Photo Credit: Olivander – Cadillac of the Skies
This post has been driving around in my head for some time now and reading Benn’s recent post: Does Nice Make You Credible really put the pedal to the metal in my head …
I was watching some target marketing the other day. Yes, some of you would call that “watching commercials” … but it is more than that. I was watching the HGTV network and one of my favorite marketing pieces that was aimed at my demographic (30-something, upper middle-class professional) came on. It was an ad for a new Cadillac. It was not my favorite Cadillac ad, you know … the one where the girl asks, “When you turn your car on, does it return the favor?” because THAT one rocks.
This particular ad talked about how Cadillac owners are not people who enjoy “social camouflage” … woah. That was a great term. Social Camouflage.
This made me think about all the hubalub surrounding social media and networking.
What is Social Camouflage?
There are many of us who are comfortable in the world of social camouflage … lurkers. These are the folks who are perfectly content to read all the different blog posts out there and maybe offer up a little comment here or there. They may even have their own blogs, but chances are no one knows where they stand on any particular issue. Of course there is nothing wrong with this, as there are different strokes for different folks, and it takes all kinds of people to make up the world we like to call the blogosphere.
However, there are those in the blogosphere who stand out. And of those who “stand out” a few have mastered the art of Social Cadillac-ing.
What is Social Cadillac-ing?
Social Cadillacs, compared to those in the world of Social Camouflage, are out there. And I don’t mean “out there” in the way people reference ME from time to time, I mean OUT there … being social. And I am talking about being social in a Cadillac kind of way. Social Cadillac-ing.
- Social Cadillacs are not born; they are intentionally made from the goal to become the best they can be.
- These people know who they are, who they stand for and what they want.
- Other people know who these Social Cadillacs are, what they stand for and what they want.
- They are not afraid to be bold and opinionated, without being a bulldozing, flame throwing Social Tank.
- They are educated and display their intelligence without coming across as pompous.
- A Social Cadillac makes people want them… and it works. People want to read what they write, JUST BECAUSE they wrote it, if for no other reason.
- A Social Cadillac is predominately classy, but not afraid to admit when they’ve made a complete Cimarron out of themselves.
- Social Cadillac-ing is being seen as credible and is very important, but not at the risk of ever taking oneself too seriously.
It is the balance between the 4-door sedan and the Hummer-Rolls Royce hybrid. The balance between wading in the shallow end of the blog pool and getting eaten by sharks and drowning in the deep end.
Social Cadillac-ing is the art of being respected for WHO YOU ARE based on your history of being respectable.
So, the real question is… When you are out in the blogosphere, what are YOU driving?
