Is 2011 the year of social media?
Two ways we know social media is here to stay
When it comes to the media, it takes a lot to really wow me. It’s not that I’m a cynic. It is that I have been professionally involved with the media for more than 21 years and I have seen its evolution. I have lived through the days when press releases were photocopied and mailed with a postage stamp, the days when the fax machine was king, and finally the age of email via an electronic database. And while I’ve marveled at these technological advances that increased the speed and reach of a PR professional, none of them really blew me away.
Until now.
I have never seen a media tool so broad in its scope, so personal in its scope and so effective in its use as social media. It’s so powerful that I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like it before and I doubt I’ll ever see anything as influential in our lives.
Let me offer two examples to demonstrate this point and then we can see their impact on your own marketing and promotion.
Occupy Wall Street – It doesn’t really matter where you fall regarding the politics behind the OWS movement. My only reason for bringing it up is to demonstrate how much of an influence they have had in an incredibly short period of time due to their use of social media. When demonstrations in New York began on September 17 with 1,000 protesters in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district, prompted by an email campaign by Canadian nonprofit advocacy group AdBusters, the move was ignored by mainstream media. Not even The New York Times (considered the local newspaper for the island of Manhattan) bothered to write about the movement. A Facebook page and Twitter account were then established, which led to the creation of a website. Soon after, the group published a manifesto of sorts and, via their social network, sent out a call to action for those around the world who shared their views to stand up and be counted through demonstrations. According to Columbia Journalism Review’s New Frontier database, the team, while unofficial, runs websites like Occupytogether.org and broadcasts live video with a “constant stream of updates on Twitter and Tumblr” as well as Skype sessions. with other protesters. Its reach has gone international, generating reactions from leaders and citizens of countries such as Canada, Brazil, China, Greece, India, North Korea, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom, Vatican City, Venezuela, and others. They have no spokesperson or leader on TV talk shows, instead using social media to proliferate their cause. If they had a head of marketing, I’d mortgage the house to hire him.
Bank of America Debit Card Fees I doubt Molly Katchpole ever thought her complaint would go that far. Recent college graduate Roger Williams, 22, is credited with getting Bank of America to back down from plans to charge customers $5 a month for the privilege of using a debit card. How did he do it? Social Networks my friends.
He posted a petition on Change.org demanding that Bank of America keep its hands out of its wallet and the wallets of its millions of customers. Change.org is a website that allows people to request signatures through the social media universe. Well, his petition gained such traction that the site took over from there, soliciting more signatures and reaching out to the mainstream media on his behalf. She told her story on TV talk shows, coming across as brave and smart and, well, like millions of Americans living paycheck to paycheck who really can’t afford another $60 a year for something they’ve been using for free all along. .
The end result of the campaign was that Bank of America played a beaten Goliath to Molly’s triumphant David and canceled their plans to collect the fees. When you think about it, Molly did them a favor. Based on the overwhelming response of more than 306,000 signatures, Bank of America averted a massive disaster. It doesn’t take a genius to predict what happens to a company’s stock price when it publicly loses 300,000 customers in about a month.
“Clearly the success of her campaign is a victory for social media and a demonstration of her power to engage the masses in a cause,” said Yvette Kantrow, editorial director of the Daily Deal.
I couldn’t agree more with her.
At what point in American history can you point to 1,000 people demonstrating in a public park in New York, and a few days later generate a message from a world leader, like Polish President Lech Walesa, in support of their efforts? What moment can you remember when a 22-year-old posted a complaint on a website that caused a billion-dollar global banking power, with 57 million customers, to wipe out a potential annual revenue stream of about $3.4 billion?
It’s never happened, but with the impact of social media, you can count on it happening again and again.
Now, let’s bring all of this back to you. Many of you already have the same tools these people had: a Twitter account, a Facebook page, a website, and an Internet connection. The question is how social networks can help you spread your message. Actually, the question is how not? Social media is the perfect marriage between one-on-one communication and mass communication. His tactics and tone are personal, while his scope and reach are massive.
If you’re already working on a Social Media campaign right now, don’t hold back. But, if you’re not, it’s time to get going. To those who are still on the sidelines waiting for some sort of signal that decisively proves why social media is worth the time and effort, my advice is to look back. Truly that stake was in the ground 100 miles ago.