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JANUARY 16, 2019

Overwhelmed by figuring out best way to use social media? Then, the brilliant new bestseller by Mitch Jackson, "The Ultimate Guide to Social Media for Professionals, Small Business Owners & Entrepreneurs." is for you. I am honored to have a chapter in the book alongside an illustrious group of social media gurus. Below is an excerpt from my chapter, "Hooked! Why Metaphors Should Be Part of Every Social Media Strategy"

Which whitepaper would you rather read?

• How to Save for Retirement
• Catnip or Caviar? Choose Your Retirement Carefully

Which LinkedIn description makes you want to know more about this person?

• Marketing Pro
• Marketing Sherpa

Which website title is more enticing?

• Your Daily News
• The Daily Beast

Which blog advice site would you visit?

• Blog Tips
• Blog Tyrant

Which service description is more compelling?

• We provide a full range of website design services
• If content is the body of a website, design is its soul. We provide the soul.

You likely chose the second entry in each group. Why? Because while the first choice is clinically correct, it is also sterile, colorless, and ordinary. In contrast, there is an image in each of the second choices that conjures up a picture in your mind that is evocative, emotional, and intriguing. All of these images are metaphors, figures of speech, that create word pictures and it is pictures that our brains love. (Just think about the explosion of videos and Instagram.)

You have heard of "eye candy." Metaphors are "brain candy."

So, if you want to grab attention in your social media in our attention deficit world, start using metaphors strategically.

Tell "Joe," But Sell to "Robin"

Everyone knows "a committee sell is a committee buy." When you are online you are selling to a committee of two. Inside every reader's/viewer's brain is a two person committee: the logical left brain which processes your information and the emotional right brain which "sees" and "feels" that information.

The left brain is like Joe Friday, the famous old time TV detective, who was known for coming to a crime scene and saying to witnesses, "Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts." The right brain, the home of metaphors, is like Robin Williams, spontaneous, visual, emotional, and imaginative. If you sell, persuade, influence, or motivate, you need to satisfy both "buyers." (Einstein said, "If I can't see it, I don't understand it.")

Moreover, we remember visually. When you walk down the street and you run into someone you haven't seen in twenty years, what goes through your mind: words, numbers, or pictures? It's pictures. "I remember you! You had braids and you sat behind me in third grade!"
Bottom-line, to seal the deal, tell the left, but, sell to the right. We tend to think facts and more facts will impress and be remembered. Facts are important, but facts driven home with visual language will guarantees greater impact and retention. Compare: "Joe is persistent, resilient, and hard-working," to "Joe is like Rocky. Knock him over and he comes right back for more." Determination, persistence and energy, captured memorably with a single image.

In a world where people are drowning in too much information, metaphor is a communicator's lifesaver and I submit that becoming a "Metaphorian," a master of metaphor, is the new essential skill set for communication success online and off.

Metaphor?Analogy?

No need to worry about the distinctions between metaphors, analogies, and similes. I am using metaphor in its broadest sense to mean any comparison that creates an image in another person's mind to make a point.

That can also be a story, a cartoon, a picture, a prop, or a saying used as a metaphor. For example, if you are expert in technology services, your site could say "Even if you're on the right track, if you just sit there, you are going to be hit and hit hard by a rapidly changing industry. We keep clients like you on track." Safety, movement, progress all embodied in one image.

Good News! You Don't Have to be Shakespeare

You already speak in metaphors. The reality is we use metaphors every day. In fact, it is rare to get through a conversation without using metaphoric language. (That movie just blew me away! The market took off like a rocket. I'm under the weather today, etc.) According to James Geary, deputy curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, it is estimated that you use some form of metaphorical language every twenty to twenty-five words.
The challenge to make a difference in your social media impact is to go from an unconscious use of metaphors to an intentional use of metaphors.

How Original Do You Need to Be?

How much creativity you bring to your metaphor will depend on how high the stakes are for you and how challenging your situation is. The lower the stakes and the smaller the challenge, the less creative you can be.

What are the "stakes" for you?

• Getting followers?
• Getting likes?
• Increasing subscribers?
• Generating inquiries?
• Conversions?
• Other?

