What is an ad, really? Has anyone ever given a donation to a charity and at the same time provided their company logo? Why? Is a donation a transaction or a gift? By definition, a donation is the act of giving or bestowing. Why is credit even desired for the donation? The most logical reason is that the donor wishes to acknowledge public support of a cause. That’s really the only plausible answer. If no transaction is expected and the cause is truly believed in, what’s your point?
Prediction: Social media is going to have a huge impact on this phenomenon and it is going to significantly impact who consumers choose to trust with their livelihoods/money/friendships/decisions in the very near future. If there’s one thing social media is big on promoting it’s transparency. The internet is one giant background check. If someone provides financial support to a specific cause with the expectation of receiving a transactional financial gain from the donation, it’s a hypocritical gift…otherwise known as a bribe. Bribes are usually big news in the political world, but we either engage in them or passively observe them every day in the business world. Certainly, businesses can give “gifts” to schools and non-profit organizations and get recognized on the “donor list”. That’s acceptable IF THAT’S WHERE THE HEART IS. Skepticism should and does arise when it’s discovered that the donor has no personal interest at stake in the organization besides the transactional expectation. And if he/she doesn’t have such an interest? Sorry, folks, that’s called advertising and they’re not really supporting your cause…They’re looking for ROI.
There is a huge gray area between advertising and marketing versus charitable giving. One sets a transactional expectation and the other does not. Social media is all about giving more than you get in return. It’s built on the word-of-mouth premise that if someone does something nice for me, I want to reciprocate that act NOT WITH MONEY, but with kindness. It’s the word-of-mouth around the character that generates ROI, not the financial significance of the donation. In other words, successful businesses of the future will pay it forward.
In the industrial age, one of the predominant careers was agriculture. I grew up on a farm, but until recently didn’t understand the correlation between succeeding in the present environment with my own childhood. Someone once said that history will repeat itself. How prophetic.
In agriculture, seeds get planted with no guarantee that they will grow or generate a return. Yes, there is a lot riding on those corn and soybean plants, but there’s also a lot of patience, nurturing and faith that goes into the process as well. For example, why can a tractor only travel a little over 3 miles per hour when a farmer is cultivating corn? Two reasons: First, one sudden move can cause the implement to plow out the very plants it is cultivating. Second, if the implement is moving too fast, it throws dirt over the top of the plant’s leaves and stunts it growth, or even possibly kills it. I learned this from experience, and from attitude adjustments applied by my father.
Compare the example to the strategies of the present day, namely social media. The internet is touted as being the fastest, most efficient advertising and marketing vehicle on Earth. We have instant access to more information, more opinions and more people than ever before yet moving through it too fast will affect the very relationships that are required to grow a “crop” online. Moving recklessly through the “fields” could uproot seeds that have been planted for some time or stunt the growth of others by covering them up with unwanted “soil”.
Resist the temptation of accelerating through the fields just because you want and need your online crop to grow faster. Instead, plant, cultivate and nurture every seed you plant in every online relationship. It may take months or even years for the seeds to germinate, but in the end you’re more likely to be rewarded with a record harvest.
Signs like this are posted all over our town right now. It’s incredible. Really, it’s nice that administration cares about our road conditions, but seriously…do we have to cut off EVERY route through town simultaneously? When 15-20 minutes is added to your travel time and you have a child that has to be all the way across town on time, a 3 minute detour is a hassle.
You think this is about road construction, but it’s not…It’s about business. Many of the traditional paths to success taught by corporations, mentors, business schools, and other resources are being cut off. Businesses are now seeing signs like: “Dead End—Do Not Call, Do Not Solicit”, “Detour—Land Line Disconnected”, “Closed Indefinitely Due to Budget Constraints—Find Alternate Path to Household”. And yet the proposed alternatives are nothing more than revisions of the original traditional concepts: SPAM e-mail, automated text messages, and the inundation of visual brand images on television, in newspapers, and on Facebook ads. The interesting thing is that the general public will be a lot less patient with these “proposed detours”.
It took radio 37 years to acquire the attention of 50 million listeners and television 15 years to acquire 50 million viewers. It only took 4 years for the internet to acquire 50 million users. If you think building a road of alternative, permission-based marketing solutions is going to take longer than two years to build, I’d say you’re kidding yourself.
We all know that social media is here to stay, yet many are reluctant to engage. Traditional brands want to continue doing business in traditional ways…And they train all of the traditional best practices to traditional salespeople in their traditional courses. In yesterday’s presentation to a group of Iowa City Chamber of Commerce members, Maureen Osako of Infometrics stoked some new concerns for the long-term well-being of those who wish to refrain from these strategies. The biggest takeaways were surrounding two issues:
1. What’s the penalty for waiting?
2. What’s the penalty for just “jumping in” but doing it wrong?
The main challenge for those in either school of thought, in my opinion, is held in the context of these two strategic decisions.
The penalty for waiting in any game is the forced “catch-up” process… The panic instilled in oneself when they discover the boat has already left port and they’re still holding their suitcases. Trying to catch up with a moving boat leaves you exhausted, frustrated, and “all wet”. The greater challenge with social media is that it’s moving faster than the boat.
The penalty for doing it wrong is loss of credibility. If 95% of your Facebook posts are about what your company has to offer the general public and are “me-centered” instead of “them-centered”, it’s called mass marketing. If you tweet links to your business’ microsite 50 times a day, it’s SPAM. If one day you have 5 LinkedIn contacts and the next you have 500, what is that saying to your “audience” about the value you place on relationships?
So, what’s the context of your social media presence? What’s the history behind “why” you are doing what you are doing? What’s the “WIIFT” (not the traditional “WIIFM”)…What’s In It For Them: Your readers, friends, fans, contacts, followers, or whatever different platforms call those who are engaged in their conversations?
Thank you in advance for your comments.
Posted by Gary M | Posted in Personal Insight | Posted on 05-10-2010
On the doorstep last Friday sat a box which contained this book. “That’s unusual” I thought, since I didn’t order it. Inside the cover was a note from the ultimate “Linchpin”, a person whom I’ve never met who has become a tremendous mentor. Again, thank you for your generosity.
I picked up the book and started reading it this week. It’s really tough to put down because the theories are so timely and thought-provoking that the “hamsters” in my head are making the little wheel turn 100 miles-per-hour. Lisa Gansky persents a conceptual shift from an ownership mentality to a sharing mentality. Her most significant example is that of “Zipcar”, a car-sharing concept that would revolutionize the way we live in America, but she shares highlights from many other organizations as well.
This is an awesome read (so far). If you’re interested in learning more, post a comment and I’ll try to help you out.
