An anthropological approach to social

My father wasn’t best pleased when I told him I was going to study Social Anthropology.  You see, my siblings and my parents work in the oil industry.  They understand maths and pipes and, well oil. So compared to this, the study of human culture and behaviours seemed a little flakey.

Of course, I disagree! Now more than ever, I am finding my anthropological studies coming to the fore in my day-to-day work.

Like the anthropologists of old, social media professionals are involved in observing the behaviours and social interactions of groups of people.  These behaviours are frameworked, and then attributed meanings, according to various observed patterns of sociality.  We observe the way people act and communicate so we can say why and predict future behaviour.

It is only through determined observation and conversational engagement that we can build an accurate portrait of the audiences with which we are trying to build relationships (whether for ourselves or on behalf of a third party). It is not until we have this knowledge that we can predict how an audience will react to a given situation.

But this observational method has one major flaw – the ethnocentricity of the observer; the subjective nature of listening and giving meaning to conversations becomes skewed depending on the preconceived assumptions and bias of the viewer to their own cultural norms.

Can social media professionals disregard their own views when interpreting those of others?  It’s an interesting question with many answers, and no real solution other than relying on protocol.

Professionals must adopt a methodical and scientific approach using a series of procedures that back up their claims about a particular audience.  Only with this evidence can they to justify a strategy for engagement.

Demonstrating an understanding of the target audience allows professionals to create a 360 plan for engagement that’s conversive and builds long term relationships, rather than broadcasting and attempting to dominate the audience.

Fully understanding the social context of brand mentions (e.g. what people are doing when they mention booking a holiday – time of day, who they say it to etc) allows professionals build a holistic view of how that product is used – what its association is with daily life, and how it’s consumed (the triggers).  Understanding how the brand fits into the life of the consumer, means they build conversations around these topics which then strengthen the relationship between brand and consumer.

But it’s more than that.  The insight can provide real value for companies that want to understand their own product better and how it’s interacted with offline.  So in the same way we use information from the observations of anthropologists to understand our own culture, the information captured through social media can provide real and honest insight in to the brand and its general perception.

What we learn from social anthropology is that observation must come before action.  Brands must understand the context of conversations otherwise their communications will be rudderless.  They must take a focussed approach to be objective and use the information they collect as a foundation to build their strategy.

In short – social media is the tool that can give brands insight into their customer behaviour like no other.  There is a huge opportunity and rewards to be reaped – but it needs to be done thoroughly to be done correctly.

Social anthropology has a lot in common with social PR (luckily for me) and I think there are even more comparisons that can be drawn – for example the tourist gaze and colonization of communities – but I’ll postpone that for another post and leave you with a final thought from Margaret Mead:

“Anthropology demands the open-mindedness with which one must look and listen, record in astonishment and wonder that which one would not have been able to guess.”