Twitter Volunteers: The Canadian Red Cross’s Smart Reciprocal Cause Marketing Strategy

The Canadian Red Cross is capitalizing on social networks by using twitter volunteers to quickly spread the story of the urgent situation in the Horn of Africa.

Described by the CBC as a “humanitarian disaster in slow motion,” famine in East Africa is killing small children – an estimated 1 in 3 are at risk of death – and devastating lives.

The Red Cross’s strategy to get the story out to the twittersphere is elegantly simple and employs the most basic tool: human nature.

Anyone can sign up to be a member of the Canadian Red Cross Twitter Team. You’ll receive “important updates” and will be “among the first to know how the Canadian Red Cross is responding.” And, you’ll get “…updated information to share with [your] networks on the situation and how Canadians can help.” You’ll be featured on their site, too, with a photo and profile.

In other words, you’ll not only be doing good. You’ll be an insider, partnering with a major humanitarian organization and aware of the situation as it unfolds. And that status, I think, is what motivates many heavy users of Twitter – the desire to have early, accurate knowledge to share with their networks, thereby cementing their credibility and adding followers.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Saving lives is a pretty compelling reason to capitalize on people’s instinct to reach out, their desire to act for social good, and – let’s face it – their need to be first to the story.

Current members of the Twitter Team range from well-known Canadians such as @anndouglas (8,148 followers) and @bifnaked (38,052 followers) to lesser-known Canadians with followers numbering in the hundreds.

I'd be very interested to know the results of this strategy -- as a method to raise awareness and to drive donations.  

Note: If you'd like to help, donate to the Canadian Red Cross or visit the CBC's  East Africa Relief website for links to other organizations bringing aid to families suffering from the famine. 

And, join the Canadian Red Cross Twitter Team and spread word of the crisis, and how to help, across your network.

1 simple, weird trick gets people to read rare blog post

If you’re a woman on Facebook, you’ve probably seen this ad (or one like it) on your wall:

Cutting down a bit of the belly each day is easy by simply using this 1 weird old tip. Click here to see what it is…

It’s a winning combination of words and phrases and you see a similar structure all over the web, in magazines and in tabloids.  Here's why it works:

It’s limited, and therefore achievable. We’re all stressed out and busy – stretched to the limit. But we can manage “1 tip,” or “four quick ways to…” or “three simple steps to…” 

It’s different… If the method for cutting down belly fat is “weird,” it’s likely not something you’ve tried before (like dieting, which is hard, or exercising, which is even more difficult). It’s intriguing, and maybe it’ll be easier than the “normal” way (which you’ve tried, and weren’t successful at).

It’s serious. It’s 1 weird “old” tip. It’s been around. It’s not scientific, which is threateningly intellectual, but it’s “old,” which gives it the gravitas you need to believe it. It’s something that people once knew but that has since been forgotten or lost – up until now, when you happened to stumble upon it on the internet.

It’s easy. It’s a “tip.” Sometimes it’s “1 simple trick,” or “1 easy step” – the important thing is that it seems achievable. Unlike, for example, a process, methodology, or regime. Nobody wants those. Too hard.

It’s personal. A tip is something you’d get from a friend. It’s insider information, compelling, tried and true.

It’s suspenseful. “Click here to see what it is…” It’s a tease, a come-on. It’s so good they’re not going to give it away right here on your wall. You’re going to work for it a (little) bit… It’s got to be good!

There are variations on this theme, of course. Sometimes the method is “old” or “weird,” but “rare,” “unique” and “remote” also work well. Sometimes it’s a “sneaky trick” – something that gets around the problem – or a “simple trick” – something you just hadn’t heard of until now. Sometimes it’s a “new discovery” – a double whammy since it’s new to you and to the world. Science hasn’t disproven it yet. Science can be such a drag… Sometimes it’s “forgotten.” “Forgotten,” as mentioned above, works like “old.” It’s got the weight of the ages behind it, but it got lost in the rush of modernity. Now it’s back, and it’s going to help you.

Does the tip for losing belly fat work? Probably not. Does the ad work? Definitely!

