I learned many things during my time working in Mongolia, but one of the things that happens to be top of mind today is a lesson that I re-learned.

Way, way, way way back when (2005), I was a student in my first PR focused college course called Issues & Image Management. The professor who taught that class has guided my career more than he knows, but there are two things that he constantly repeated which stuck with me.

1. Keep it Simple.

2. Brevity will be rewarded.

Two short, yet very powerful statements.

I battle with them when it comes to writing because I always want to provide all the context in the world, but I’m a full believer when it comes to developing online strategy.

With the range of content thrown at us on the interwebs, users don’t have time to read piles of content. They don’t have time to think a whole lot about your grand engagement path and strategy.

If it’s too long to skim and get the gist or it takes more than 3 clicks, it’s probably too complicated for your average user.

In Mongolia, the possibilities were/are endless because so much of what is being done in the social space there is brand new. Once I got a sense of the landscape, I began thinking of all these intricate ideas about how we could engage the public. Some of them I had done in other markets, and some of them were even new for me.

I soft-sounded them with my Mongolian counterpart, and while he liked the ideas, a few gave him pause because he thought they were too detailed for users. After hearing him out, I could see where I had thrown in extra bells and whistles because it ”would be cool” if we got users engage in a specific way.

Sometimes the wow factor is nice, but just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you SHOULD.  

If there’s one piece of timeless advice I can share (advice I intend to follow), it’s this:

Keep it CREATIVE.

Keep it MEANINGFUL.

Keep it SIMPLE.