.
This bothers me just as much as people who claim to be fans of a certain sports team yet can’t name five players. Or how people will suddenly become fans of their local team only when the team is doing well. For example, I used to go to the Northeastern University hockey teams on a regular basis. The team started doing well and were in pretty decent standing by the time Bean-Pot rolled around. Suddenly everyone was a hockey fan. People who never went to a Northeastern hockey game were in line for a Bean-Pot ticket, sadly sometimes taking the spot of a person who regularly follows the team.
Posing is done not only in social settings, but also online. I’m taught in my social media classes to be transparent when talking to bloggers. Be upfront in saying that you are as annoying as telemarketers at dinnertime in public relations. At my last company, one of my fellow co-workers was told by a reporter that there will be a special place in Hell for her. She retorted that at least she’ll be in a special place while he’ll be grouped in with the masses. Let’s be honest, we are not the most liked people. Last week I got a back-handed compliment. I gave a blogger gift certificates to giveaway to his readers. One of his co-workers posted about giving some love to PR people who were “doing it right” (aka giving stuff away without catches). He added, “Just goodwill towards a community they’d like to be noticed in.” Ouch.
Despite being honest with these bloggers, I still feel a little sketchy commenting on one of their recent posts in my pitch email. I mean they have to know that I don’t read their blog. I love Mommy bloggers, and can see myself being one when I’m older, but currently the compelling research into the best type of stroller does not keep me on the edge of my seat. If I was truly transparent, wouldn’t I just tell them the truth? “Your blog is of no interest to me, but since you get a lot of monthly visitors I have to outreach to you.” I suppose that kind of transparency wouldn’t get me very far. I guess I look at it as being a girl trying to buy a drink for a guy at a bar. The more traditional people can imagine a guy trying to get a girl a drink. First a compliment about their attire or where they are going (I’ve been out of the “game” for too long to even think of something without sounding ridiculously stupid). Then follow up with a sly, “whatcha drinking?” Or in my case, “How about some delicious ice cream?”
The same type of transparency goes when writing your own blog. I started this blog to talk about public relations and advertising. I’d be lying though if I said that is what I wanted to talk about all of the time. Sometimes I feel like writing about my Saturday night with the worst KISS fan club ever. Sometimes I don’t quite feel like writing at all. Luckily that hasn’t been the case lately. I hope to post more soon.
