Two ways we know social media is here to stay

When it comes to media, it takes a lot to really surprise me. It’s not that I’m cynical. I have been professionally involved with the media for more than 21 years and I have seen its evolution. I’ve lived through the days when press releases were photocopied and mailed with a postage stamp, the days when the fax machine was king, and finally the age of email via an electronic database. And while I’ve marveled at these technological advances that have increased the speed and reach of a PR professional, none of them have truly blew my mind.

Until now.

I have never seen a media tool as broad in its reach, as personal in its reach and as effective in its use as social media. It’s so powerful that I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like it before and I doubt I’ll see anything this influential in our lives.

Let me offer two examples to demonstrate this point and then we can see its impact on your own marketing and promotion.

Occupy Wall Street – It doesn’t really matter where you fall with respect to the politics behind the OWS movement. My only reason for mentioning it is to show how influential they have been over an incredibly short period of time due to their use of social media. When the demonstrations in New York began on September 17 with 1,000 demonstrators in Zuccotti Park in Wall Street’s financial district, fueled by an email campaign by the Canadian non-profit advocacy group AdBusters, the movement was ignored by mainstream media. media. Not even The New York Times (considered the local newspaper for the island of Manhattan) bothered to write about the movement. A Facebook page and Twitter account were then established, leading to the creation of a website. Shortly after, the group published a manifesto of sorts and, via their social network, sent out a call to action for those around the world who shared their views to rise up and be counted through demonstrations. According to Columbia Journalism Review’s New Frontier database, the team, while unofficial, runs websites like Occupytogether.org and broadcasts live video with a “constant stream of updates on Twitter and Tumblr” as well as Skype sessions. with other protesters. Its reach has become international, generating reactions from leaders and citizens of countries such as Canada, Brazil, China, Greece, India, North Korea, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom, Vatican City, Venezuela and others. They have no spokesperson or leader on TV talk shows, instead using social media to proliferate their cause. If they had a head of marketing, I’d mortgage the house to hire him.

Bank of America debit card fees – I doubt that Molly Katchpole ever thought that her complaint would go so far. Recent 22-year-old Roger Williams University graduate is credited with getting Bank of America to back down on its plans to charge customers $5 a month for the privilege of using a debit card. How did he do it? Social networks my friends.

He posted a petition on Change.org demanding that Bank of America keep its hands off his wallet and the wallets of its millions of customers. Change.org is a website that allows people to request signatures through the social media universe. Well, his petition gained so much traction that the site took over from there, soliciting more signatures and reaching out to major media outlets on his behalf. She told her story on TV talk shows, coming across as brave and smart and, well, like millions of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck and can’t really afford another $60 a year for something they’ve been using for free all the time. weather.

The end result of the campaign was that Bank of America played a beaten Goliath to Molly’s triumphant David and canceled their plans to collect the fees. When you think about it, Molly did them a favor. Based on the overwhelming response of more than 306,000 signatures, Bank of America averted a massive disaster. It doesn’t take a genius to predict what happens to a company’s stock price when it publicly loses 300,000 customers in about a month.

“Clearly, the success of his campaign is a victory for social media and a demonstration of its power to engage the masses in a cause,” said Yvette Kantrow, editorial director of the Daily Deal.

I couldn’t agree more with her.

At what point in American history can you point to 1,000 people demonstrating in a public park in New York, only to have a message a few days later from a world leader, like Polish President Lech Walesa, in support of your efforts? At what point can you remember when a 22-year-old posted a complaint on a website that caused a billion-dollar global banking power, with 57 million customers, to wipe out a potential annual revenue stream of around $3.4? billion?

It has never happened, but with the impact of social media, you can count on it happening again and again.

Now, let’s bring all of this back to you. Many of you already have the same tools these people did: a Twitter account, a Facebook page, a website, and an Internet connection. The question is how social networks can help you spread your message. Actually, the question is how not? Social networks are the perfect marriage between one-on-one communication and mass communication. Its tactics and tone are personal, while its scope and reach are massive.

If you are already working on a Social Media campaign right now, don’t stop. But, if you’re not, it’s time for you to get going. To those who are still on the sidelines waiting for some kind of signal that will decisively demonstrate why social media is worth the time and effort, my advice is to look back. Truly that stake was in the ground 100 miles ago.