{"id":1143,"date":"2010-08-15T19:35:29","date_gmt":"2010-08-15T19:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=1143"},"modified":"2010-08-16T01:41:22","modified_gmt":"2010-08-16T01:41:22","slug":"social-marketing-strategy-what-i-learned-about-giving-from-saveteecycle-and-a-jewel-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/social-marketing-strategy-what-i-learned-about-giving-from-saveteecycle-and-a-jewel-song\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Marketing Strategy: What I learned about giving from #saveteecycle and a Jewel song"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve seen people say before that in social media \u201cYou have to give to get<\/em>.\u201d And to that, I say, AMEN. <\/strong><\/p>\n

For most marketers, this is of course a complete and utter disconnect from how they are used to thinking. Yet, I contend, for many it would be the most effective social media\/marketing\/business strategy they could possibly implement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Of course, in the past few years, myriad marketers have jumped on the cause marketing bandwagon. And, while rare companies are launching ambitious programs like Kohl\u2019s Cares<\/a>, and The Pepsi Refresh Project<\/a> and the like, to be honest, in my experience, most companies I talk to about strategies like this don\u2019t yet understand how giving can benefit them. <\/p>\n

I could tell a couple of stories here about companies I have pitched this strategy to in the past three months that just didn\u2019t get it at all, but that would be very uncool. They get really excited about it in the initial meeting, because they can see how it would improve perception of their brand and create media interest and online engagement. Then they get cold feet and decide to just keep running some radio or TV spots. And I know why it falls apart. It falls apart because:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It is not a \u201cproven\u201d strategy. I can present research on the topic but I cannot prove that it will drive sales. (Of course, no one can prove that radio or TV will drive sales, either. It\u2019s just \u201csafer\u201d.)<\/li>\n
  2. The company is not \u201creally\u201d driven by community at a DNA level; I am feeling out what they are made of, and it\u2019s not this.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Here\u2019s the personal side of this, the background on why I am thinking a lot about it. I\u2019ve spent, oh, a couple of decades now marketing airlines, computers, motorcycles, clothing, etc. and sadly little of it has ever involved the strategy of giving something back. Until recently. A few weeks ago I was thinking about how it would be super rewarding to use my mad social media skills (yes, I am being facetious) to do something good, give something back. Enter #saveteecycle and www.saveteecycle.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Thanks to amazing co-conspirators like @bootyp<\/a> and Craig Vermeulen from William Ryan Homes and numerous amazing supporters we are all well on our way to rebuilding at least one family\u2019s home after the Brew City Flood. And, honestly, what I have gotten back from this effort in terms of:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. pride and pure enjoyment<\/li>\n
    2. deeper social engagement (more followers, and more importantly, more followers who actually know me\/talk to me and I them)<\/li>\n
    3. good karma e.g. a really exciting new future possibility for something that makes a difference \u2013 all huge.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      To be clear, none of those are why I am doing it; just an observation of the outcomes. Repeat after me: you have to give to get<\/strong>. There\u2019s a Jewel song called Life Uncommon<\/em> that is really powerful and crystallizes this, at least for me. If you don\u2019t know it, check it out and think happy thoughts for @teecycletim<\/a> and @teecyclejess<\/a>. Or if you want to cut to the points about branding and strategy and stuff jump down to below the video<\/a> and lyrics.<\/p>\n

      And here are the lyrics, just because they ROCK: Don\u2019t worry, Mother It\u2019ll be all right Don\u2019t worry, Sister Say your prayers and sleep tight It\u2019ll be fine Lover of mine It\u2019ll be just fine. And lend your voices only to sounds of freedom No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from Fill your lives with love and bravery and you shall lead A life uncommon. I\u2019ve heard your anguish I\u2019ve heard your hearts cry out We are tired, we are weary But we aren\u2019t worn out Set down your chains \u2018Til only faith remains Set down your chains. And lend your voices only to sounds of freedom No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from Fill your lives with love and bravery and you shall lead A life uncommon. There are plenty of people who pray for peace But if praying were enough, it would have come to be Let your words enslave no one The heavens will hush themselves to hear Our voices ring out clear with sounds of freedom Sounds of freedom C\u2019mon you unbelievers Move out of the way There is a new army coming And we are armed with faith To live we must give To live. And lend your voices only to sounds of freedom No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from Fill your lives with love and bravery and you shall lead A life uncommon. <\/em>*end of song*<\/p>\n

      There are a veritable ton of rhetorical questions we could debate on the topic of cause marketing and corporate social integrity strategies. Why are more marketers really jumping on this strategy? Is it because, as one study indicated, 87% of consumers are likely to switch from one product to another \u2013 price and quality being equal \u2013 if one product is associated with a good cause, an increase from 66% in 1993?<\/p>\n

      Do consumers really switch brands because of cause involvement or do they just say they will? Is it because more companies really have more social integrity, or are more just using this superficially as a strategy to differentiate in a world of sameness?<\/p>\n

      Will Kohl\u2019s Cares, Pepsi Refresh and the like translate to sales and market share? Or \u201cjust\u201d some goodwill and good buzz? What would happen if more companies had the courage to actually step up in a big way and lead a\u2026gasp\u2026social marketing revolution, if you will\u2026in which most brands demonstrate they actually give a crap about their communities? What do you think?<\/p>\n

      Susan Spaight <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I\u2019ve seen people say before that in social media \u201cYou have to give to get.\u201d And to that, I say, AMEN. For most marketers, this is of course a complete and utter disconnect from how they are used to thinking. Yet, I contend, for many it would be the most effective social media\/marketing\/business strategy they … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,618],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-susanspaight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1143"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1165,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions\/1165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}