• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, May 15, 2012

Interesting insight during the opening panel at OMMA Social this morning. It turns out that social media is actually a lot like your first “social,” you know, your first dance. And what do socially awkward teenagers do when they show up at their first dance, they go up and talk to someone awkwardly about themselves -- at least until they get comfortable with the social dialogue, and can figure out how to talk to other people in that setting.

The same thing is happening with brands on social media platforms. They’re awkwardly talking about themselves, without understanding what the other people at the dance – you know, consumers – actually would like to know about them, or rather, would like the brand to know about them.

Sadly, my whole job is to make brands matter more, to make people care about you,” quipped Tim Fogarty, Senior Strategist at GroupM social shop M80. Basically, he said his job comes down to, “Finding the right things to talk about.”