Strategic Communication- Joy in Communicating

Communication is a difficult thing sometimes. More than ever there are changes in the way we communicate. This is why Strategic Communication is so important. We must be intentional in how we communicate. This is true for us as individuals, for businesses, and for any organizations. However, I think that, when measuring the success of our communication and planning for future communication campaigns it is important to remember one thing: have fun. I do not mean do not take things seriously but there should be a certain amount of enjoyment in the communication process. I am a well-documented nerd and because of this I follow Wil Wheaton, who I have written about a couple of times, on Twitter. I was reading his blog one day in which he posted about why he was a user of Twitter and the thing that most stood out to me was that he used it because he enjoyed it. He had fun with it. Because of him being who he is, he naturally had quite a few followers but as time has gone on he has grown to over two million followers. On social media Wheaton has become huge because he writes and communicates about that which he is passionate about.

I write that not to encourage people to only focus on the fun parts of communication because there are certainly times that communication is not fun. Crisis communication is a response to stimuli that are very much not fun. I do believe that we should take joy in the process of communication though. It is a complex thing that is just getting more complex and we get to participate in it. As strategic communication professionals we get to lead in it. This is really something that I think we should take pride in. No, our leadership will not always work out and some campaigns will fail. But communication will still take place and we should hold on to that idea and strive to get better at it.