Social Media – Page 4 – Fuel Becomes You

It used to be that a media platform was given only to a select few who had the credentials or connections to make it that far. With the birth and proliferation of the internet, anyone who can string two words together can have a blog that can be read (or ignored) around the world. Stories that made the papers or the airwaves were researched, fact-checked and approved before they reached the people. Now a Tweet can be heard around the world faster than you can find which remote turns on the TV.

While anyone (and their dog) can start a blog, it takes something more than just saying something to build a following, it’s about actually having something to say that people want to take the time to hear. It’s not about having the best photography equipment or top notch grammar, it’s communicating passion for a subject or presenting a unique perspective. Also important is the ability to create new content and keep the attention of today’s overstimulated masses.

If a blog somehow manages to gain, and keep, an audience it will only be a matter of time before big industry will try to co-opt its popularity by having the blogger mention, review or promote their product or service. Some bloggers are quite open about what they get for free or how they get compensated. Others refuse to accept anything for free or do paid endorsements. Many blogs host contests and give aways, some prizes are sponsored and others are purchased with ad revenue from the blog. Successful bloggers can also get book deals, sell t-shirts or accept “donations” to fund their blogging.

Big business wants to take advantage of these (potentially) low cost marketing opportunities. Some companies will target multiple bloggers with one promotion. Ralph Lauren’s Pink Pony Foundation invited 100 fashion bloggers to help them promote breast cancer awareness, as well as the 10th anniversary of the foundation, by posting images of themselves wearing the Pink Pony Polos in their individual styles. This guaranteed them a bare minimum of 100 blog posts and cost them only the price of the shirts.

A larger investment in the blogosphere was made by General Mills when they invited 50 food bloggers for their first Eat & Greet at their headquarters and test kitchens in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Baking blogger, Bakerella was there and her post about it linked to at least seven blogs of the other attendees. The bloggers come across as naive and overly impressed with the hoopla and they seem overwhelmed with the attention and swag that they receive.

What I find most interesting is how the community of bloggers is becoming more interconnected as the bloggers not only read and comment on each other blogs, but find and create opportunities to meet up in real life and even teach each other. Food blogger, My Tartelette, who is a very accomplished pastry chef, food stylist and photography (a blogging triple threat), has held baking and photography for fellow bloggers, which then get blogged about.

By reaching out to bloggers, with events, promotions and give aways, the two cents that a blogger shares with their readers about the company can turn into two dollars (or more) in the real world.

Since before the written word, people have handed down advice and warnings in stories. This oral tradition featured heros and villains, triumph and failure. Stories stick in our minds. Facts and figures can fall out of our memory while stories stay. The beginning: there was a need, the middle: there was a new solution to meet the need, the end: the new solution successfully met the need. The first story any company or organization needs to tell is the tale of their origin.

The publics need to know the why. Why did you start what you are doing? How did you perceive the need? Why did you think you could take on this challenge? How are you different from all who’ve come before you? Stories get repeated and shared. With the new ease of “like” or “share” on Facebook, or “retweet” on Twitter, or “reblog” on Tumblr, a story can go viral in the time it takes to find an article in a magazine that is touted on the cover.

While companies can offer almost identical products or services, it is the story that sets them apart. Was the company started in a garage or a kitchen table? Is it a family business going back generations? This is where the story begins. We all know that Starbucks started with it’s original location in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in the 70’s. Facebook was created by a Harvard student before he dropped out. We see Colonel Sanders and think Kentucky Fried Chicken, how many secret herbs and spices do they use?

Stories are shaped from facts and values, they give consumers something to relate to and help categorize. Are you the underdog? The maverick? Before people know how to look at you, you have to see yourself. If you want people to buy, first they have to buy in. Don’t throw them a pitch, tell them a story.