A Riff on RIP

The abbreviation RIP stands for “rest in peace.” It’s a lovely thought, I suppose, and I don’t doubt the sincerity of those who express the wish. But for me, the abbreviated form conjures Halloween imagery – skeletons dangling from trees, little piles of femurs with a skull thrown in for good measure, and grey tombstones decorated with “RIP” in a spidery, gothic font.

And here’s the thing. If I pop off tonight – and I’d really rather not – I don’t want my friends and family to post “RIP Jinnean” in their Facebook status, or via their Twitter feed. I know many of the social mores and manners my parents tried to instill in me are laughable and/or irrelevant today because I have, ahem, “friends,” who poke fun at my more amusing manner holdovers, but seriously, “RIP” just isn’t the right thing to write in a public forum when someone dies.

So how do you respectfully comment on someone’s death? Mark Dailey, a Toronto journalist and TV personality, died today of cancer. I saw some RIPs out in the Twitterverse, but I also read these – different, but equally compelling and heartfelt – posts:

 Very sad to hear Mark Dailey’s passing – the voice of Toronto succumbed to fight with cancer. @SeanMoffitt

 Mark Dailey. Well, shit. I’m sorry. @ivortossell

Saddened to hear the news of Mark Daileys passing. Professional, warm, generous; he was always there for Toronto. He is missed. @iamdavidmiller

There you go. That’s how it’s done. And for those interested in where death is headed digitally, check out 1000memories.com/

A Recipe for Collective Outrage

An interesting story – kind of a cautionary tale, really – has been making the rounds on Twitter and Facebook over the last few days. It’s about Cooks Source, a culinary magazine that published an article by Monica Gaudio that it stole from her blog.

As told in Salon Magazine, Cooks Source published the article without Gaudio’s knowledge, let alone permission. The Salon article entertainingly lays out the course of events that occurred as Gaudio struggled to deal with the theft of her story. It’s a great read.

Burned

The punch line is that the Cooks Source Facebook fan page and online version of the magazine was hijacked by the “collective outrage” of people who heard about the story. A fake Twitter feed was set up, too.

This leads to an interesting article published this month in the McKinsey Quarterly: “Beyond paid media: Marketing’s new vocabulary,” by David Edelman and Brian Salsberg. 

Sold and Hijacked

The McKinsey article points out that beyond traditional paid media (television and radio commercials, print advertising, billboards, etc.), companies today can “exploit many alternative forms of media,” and that as those forms “reflect dramatic changes in the way consumers perceive and absorb marketing messages…some strategic-marketing frameworks—such as the popular ‘paid, owned, earned’ one—are in serious need of updating.”

The article suggests adding two new media types to the framework: sold and hijacked.

“Sold” refers to a company that “invites other marketers to place their content on its owned media.”

“Hijacked” is what happened to Cooks Source – Hijacked is when “Your company’s asset or campaign is taken hostage by those who oppose it.”

The authors point out that when hijacked, “the company’s response may not be sufficiently quick or thoughtful, and the learning curve has been steep.” Nestlé and Domino’s Pizza are given as examples, and I’ve argued that BP is an example, too. In the case of Cooks Source, they set up a new Facebook page, claiming that their old page had been “hacked.” 

Keeping your eye on the pot 

The McKinsey authors stress the importance to marketers of being on the frontlines, monitoring the real-time conversations that are taking place on social networks and elsewhere, and of developing “a clear community or social network strategy.” 

Cooks Source clearly doesn't have one. Do you?

Note: See “Beyond paid media: Marketing’s new vocabulary” for the authors’ four priorities for marketing organizations (near bottom of article.)

Need affirmation of your work? Ask an 8-year-old

 I had the bizarre experience yesterday of a) having my work validated by an eight-year-old, and b) really appreciating it.

It was a beautiful day, and all the neighbourhood kids were popping in and out of each other’s houses. One tousle-headed visitor with a fist-full of lego noticed a sample direct mail piece on our kitchen table.

 “Oh, cool!” he said. “We got that at our house, too.” And then, speaking to my son, he said, “Here, I’ll show you how to open it, it’s really neat – when you open the doors there’s stuff behind them.”

 So. Got a kid inside an envelope. Got that warm glow of success. Yes, it’s a (very) small sample. But it’s Thanksgiving, so I’m going to take what I can get, and be thankful!