Many of you know that I’m a theater major and spent more than ten years in New York City acting in a series of improvisational troupes including First Amendment with actor Bruce Willis, Funny Ladies with TV star Kathy Kinney, Belles Jeste directed by Academy Award winning director Peggy Rajski and Prom Night with famed television director Bob Koherr. Now, all that name dropping is just to show you that a lot of people have embraced the techniques of improvisation set forth by Voila Spolin in her classic Improvisation for the Theater.
Simply put, Viola had five basic rules. In order to create a warm and intimate relationship with the audience, the actor must help the audience visualize:
- Who you are, clearly, simply and honestly.
- Where you are, in the physical and emotional world.
- What you are as in what do you do and what do you offer or what do you need?
- Yes, And. This is the most important rule. The actor listens to his or her parter (or client) and really truly hears what they say. Then opens his or her mouth and says “Yes, and…”, and adds value or information that helps the relationship move forward.
- Don’t deny. Rule #4 is so important that it is repeated in new language in rule #5. Don’t deny what you just heard. If the partner/actor says “The sky is blue,” and you say “no, it’s not,” the scene is over. There is no option left but a disagreement, which adds no value to the relationship. So a better choice would be this exchange. “The sky is blue.” “Wow, that’s so interesting that you see the sky as blue. I’m seeing more green and yellow but I love that you see blue. Tell me more about how you see it. Maybe I should stand closer to you and get a better view.”
Now the scene or the relationship has a basis for moving forward.
Social media interactions are like improvisational theater. We don’t know who we’re going to meet on Twitter or Facebook or YouTube or LinkedIn. We don’t know, for certain, what they think or what they offer. But we can listen, establish a clear message about who we are, where we are and make our intentions about what we do very clear. We can build relationships based on listening and on the “Yes, and” rule and by doing so we can attract friends, fans and followers who are interested in our message and in a lively discourse and at some point after trust is firmly developed and demonstrated, perhaps in a business relationship.
Just as you would create a business plan and map out your marketing strategy, take some time to figure out your brand DNA. Who are you? Where are you? What value do you offer? Then say yes, and add even more depth to your message and finally, never deny that listening to your friends, fans and followers can lead you to a richer, deeper, more profitable R.O.I or return on time spent engaging in social media activities.
How are you using improvisational techniques to build you business? I’d love to hear from you.
