In conversation with Jon Hoekstra from Social Social
With the goal of “MAKE SOCIAL SOCIAL”, the platform and agency is committed to communicating social goals in a future-oriented way, penetrating the most effective methods and learning together.
What lessons have you learned from your SOCIAL SOCIAL study series that are particularly relevant to the agency's work?
Sometimes we start with deleting an entire channel with our partners. Anyone who wants to use social media for social goals out of passion and conviction often has limited resources. It is worthwhile to get a few channels right rather than many half. Our studies have helped to understand which are the most relevant channels for specific topics. And they have very consistently led us to concentrate on thinking from the smallest digital unit and to communicate content in its most basic essence. The more space the respective format gives, the more depth of information we then add. It works quite well, and it also wonderfully automatically controls the level of eye-catching activity with which we go out.
What approaches do you use to effectively communicate social goals?
I don't think we have a standard recipe. But I can say that we try to maintain ease and humility even when it comes to difficult issues: What communication does a social goal need in the context of current social debates and justified concerns or frustrations? Will we be able to recognize and address them on an equal footing? And can it even be a bit funny then, in spite of everything?
What were the most important findings from your previous projects and how have they influenced your approach?
There are very simple mechanics that we use to look at new tasks, and that we also use in our strategy workshops. We call one, for example, attitude/people/action, and the name says it all: Attitude stands for clearly formulating and publishing one's own positions and demands from time to time. People stand for interpersonal communication in the sense of emotional, everyday, casual — and for a wink that hopefully fits in. And action describes the specific request as to what needs to be done. Regardless of whether there is something to share, sign a petition, go out on the street or invite my neighbor over for coffee: a charming but super-clear imperative ensures positive social change like nothing else, but sometimes you have to overcome it. To be honest, the entire attitude/people/action model is primarily a checklist, as we have observed that some social measures and channels permanently forget one of the three points and miss out on communication opportunities in the process.
The article was published in the column “Shaping the Future” in Grafikmagazin.