What are the challenges?

• You are in a commodity business?
• You are in a complex business?
• You are new to the market?
• You are rebranding yourself?
• Other?

Low Stakes, Small Challenges

These are metaphors you use in everyday conversations without much pre-thought.

A client asks about your technology and you say you tailor your services to their needs. A colleague wants to share a report with you. Stressed out, you reply, "Sorry, I just don't have the bandwidth to process that." After a successful meeting, you tell your team mate that she really nailed that presentation.

These metaphors tend to be clichés. There is nothing wrong with clichés as such, but they may not be strong enough or memorable enough for more important situations. Clichés are easy to create, but usually lack a real gut punch.

Higher Stakes, Sizable Challenges

Crafted and Creative metaphors require more deliberation than Casual metaphors.

Situations that benefit from more thoughtfully created metaphors can be when...

• You want a catchy title for your blog, site, tweet, video, post, or article
• You are presenting a new process or concept online in a podcast
• You are neutralizing a concern in the FAQ section of your site
• You are positioning your firm in the market
• Other?

When the stakes are considerable and the challenges are substantial, use this five step thought process to create your winner.

• Identify the point you want to make
• Think of the worlds your viewers/readers are likely familiar with (sports, the arts, transportation, history, science, families, travel, current events, weather, etc.)
• Ask, "What is this like in those worlds?"
• Aim for several metaphors/analogies until you hit the one that works the best
• Apply it in a way that is concise and appropriate in tone

The resulting image can be quite simple...

For example, suppose you have a home care service website and you know that families panic and automatically assume it is Alzheimer's when they hear that a parent is diagnosed with dementia. A technical explanation by itself that all Alzheimer's disease is dementia, but not all dementia is Alzheimer's is not likely to register with relatives who are in shock when they hear the word dementia. Nor is it likely to result in a request for further information.

However, when you add that "It's like ice cream. All chocolate ice cream is ice cream, but not all ice cream is chocolate," you are far more likely to have readers see their parents' dementia reframed in a less threatening light and have them reach out to you for assistance.

The resulting image can be truly unique...

When someone is starting out with a new concept and site, the stakes (being sustainable) are high and the challenges are great (who are you again?). George Kao, now widely recognized social media guru originally needed an image guaranteed to hook neophytes to learn more about social media. He wrote online, "The social networking space is way better than face-to-face networking, because the size of the pool for potential contacts is so much greater. "It's like walking into a room with no walls and out onto the world stage, a kind of conference of the world which, by the way, is also open 24/7."

Wow! Who wouldn't want to be a part of that—and to sign up for his services!

When the stakes are high and the challenges are great, metaphors are killer apps.

Using Clichés online is better than nothing, but I encourage you to aim higher for a bigger pay-off. Take the time to develop Crafted and Creative metaphors and watch how much easier, faster, and more profitable it becomes to get the results you want on social media.

Mark Twain said, "The difference between a word and the right word is the difference between a lightning bug and lightning."

Be the lightning. 

Anne Miller
Make What You Say Pay! — with Metaphors.

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Buy My Book
The Tall Lady With the Iceberg: the power of metaphors to sell, persuade, & explain anything to anyone.

"Thank you for writing such a great book!"  - David Laks, Videographer

"Filled with fresh thinking, this book should be a "must read" for all salespeople and business leaders who want to take their communication skills to the next level."

--Jill Konrath, Author, Agile Selling.

"The best arguments
dazzle with metaphor"

Gerry Spence,
Media Commentator & Lawyer

The best firms hire brilliantly
& train relentlessly.

Having a Meeting?  Call today for fresh ideas to take your team to the next level 212-876-1875 or amiller@annemiller.com

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Metaphor Minute Archives

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So, Again, How Do Yo Do What You Do?

Pain In The Neck

Links I like

www.changingminds.org
www.nurtureinstitute.com
www.americanrhetoric.com
www.salesopedia.com
www.salesrepradio.com
www.ted.com
www.takethecold.com

Great Resources:

www.suttoncreative.com
www.cartoonbank.com
www.sbsnet.com
www.videomystory.com
www.ceoshow.com