social media » Engine Communications

Today is one of those days when I’m amazed by the connections, and opportunities for community building and business, that social media allows. I’m even more awestruck by being surrounded by so many people working passionately for the cause of Haiti.

Why focus on Haiti on a business blog? Because it’s the perfect example of how so many elements that we’ve been discussing in this forum (ie. social media, cause marketing, corporate social responsibility) come together to make a measurable impact on society.

Today my friend and colleague in the social media space, Sophie Bifield, introduced me to her friend and colleague, Elliot Ng. Elliot is the founder of Toronto Works for Haiti, a group of volunteers in Toronto offering professional services in exchange for donations to Haiti.

Their goal is to raise $5,000 for relief efforts before March 18, 2010.

Currently they stand at 20 volunteers with skills ranging from administrative services to professional editing,
social media marketing, and realty. There are no overhead costs, and they’re asking that all donation go directly to the organizations they support, namely the Humanitarian Coalition, the Canadian Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. All the recipients of the goods and services have to do is let them know how much they’re donating so they can keep track of their efforts.

Founder of Toronto Works for Haiti, Elliot Ng

Here’s Elliot’s take:

After hearing about the earthquake, I felt that it would not be enough to for me to just make a donation to the charities. I asked myself, “What can I do to offer more? How can I help people in Haiti even though I am in Toronto?” On top of that, my professional background helped me put my own spin on it: coming from the business background, I understand the need for businesses, and naturally I started connecting the dots. Why don’t I try to find other like-minded individuals who are compassionate and want to mobilize our skills for this great cause? So I picked up the phone and pitched to my friends: Roxanne Chow, Katherine Lee, Kilim Park, and Mark Savel. They liked it! Roxanne gave the group the name we are using now. Katherine started creating the structure of the organization. Kilim started writing on our blog. Mark suggested ideas on how to make this idea bigger. It snowballed and the rest is history.

There are a few things I love about this idea:

It raises money for a great cause.
It allows small business owners to make an impact on a global scale.
It creates awareness for small business, and is a great PR opportunity.
It creates opportunity for collaboration, and networking.
It’s a simple idea that your business could easily adopt for any cause you’re passionate about.

What do I want you to do?

Take some of the ideas we’ve dissected and apply them to your own business strategy. The bottom line for you is increased awareness, networking and sales.
Get involved with Toronto Works for Haiti or another local group like New Mercy Ministries, both to help with relief efforts, and to network with some brilliant, talented people.
Join the Toronto Works for Haiti Facebook group, and voice your support. Put their logo on your profile to spread awareness.

Whatever you do, make sure you act now. If not for Haiti, then for the cause you care about. Everybody wins! And you know I love a good win-win.

Are You Connected?

January 26, 2010 Social Media

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Maasai warriors on their cell phones, in rural Kenya. Are they more connected than your small business?

I have to admit, after the earthquake hit Haiti, I was having trouble writing new blog posts. I was having trouble writing anything. When the world is rocked by tragedy, our collective heart goes out to others in extraordinary ways. Already having a passion for this nation and its people, I was happy to see the world community reach out.

Non-profits, government, military, and citizens put their creativity to the test to mobilize and act to help Haiti. I was blown away by the level to which new technologies assisted not only relief efforts, but also rescue efforts. We saw an iPhone app save a man’s life. Tweets from Haiti were sent, and picked up by CNN, moments after the quake. I was able to follow the Canada for Haiti telethon unfold on Facebook, while watching the American efforts live via the Hope for Haiti iPhone app. Both the American Red Cross and World Vision Canada initiated text campaigns to raise funds.

All of these efforts have raised millions of dollars. Millions. And those are just a few examples of the ways that social media has united people for the cause of Haiti.

So what’s the lesson that your business can take away from this?

It’s that social media works, and it isn’t going anywhere. Let me repeat: Social media is not simply a trend. It’s not a fad. It’ll change–that’s guaranteed. Next year we might not be talking Facebook. We might not be using Twitter in the same ways we do now. But I can promise you, social media tools aren’t going anywhere.

When the tsunami hit Thailand on Dec 26, 2004, we didn’t have the iPhone. There was no “app for that.” The term “app” wasn’t even in our lexicon. That was only five years ago. Imagine how our communications will change in the next five years?

With technology being accessible to the masses, whether through free online platforms, websites, or smart phones, it’s time that small business owners sit up and take note. Your target market is donating millions of dollars online. They’re creating movements via text campaigns. They’re looking at your website, judging your expertise based on your content. Your audience is connected. Are you?

Case Study: Changing behaviour one tweet at a time?

January 11, 2010 Public Relations / Uncategorized

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Are you creating a call to action, or simply talking to hear yourself speak?

Two incidents last week in the world of social media piqued my interest as to the value associated with spreading a message online. There’s been lots of discussion on the topic of viral marketing–using preexisting social networks to increase brand awareness or achieve other marketing goals–so I won’t talk definitions. However, using these two cases to highlight the pros and cons of our cache of marketing tools is never a bad idea.

