Mobilizing Volunteers with Social Media

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Vintage political attack ads

Here are some classic political ads courtesy of Slate (from 2008). The important thing to note is the first one. The person on camera, an actor, is describing his disdain for the man his own political party selected as condidate.

Seth Godin speaks to me -- again...

The master of new marketing, Seth Godin wrote another brilliant, but tiny blog post the other day... here it is in it's entirety:

But you're not saying anything

And this is the problem with just about every lame speech, every overlooked memo, every worthless bit of boilerplate foisted on the world: you write and write and talk and talk and bullet and bullet but no, you're not really saying anything.

It took me two minutes to find a million examples. Here's one, "The firm will remain competitive in the constantly changing market for defense legal services by creating and implementing innovative and effective methods of providing cost-effective, quality representation and services for our clients."

Write nothing instead. It's shorter.

Most people work hard to find artful ways to say very little. Instead of polishing that turd, why not work harder to think of something remarkable or important to say in the first place?

In keeping with that sentiment... that's all I have to say.

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Relations – Smelations: Shut up and listen!

We have government relations, customer relations, investor relations, public relations, employee relations, foreign relations… etc…. etc.

It’s just a fancy way of describing communications. So is Corporate Storytelling.

Recently my local municipality announced that it was going to make a concerned effort to communicate better. I’m all for better communications – but what exactly does “better communication” mean?

• Is it spending $1 million on a new website?
• Is it buying full-page ads in the local paper?
• Is it spending $57,000 on outdoor advertising?
• Is it introducing a monthly newsletter to citizens to tell them all the good stuff we are doing?
• How about “doing social media” because that’s where the kids are?

My neck hairs go up. My testes tighten.

Many institutions – government, corporate, faith-based, non-profit – all believe that communications is something it “does.” They missed the point. To paraphrase Scott Stratten: Stop Communicating, Start Engaging.

Communications, good communications, is about dialogue. It’s about talking to people. It’s not just talking, it’s also listening. It’s establishing a relationship and leveraging that relationship to some kind of mutually beneficial end. It’s not top-down, it’s not bottom-up – its back and forth and all around.

We corporate-ize it, give it a label – call it “______ relations.” We attach a budget to it, staff it, develop a plan and cross our fingers.

Communications is not that easy. Believe it or not, it’s harder listen than to talk. Turn the funnel (or megaphone) around -- maybe like the SETI (Search for Extraterrestiral Intelligrance) program, sit back and listen.

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Six ways to be exceptional in marketing

In Marketing 101, we're all taught that marketing is: ask people what they want and give it to them.

My daughter’s Tae Kwon Do school has taken this to its most logical next step. Legacy Tae Kwon Do has a member’s only section that give’s the students’ access to instructional videos based on their belt class. Students can learn their different patterns required for testing and advancement to the next belt.

Dd I mention that they are doing this at no extra cost to the member (or their parent)?

This is an example of marketing in its purest form. Giving quality martial arts instruction is the goal of Legacy – whether that mean one-on-one for new students – or these extra instructional aides. It’s something all businesses could take and adopt for themselves.

Here are five other things you could try:

1. Find ways to go beyond the service you provide – add an extra item when someone buys a dozen of the same thing. Put a chocolate on each pillow in your hotel rooms. It’s all about something a little extra. People will be grateful and remember.
2. Say thank you and be thankful – when you are thinking the people that do things for you – whether it’s your customer, your supplier, your service guy, or whoever – thank them and be genuine in your thanks.
3. Be generous with information – sometimes you have to tell people that you can’t help them. Make sure you tell them why. If people understand the reason, they are more accepting of the answer. Simply telling someone “no,” is not helpful.
4. Refer people to someone who can help them – if you can’t help, what harm is there in finding someone who can. It might take a few minutes extra, but it will be beneficial in the long run. If you are helpful, people will remember you. You might not have been able to help them this time, but they will remember you next time.
5. Be friendly – it doesn’t hurt to smile and greet the person you are about to do business with. It certainly doesn’t cost you anything. It could have a huge return on investment.

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Introduction to Storytelling 4: How to interview

You need stories.

1. You could use your vast knowledge and limitless creativity to create stories out of thin air. That’s fiction. It’s great for entertainment and may even offer some teaching (lessons learned, morals passed on, etc.). These could cover any given situation but they are not genuine.
2. You could use your own stories. Unless you are 95 and on your deathbed, you probably don’t have a big selection of stories to choose from.
3. You could talk to people, get their stories and tell them to others.

Number 3 is the lucky number.

How do you pull the information from someone? I prefer not to interview. Interviews are pretty boring. Interviewers will have done some research and go in with a list of questions. It’s like the directions on a shampoo bottle. Question, answer, repeat. Pretty basic stuff. A three year old could do it.

I prefer to have a conversation. I usually don’t do any research or a very minimal amount. I go in cold. I have one question in advance – it’s the same one I ask most times – what’s your story?

I let them do most of the talking. I take copious notes. Sometimes things said will spark other questions to get more information or detail. These questions almost always start with ‘why?’. I try to confirm names, dates and places (it’s those details that people find most errors).

I try to use their voice in my writing. I use their words, mostly. In the end it’s their story, I let them tell it. I’m basically a walking-talking transcription machine. A reporter friend mine says she gets “paid to pry.”

Whether I’m writing web content, or a magazine article, or this blog; I try to use different styles. Some types, like people profiles in a magazine lend themselves to using more of the subject’s words. For web content, its using the clients words (for SEO types, keywords).

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Networking, bloody networking

I'm preparing an introductory workshop on networking for a group of recent immigrants looking for employment.

These folks have had some tough breaks. Sure, they are living in a great country, but many of them are highly educated and because of different educational standards (and, in some cases, simple semantics) -- they can't get employment in their fields of expertise.

Some of you might think that they would be a very easy audience to work with (because they will listen to anything), but, frankly, it's the opposite.

I have to work from the premise that:

1. they have no experience networking,
2. many have language and cultural barriers to overcome and
3. they lack a lot of confidence because they are living in a completely new environment.

It forces me to put myself in their shoes. That makes the assignment even harder. I have to go back to square one.

I'm going to throw them an even bigger challenge at them by running the session like a speed dating session. Twelve couples have six minutes to introduce and talk about themselves. They have to talk, listen, make eye contact and start a relationship -- no, not that kind of relationship.

Those relationships will build and the network is formed. In that network information will be shared. Connections will be made. Stories, names, education, work experience and eventually job leads -- it'll be like a giant, walking, talking resume. I only wish I could have a dozen employers in the room ready to listen.

Please comment on this, any and all feedback is welcome... don't worry I can take it! E-mail me if you have any specific questions or you'd like me to help tell your story. Join me (@storyfella) on Twitter.