Two Ways We Know Social Media is Here to Stay
In regards to the media, it will take a great deal to really amaze me. It's not that I'm a cynic. It's exactly that I've been professionally associated with the media for over 21 years and I've seen its evolution. I've lived through the occasions when press releases were Xeroxed and submitted the mail with a postage stamp, through the times when the fax machine was king and finally into the age of the email blast through a digital database Katiana Kay. And while I've marveled at these technological advances that increased a PR professional's speed and reach, do not require really floored me.
Until now.
Not have I seen a media tool so broad in its scope, so personal in its reach and so effective in its use as Social Media. It's so powerful that I can honestly say that I've never seen anything like it before and doubt I will see anything as influential inside our lifetimes.
Allow me to offer two examples to show this aspect and then we will look at its impact on your own marketing and promotion.
Occupy Wall Street - It certainly doesn't matter where you fall pertaining to the politics behind the OWS movement. My only reason for bringing it up is to show the massive influence they've had over a really short period of time because of their usage of Social Media. When the demonstrations in New York began on September 17 with 1,000 protestors in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district - spurred by a contact campaign by the Canadian non-profit advocacy group AdBusters - the movement was ignored by the mainstream media. Not The New York Times (considered the neighborhood newspaper for the island of Manhattan) bothered to create about the movement. Then, a Facebook page and a Twitter account were established, resulting in the creation of a Web site. Right after, the group published a manifesto of sorts and through their Social Media network, sent out a call to action for those around the globe who shared their views to remain true and be counted through demonstrations. Based on the Columbia Journalism Review's New Frontier Database, the team, while unofficial, runs Internet sites like Occupytogether.org, and video live-stream a "steady flow of updates on Twitter and Tumblr," as well as Skype sessions with other demonstrators. Their reach went international, generating reactions from leaders and citizens of countries like Canada, Brazil, China, Greece, India, North Korea, Poland, Russia, The United Kingdom, Vatican City, Venezuela and others. They have no spokesperson and no leader doing the TV talk shows, but rather use Social Media to proliferate their cause. If they'd a mind of marketing, I'd mortgage the house to hire him or her.
Bank of America Debit Card Fees - I doubt Molly Katchpole ever thought her complaint would get so far. The 22-year-old recent graduate of Roger Williams University is credited with getting Bank of America to back off off its plans to charge customers $5 per month for the privilege of employing a debit card. How did she get it done? Social Media my friends.
She posted a petition on Change.org demanding that Bank of America keep their hands out of her purse and the purses of the countless customers. Change.org is a Website that enables people to solicit signatures via the Social Media universe. Well, her petition gained so much traction that the site took over from there, soliciting more signatures and reaching out to the mainstream media on her behalf behalf. She informed her story on TV talk shows, coming off as courageous and smart and, well, the same as countless Americans living paycheck to paycheck who can't really afford another $60 per year for something they'd been using free of charge all along.
The result of the campaign was Bank of America playing a pummeled Goliath to Molly's triumphant David, and canceling their plans to charge the fees. Whenever you consider it, Molly did them a favor. On the basis of the overwhelming response in excess of 306,000 signatures, Bank of America avoided a massive disaster. It doesn't have a genius to predict what are the results to a company's stock price when they very publicly lose 300,000 customers in a month or so.
"Clearly, the success of her campaign is a victory for Social Media and a demonstration of its power to obtain the masses involved with a cause," said Yvette Kantrow, managing editor of the Daily Deal.
I couldn't accept her more.
At what point in American history would you point out 1,000 people demonstrating in a public park in New York, and a few days later a note is generated from a world leader, like Polish President Lech Walesa, in support of their efforts? At what time would you remember when a 22-year-old posted a problem on a Website that caused a billion-dollar world banking power - with 57 million customers - to eradicate a potential annual revenue stream around $3.4 billion?
It never happened, but with the impact of Social Media, you can virtually count on it happening again and again.
Now, let's bring all this back again to you. Lots of you already have the exact same tools these people had - a Twitter account, a Facebook page, a Website and an Internet connection. The problem is how Social Media can assist you to proliferate your message. Actually, the question is how manages to do it not? Social Media is the right marriage of one-to-one and mass communication. Its tactics and tone are personal, while its scope and reach are massive.
If you're already taking care of a Social Media campaign today, don't stop. But, if you're not, it's way after dark time for you really to get going. To those who are still on the sidelines awaiting some sort of signpost that decisively demonstrates why the time and effort in Social Media is worthwhile, my advice is to check behind you. Truly that stake was in the ground 100 miles ago.
