Acts of Marketing




Attraction is incremental. It goes hand in hand with attention. And it is acts of marketing that stimulate both. That's because they connect our aspirations with experiences we appreciate and enjoy. What seems like a long time ago, I wrote about the 4 A's of blogging: Attract, Ask, Aspire, Act. I'd like to amend that slightly.

Aspire

Aiming for something greater than self, wanting to make a difference. It is not just younger generations who are looking for meaning. We all are - personal and professional are bleeding into each other as we do so. 

Ask

Asking and interacting are the foundation of being human, not just being in social media. Have you noticed the new splash screens people have on Twitter? It's not just about image, it's about asking explicitly. In a way, Twitter is the new interactive banner ad - with you as the media rich content.

Act

Wherever you turn today, thanks to social media, non marketers are starting to pay attention to marketing. Why? Because all of a sudden, people anywhere in an organization, or anywhere in the world, now can gain traction, a following, and realize a conversion off that.


Attract

Lots  has been written about the law of attraction. Attraction has a tipping point. The more customers like your business, the more attention they will pay it, the more they will tell their friends about it, and so on. Small businesses tend to fare better with this. They stay closer to and more involved in relationships. Attraction is also about attitude.

This could even be the life cycle of a project or execution. A few weeks ago, I noticed that someone who goes by the name directeur was working on a graphic dynamically on FriendFeed. What probably started as aspire, had become ask.


I thought it was a very interesting use of the tool to crowd source a design. Little I knew, a few weeks later, I was invited to a SocialWhoIs room on FriendFeed to find out that now people can create portable profiles for Twitter and FF on SocialWhoIs.


This is the act part. The attract follows it closely. The room already counts 276 members after a few days. To give you some perspective, the PepsiCooler room, started at the end of October, has 357 members. Why the results in a couple of days? Because SocialWhoIs is about you, and not a company.


The site says:


This website is a proof of concept that a better Social Media can exist ; a social media based on interests and "personal relevancy" instead of popularity. And this, really is the next step in social media! 

Now, this is what I call an act of marketing.

Comments

[Cory Hendrickson]

It seems a little like an afterthought, but I think the important point here is the distinction made between social media and social networking - not that i want to hold firm to either term.

The success for most of the digital cases that actually deliver high returns is the focus on you and not the company.

This has to be key for any property that aims to deliver value to customers. Focus on how you can help the customer and not how the customer helps you.

Now that's true listening.

[Valeria Maltoni]

That is a very important point and distinction. Thank you for adding it, Cory.

[Ricky C]

When i try to search myself on Twitter it asked me to login using my login information. Does it safe?

[directeur]

First, I'd really like to thank you Valeria for the nice post! I liked it :)

Ricky, yes, it is Safe. Your password is not recorded, and SocialWhois won't send anything on your behalf. cf. the faqs: http://socialwhois.com/faq — so, have fun, and don't worry :)