19. “What I do you cannot do; but
what you do, I cannot do. The
needs are great, and none of us,
including me, ever do great things.
But we can all do small things,
with great love, and together we
can do something wonderful.”
-Mother Teresa
Notes de l'éditeur
I’m Matt Kinshella this is my contact info. And since TED talks became popular short presentations are sexy now. So I’m going to spend the next 15 minutes talking about how you can use all that great info you just heard to move issues – particularly by using the social web.First things first – social media – at its core isn’t new at all. It is quite old.
We’ve been doing social a long timeSocial is how the first humans survived.Social happens at work. Social happens at home. Social happens online.We are social beings – we know social.
And we’ve been doing media a long timeIt started with cave drawings and progressed to books then radio, tv, fax, email and facebook and itll be something different tomorrow and the next day. You should pay attention to media but not get carried away.
I mention the obvious components of social media all to say that it’s not scaryI’ve run across communications professionals who’ve been in the business for 30 years and are scared to death of social media, so much so that they abstain and can’t find work. I like to say no one was born knowing how to use email but we all use it every day… a little too much – ask my boss. (point to Liesl if she is next to me) Facebook is being used by 800 million peopleMore than 24 hours of video are uploaded to you tube every minute175,000 new blogs are created each dayTwitter is used by tens of millions. Most of the people doing these things are not smarter than you.
Though some are(show historical tweet – Einstein) In all seriousness, you or anyone on your staff can figure this out. You can inject social into every aspect of your work. You can trust your staff to be social because you trust them with phones and email and they are going to be social any way. Honestly, there’s no better advice I can give you then just try it. Think about what your audience might want from you and try something. Track what your doing, fail smartly and adjust. But if you do want to be failing smartly and not just failing, there are some things you need to know.
Wehave to understand the building blocks of a social web campaign or movement. Behind every successful movement are key components that go far deeper then knowing how to send a tweet or create a custom facebook landing page. Do recognize these guys? This might be some of you or someone you know.
How about these guys? I am almost certain some of you can relate with these guys.So the question is: what do star wars fans and the timbers Army have in common?
What Seth Godin and many others have called “A tribe”Tribe members live to be in the tribe. They identify themselves in part by saying they are a member of that tribe. That tribe is important to them And so the tribe is the one of the 3 building blocks of a movement online or anywhere.
But of course the star wars guys wouldn’t exist without this.Whoops…
I mean this guyAnd the timbers fans wouldn’t exist without this
I’m sorry I messed up again
– I meant this The tribe needs what is called a social object. Social objects are the things the tribe all get together and talk about. The star wars fans can argue about how much they hate the new star wars movies and the Timbers fans can discuss next years schedule and off season signings. The tribe can’t exist without the social object.That’s why the social object is another building block of a movement.
The third is the organization – and I don’t mean an institution – I mean a way to organize. There are many ways to organize. Social media – are the tools and channels that are a natural evolution of an open world wide web that is very new in the course of history (it just turned 20!) and none of us – and I mean none of us have any idea how it will shape elections and institutions and our society as a whole. It is the new organizational frontier. And it is exciting, it is a game changer. But it is not the most important thing. In order to build a movement we need a tribe that is organized around a social object. But perhaps most importantly we need to lead. So, how can one lead a tribe in 2011?
Step One: Let people know the object exists.Thanks to Adam, Alison and Janet we have some real strong values to base our social object around. Those values are at the core of everything. They are the most important social object – but values aren’t tangible. People need something to point to and say – “yeah I agree with that”. The first thing we have to do is create. It sounds simple but consistently, methodically creating quality content based on values is tough. Write op eds and give speeches and we have to shoot video, write on your blog, website or e-newsletter. Create conversations with friends, colleagues etc.Speak and act from the values discussed earlierHave to be remarkable – which of course literally means “worth remarking about”You have to stand out and get people’s attention and you have to do it often. This is one thing nonprofits and government in particular are often too uncomfortable with. This means creating things that stir emotions. In the oft-used analogy, emotions are the elephant that give the rider – logic – the illusion of control when everyone knows who is in charge. But like the framing you aren’t trying to convince anyone of anything they don’t already believe. You’re leading a tribe of people that already exist and have the same values you do.As Godin says – breathing isn’t a tribe. It is something we all do. Another thing many of us are guilty of is wanting to be all things to all people. This want comes from a good place. But in the end it waters down our tribe and displaces the passion.
Notice I’m not asking you to interrupt people with your messages. These guys aren’t running the show anymore.I’m asking you to lead a group of people not harass them until they bend to your will. The time when interruption based marketing will work is fading quickly if it hasn’t already. The influencers you want to reach – yes influencers --receive too many messages and their BS meters are too good
Add a social lubricant If your leadership is outstanding and your cause is remarkable people will find a way to share that story. That’s the beauty of the internet – it always has a forward buttonButYou want to make it as easy as possible for people to share, because the internet has also made us lazy. Direct the elephant rider. So in your email newsletters, blogs or other media make it extremely obvious how to share what you’re saying. And make it extremely obvious what action you want people to take. Then once you think you’ve done this well, have some teenage intern test drive every channel you have – especially your website and email newsletter – to see how easy sharing is. You need to grow the tribe.
Create connections. Organize the tribeGive people a place to connect with one another.This meeting is a place to connect. This is our tribe. Advocates college is a place to connect.Facebook and twitter is a place to connect but it won’t be if you just use it to spam your “audience” One fact of a social media world is that more and more people only trust those they know, like and respect. Know, like and respect. They don’t just automatically turn to ABC and trust everything that is said. I have argued this is an amazing thing – especially for smaller organizations. But for larger ones too. For the first time we can widely and freely build direct relationships with our tribe and connect them directly with one another because of the social web. We don’t have to rely on traditional media filter.ASH.Engage! Pose questions on social media, write compelling blog posts and ask for feedback. Create a simple forum of yahoo group where people can exchange ideas. Not everyone is going to want to connect but some will. Be transparent with your processes. Indentify those people who are strongest in your tribe and court them. Take them to a real in person coffee or recognize them on your website. And then ask them to lead and find a tribe of their own. Find the people that are pumped up about it – they’ll self select.Find the people in your tribe and ask them to tell others. Ask them to write in local newspapers, find people with video talent and writers and social media people. You don’t’ have to do it all your self you just have to paint a vision and find people who can do it. Engagement ladder is on steroids. Unparalleled ability to track information about people and use that to bond. Check reporters latest articles in 2 minutes. Check a new contacts twitter feed. Subscribe to someone’s personal blog and have that feed send an alert on your phone so you’re the first person to comment. I’m an information dork. SO I love the internet because I can manipulate it to let me learn anything I want really easily. But that’s not why I care about social media. Social media and the internet presents us the biggest opportunity to build these tribes around our values cheaply and with force. We don’t have to wait for traditional power sources. But it does take time, strategy, tactics and it takes leadership.
We are at a unique time in history. We have an opportunity to innovate and create and democratize. But we are also faced with monumental challenges. I heard someone say last week they think people on TANF should be sterilized. He wasn’t evil. He was a normal suburban dad who was comfortable saying that in public. That mentality is the product of a larger societal issue, not only an individual’s issue. If we’re not going to lead a progressive values movement now – then when? If we all organize a tribe around a social object we all care about. If we live, speak and act from the values of the tribe and we are savvy and nimble and creative it will inspire others. And if the tribe grows large enough and passionate enough they’ll be more powerful than any one of our organizations and then we’ll see change happen. But only then.
“What I do you cannot do; but what you do, I cannot do. The needs are great, and none of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.” Thank you.