Art is a step in the known toward the unknown.
Kahlil Gibran
As the technological landscape continuously changes, there are more and more voices participating in the social space. Anyone with an internet connection can write and publish anything at any time.
With this, social media has evolved from its original purpose. It’s more than just a place for friends and families to stay in touch. Instead, individuals and brands alike have the opportunity to share content. But with more voices comes more noise. Social media is sometimes seen as the void that internet users are shouting into. Everyone is saying something, but is anyone listening?
For this reason, social media sometimes gets a reputation for being superficial. But here at Brieffin, since we manage social channels for our industrial clients, we make a special effort to practice mindful social media. To us, this means designing and writing content with purpose. Purpose that meets our clients’ needs while also providing value to our audience.
In each of our Brieffin blog posts, we include a song at the bottom: our moment of bliss. Last week, I heard a song for the first time that really made me stop and think. Of course, it’s included at the bottom of this week’s post. But let me explain why I found it so interesting.
The song is called “Blood,” by the band ANIMA!. Its lyrics talk about the process of creating art and the struggle behind it. It made me think: the writing process that we go through when writing social media is similar. By that definition, does it mean that mindful social media is art?
Let’s take a look at some of the lyrics and see if/how that pertains to social media.
“Art is a mean meditation, staring at a blank screen
In between what we mean and the things we say.”
In general, I think that most types of writing qualify as art. It’s a creative practice. Anyone who has ever written something they cared deeply about has had the experience of staring at that blank screen or blank page trying to find the right words. Whether it’s poetry or social media, we often write with intention, but that doesn’t always mean writing plainly. There’s a careful strategy to everything.
“So I try to put a little piece of myself in
Keep the pretty people listening.”
This first line relates very closely to what we firmly believe at Brieffin: that personality is an indispensable ingredient to any type of brand or social media strategy. Putting a piece of yourself into your message helps to humanize it, therefore connecting with your audience in an authentic way.
The second line refers to the nature of performance when it comes to art. Painting, sculpture, music, theater, dance, or social media – all are generally meant to be public, made by varying degrees for audience consumption. For some of these, such as social media, they wouldn’t really exist without that audience. Keeping that audience in mind is crucial when creating that art form.
“Too many sides to a story, all these colors and shapes
I’m afraid if I love it they won’t agree.”
When sitting down to create, design, or write, there’s a decision to be made about the art’s creative direction. With so many options, choosing the most meaningful and impactful way to tell the story can be overwhelming. Along with that, especially when you’re working with your audience in mind – whether that’s your client, the consumers, or both – you have to remember that it’s possible they won’t like what you came up with. It’s opening yourself up to be in that vulnerable position.
“Art is love, love is work
It hurts to give yourself to it.”
Writing has always been something I’ve loved doing. From the time I was young, I was always writing – from stories and journal entries as a kid, to articles and campaign strategy books as I got older. These days, I spend more time writing blog posts and social media. But there are times that I work on a social campaign and feel totally spent afterwards. Just because it may be a 280-character Tweet or an Instagram post with emojis and hashtags, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t carefully thought out, written with intention.
These are only a few of the lyrics from this song, but just from these ones, I’ve personally come to the conclusion that social media – mindful social media – can be art.
If your business is looking for mindful social media content creation, or to take a more hands-on approach to your marketing strategy, get in touch with us. We’ll be here to help you however you need, to help you create social media art of your own.
Our Moment of Bliss
“Art is work, work is love, reminding us why we do it.” – ANIMA! (Blood from Art:Work)
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