The KISS of Social Media

Have you heard of the KISS principle? It’s an acronym for Keep It Simple, Stupid! originally coined by an engineer is an American defence aircraft design company. The story goes that he handed a team of design engineers a handful of tools, with the challenge that the jet aircraft they were designing must be repairable by an average mechanic in the field under combat conditions with only these tools!

His point being that any system works best if you keep it simple rather than complex. And that is exactly the principle we strongly advocate in helping you navigate the social media jungle.

With the dozens of social platforms available today to anyone with a basic smartphone, simplicity should be the key goal in the way you communicate and present yourself in your social profiles.

In this age of information overload, simplicity in communication is what gets you noticed. Just think about your Facebook news feed when you log in to it, in the morning. What grabs your attention first? Is it (a) the funny one-liners and the photos or (b) the links to articles, poems and other information that requires your time and focus?

We spoke to a group of young QNet IRs and the majority answer to that question is (a). It does not in any way diminish your intellectual pursuits. It is just easier and faster to read a funny one liner and share it or click like on a photograph within a moment of viewing it.

In 1961 US President John F Kennedy famously said his vision was to “Put a man on the moon and bring him back safely within a decade.”

More than half a century later, people still remember that line because it was a simple, yet powerful statement.

If JFK was a modern day CEO, he may have phrased it differently – “Our mission is to become the international leader in the space industry through maximum team-centered innovation and strategically targeted aerospace initiatives.” ¹

Which one would you remember?

In the digital age, your social profile says a lot about you. How many of you have gone back and Googled a new person after you have met them? We can bet your prospects are Googling you right now after you made that presentation to them. And if they found you on Facebook or Twitter, what do you want them to see you as?

How you communicate on social media is a reflection of your personal brand. Aim for clear, clean communication that cannot be misunderstood.  Don’t overcomplicate the message. If you have a diverse network of people on your social profiles from multiple countries, cultures and language, ensure that your message is simple enough to be understood by every man, woman and child with total clarity.

In summary, your social profiles should have:

• Clean & clear communication
• Avoid misunderstanding
• Don’t overcomplicate

And remember to KISS!

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¹Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die