The first issue arose on Wednesday, when the New York Times revealed that H & M had been destroying new, unworn clothing that it couldn’t sell. Needless to say, people were outraged. After a brutal recession, and in the middle of winter, rather than donate these items to charity, H & M had the gall to throw them in the garbage. Apparently Wal-Mart does the same thing, as do many others in the for-profit production system.

When this story hit the social media world, it went viral. Twitter lit up with tweets and retweets about the incident–none of of which were positive, or in defense of the retailer. The blogging, sharing, and passing on of this story must have hit thousands of people online. It became a PR crisis for H & M, and one that they addressed pallidly, albeit promptly, saying that it wasn’t “standard practice”, and it wouldn’t happen again.

We could discuss this issue ad nauseam from a public relations standpoint, and I still might in a future post, but right now, let’s focus on the spread of information online. The second case also involved a viral message, but this one was found on Facebook.

On Thursday of last week, you may have noticed a strange trend: Many of your female friends changing their status line to their bra colour to raise awareness for breast cancer. No one quite knows where the message originated from, but it reached viral status quickly, with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Fan Page going crazy with new fans and updates. The Toronto Star reported that the page went from 135 members to 700 within hours, but today, it’s at over 141,000 fans! That’s viral marketing in action.

However, it bodes another question that I think is more important: Does the online transfer of information change the behaviour of your target audience?

The case of the H & M debacle created a movement that changed the behaviour of the retailer (at least for now). People (many in their target market) got angry, voiced their concern, and the target audience (H & M) had to take action. In this case, apologize and remedy the situation. Here we see viral messages creating a call to action, and a level of awareness, that had to be addressed by the party in question.

The breast cancer bra colour “campaign” definitely spread a message, but did it have a real-world affect? Some might say that increasing awareness equates with reaching an objective. I would agree that that’s the case if there had been a concerted effort on the part of a legitimate cancer-related organization to organize this campaign, but it just wasn’t so. As the origin of the message is unknown, there’s no way to track the communication process. There were no goals set, there were no measurable objectives–it was just an idea.

Now I love ideas, but I don’t think an idea alone results in action. Isn’t that what we want viral marketing to be about?

A spokesperson from the Susan G. Komen Foundation said that they don’t care whether the campaign raised money or not; if it leads to more women getting mammograms, and lives saved, while people have fun, then that’s enough. I tend to disagree–it’s not enough because there’s nothing to prove that any of this awareness will change the behaviour of the women involved.

Whether in the for-profit or non-profit world, don’t we want that information to be a call to action? Shouldn’t we expect not only brand awareness, but increased revenue or donations, recruitment of new volunteers, etc.? These are just some of the questions that these two incidents should have us asking.

What I love in both cases is the spread of information. What I think is lacking, especially in the bra colour example, is the means by which to track and validate our claims that awareness leads to action. Anil Dash touched on this subject last week in the context of his personal Twitter account. Quantity doesn’t equal quality, nor results.

The moral of the story? If we’re to successfully drive online marketing campaigns, we need to stick to the basics: Define your target audience, set measurable goals, and devise a way to evaluate the success of the campaign.

What do you think? Is awareness an end in itself?

The Rules of Engagement

December 9, 2009 Marketing / Social Media

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This post is part of the Guest Blog Grand Tour over at Life Without Pants – an epic two-month journey of over 50 guest posts. Want to learn more about Matt Cheuvront & see how far the rabbit hole goes? Subscribe to the Life Without Pants RSS feed & follow him on Twitter to keep in touch!

You don’t need me to tell you, but the world of marketing and advertising has seen some pretty dramatic shifts over the past few years. Social Media is changing the face of the way companies do marketing. How? With the emphasis on B2C communication – tools like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are making it easier than ever for businesses to give and receive instant feedback from their customers.

But just because the tools are readily available, doesn’t mean businesses are using them to their maximum potential. The approach to Social Media has to be taken from a different angle than more “traditional” marketing mediums. Where selling, generating leads, and landing clients may be the end result – the approach with Social Media has to be to engage and build relationships first, before focusing on the sales pitch.

One thing that everyone can take a lesson in, and something I continue to work on myself – is the power of listening. Listen to what your customers are saying, pay attention to their conversations, and take note of their ideas. Becoming a good listener and eavesdropping at the right time and place is priority number one for Social Media marketing.

You’ll hear everyone tell you that listening is important – but that’s only the first step. The follow up, and most important element of communication is knowing WHEN to communicate. Those who are “doing it right” spend a considerable about of time listening, and when the time is right, take it to the next step and get involved.

What does “get involved” mean? At the end of the day, it’s about being a person first, a human representative and voice of your company. People don’t want to talk to a business – they want to talk to a person, they want a connection, a human on the other end of the line who genuinely cares about their wants and needs. If you’re that person on the other end, be yourself, be funny, share interesting and relevant information, become a resource for your community. Social Media works best when the line between personal and professional is blurred.

