Just in case you missed it, CHANGE literally graced Mashable’s Social Good conference this past week. From Cashmore to Kanter, we were all there for one purpose: To bare witness to the potential social media in the non-profit sector.
During one of the breaks, I had the awesome opportunity to meet Toby Daniels the founder of Think Social. Just kicking around philosophies on where we thought social media was headed in the non-profit space, I shared with him my theory of the “3 M’s”. Well this quickly expanded to the “6 M’s” and thus the reason for this post. Mission, Message, Methodology, Medium, Metrics and Monetization. That’s the order.
M-1: Mission- I’m really not a big fan of mission statements. They seem too stuffy and lack the language necessary to engage in meaningful, energetic action. Branding today, whether you’re in the non-profit sector or profit, needs meaningful action. Your organization’s mission statement needs to reflect that. People want to align themselves with purpose. So instead on focusing on “what we do”, your mission statement’s attitude and language should say “WHAT WE ARE”. It creates identity in a new fresh tangible way.
M-2: Message- Your message needs to be action oriented (“WE DO… and you can too!”). It’s the statement that your consumers and constituents can identify the brand with. It’s the brand story. Across all channels, brands must make a consistent and collaborated effort to convey this. This is your story folks! And people must identify with it.
M-3: Methodology- If you must to get deep on anything, this is the place to do it. It’s where you share your philosophies and belief systems. This has to come after the Message because people must ENGAGE with your brand in order to BELIEVE in your brand. This is a “WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO” statement. It contains a deeper reasoning into why you get up every morning. This is strictly AFTER engagement. You now have the floor and the advocate wants to hear what you have to say and how you say it.
M-4: Medium- Social media and the web have created a vast array of channels that brands can engage in. How do you want to convey your message? From blogs, Twitter to Facebook, brands now have a massive stockpile of options to create a sustaining brand message.
So what’s the catch?
Not every medium is best for you. It’s better to be really good and engaged in 3 social media channels than to be on 20 and not have the capacity to create meaningful and maintainable conversations. Remember social media is a tool to create conversation not a tool to gather constituents. Pick the medium that tells your story the best. Nike can’t convey a lifestyle of just writing about it on a blog. They need to show you what that looks like.
M-5: Metrics- With the rise of a plethora of social media CRM tools flooding the market as we speak (96 of them to date), it’s extremely important for brands to evaluate these tools effectively and select the best one that fits their business process. Remember, if you can’t measure it then you can’t monetize it. The debate of social media ROI and how brands actively measure it is still in the air. Don’t think of this as raw data. If you are, you’re collecting. You would do better by sticking up a billboard on a remote highway. Think of your metric tool as a way to see the trending of conversations in regards to your brand. What are people saying? How are they saying it? And what can we do as a brand to meet our constituent’s needs?
M-6: Monetization- At the end of the day, you have to make money. Whether that’s in donations or for profit, there needs to be an exchange for goods and services. With the advent of social media, it’s even more important for brands to identify channels that give them a return on their investment and expand. Notice I said “expand”. Expansion is not about beating a person’s inbox with product updates and the latest sales. It’s about giving them the tools they need to create a platform for your brand within their social influence. That’s real expansion and that’s real monetization.
Lesson: I love the movie Field of Dreams. And its true, if you build it, they WILL come. The game of marketing and branding has changed and it’s important for us to adapt. Build your brand and strategy the right way, and you will see the return. And who knows? This could be the investment of your brand’s life.