Once you’ve built a rapport with the members of your community, they’ll be more willing and accepting of your “sales” pitches. Engage first, sell second – A simple formula that’s often forgotten, but is the recipe of success for any business integrating Social Media into their marketing mix.

What examples do you have of businesses that are doing it right (or wrong) with Social Media?

Question Period

November 30, 2009 Social Media

2 comments

Since early this morning I have been considering topics for blogging. I’ve been on this “know thyself” bandwagon, and I didn’t want to inundate you with more, “me, me, me.” But hopefully you’re seeing that it’s not simply about me–it’s about you and your business. (My friend Nate Riggs wrote about this for me on Thursday, and if you haven’t read his guest post, it’s a great resource on this topic.)

As I logged into the blog, I found a really interesting comment waiting for approval. It was in regards to my post from last week entitled, On the Road, where I introduced you all to my little experiment in self-discovery. Here’s an excerpt from that comment that I want to address today:

“[Bryna] I’m continually impressed that you are willing to be the guinea pig, or at least put your feet in the shoes that have to do the walking, as it were (mixing my cliches a bit). And so, in fearing all these traps, I am about to walk into the arena of social networking. I don’t feel I have a choice, at least. And because of it, I will be needing help. So for that reason I ask you for this advice — how do we balance the need to know ourselves with the need to know our audience or at least our customers? I don’t think they are exclusive, but I certainly can’t see them being the same, either.”

First off, let me say thank you. I’m not looking for accolades in terms of sharing myself with you all, but I do appreciate that this commentor understands that I’m not doing it out of a place of self-idolatry (their words–check out the full comment), but to really question the ways we communicate who we are in the social media world.

It’s All About Balance

“How do we balance the need to know ourselves with the need to know our audience, or at least our customers?”

Let’s start with self.

I started this journey of online self-discovery because there are a lot of voices in the social media world, and I wanted to make sure I knew what mine was. It’s not enough to just talk into space, and assume that people will listen. Some will, and depending on why you blog, that’s acceptable. However, for professional bloggers, finding your voice is key to success. My friend, and colleague in the SM space, Matt Cheuvront, actually just posted on this today, and he put it well–it’s ok to experiment with your platform, just be you.

That’s what I’m trying to do, and encourage you to do as well. It’s no longer enough to take the advice of others verbatim. The process of developing your SM platform is just as important as the final result.

We start with ourselves–looking in before we look out. It’s not self-idolatry to start here. I do struggle at times with the notion of “celebrity” in the online world. It can be a very self-centred place, but I don’t think that’s the real truth of the matter. I’ve met some of the most interesting, engaging, genuine people through SM. They aren’t fake. We’re all working with a new media, and it takes time to find your place.

There are definitely people out there with huge platforms and audiences. At some point I have to come to terms with the fact that I’m not a Chris Brogan or Sarah Evans (yet). They are wonderful people to look at as mentors, but I still have to define who I am. You still have to define who you are.

We start inside, define who we are, but then we need to ask: Why? Why are you engaging in social media? What is the purpose? What I’ve started to do, personally, is compartmentilize. I blog primarily for Engine Communications. This is my professional space, and I share it with my colleagues. We pepper it with pieces of ourselves, but it’s different than my personal blog. It’s not about me.

Then I have my personal own spaces. I’m a writer. I love words. I love the visual of a sentence. I look at words the way a painter looks at paint. It’s my tool for self-expression. I’m playing with my tumblog, and my WordPress account right now.

For awhile I was concerned that using those platforms might negate the professionalism here (which is why there’s so little content as of yet), but I’ve seen lots of writers use personal blogs in amazing ways (Sydney Owen is great at this). Just add a disclaimer. Get the voice part solidified, and the purpose part, then start thinking about your audience.

Your audience may or may not be important to you. Another colleague, Sonny Gill, has a terrific post on this issue. I’m happy if someone reads my personal blog, and gets something out of it, but it’s more for me than anyone else.

I also have a strong leaning toward social justice issues, and I’ve been blogging about them here for about a year (although I’ve been on haitus for planning purposes). It’s still me, sharing a part of who I am, but more importantly it’s a forum for my audience to connect with like-minded people from a variety of organizations, all doing amazing things to fight global poverty. My audience is very important to me there. Again, it’s not about me.

Our audience here in the Engine Room is also of utmost importance. We are a business. We want people to know we exist. We want people to know we’re engaged, that we understand how to navigate Web 2.0. We also want to be more than a business. Engine is made up of people, and this space allows you to interact with us in real time. We aren’t just a logo–we’re a community.

We also want to generate useful content that gives you insight into who we are, who you are, and how to communicate your message to your target audience. It is our goal to give a broad spectrum of information about communications, marketing and design, because those are our interests–where we shine. We assume our audience is interested in those things too.

It’s all about balance: Balancing your voice, with your purpose, with your audience and their needs. How do you do it? Experiment. Be genuine. I’m seeing now that the rest will fall into place.

Thanks for the comment!

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