A Good Day to Tweet

Today was a Good day.

As I was rabbit-holing my way around the interwebs today, three very Good and innovative programs hit me in the face.

I tweeted all three. Guess which two got re-Tweeted within the hour. (!)

Social Media Is Doing Good: Just Add Clients

Let's talk about social media. Everyone else is.

So. There’s an agency called Naked and they are always very quick on the uptake with any new media or consumer trend. They did a little slide show that helps us understand how the power of 140 characters can help solve just about any social problem you can think of. (The slideshow has no sound, but you’ll get the gist.)

Social Media for Social change

View more documents from kedar.

(Their original post, HERE.)

In other news … The earth has tsunamis, we have social networks. Here’s a cool example of how the speed and connectedness of the Plurk network was used to help people hit hard by the power of planet earth. (Article, HERE.

(Apparently Plurk is a social network by Microsoft that must be “big in Japan” or something. More on Plurk, HERE.)


And finally, Facebook. Here’s a cool tip sheet about how to use Facebook to fix the world. Just click. Perfect for the lazy do-gooder in all of us. Enjoy. And do these 5 things:


1) use charity applications like Causes and Lil’ Green Patch and SocialVibe, 2) join groups doing good like Cancer Associations and Darfur Relief, 3) become a fan of a cause like Susan G. Komen for a Cure and Greenpeace and Oxfam, 4) send a virtual gift that prompts a sponsor company to donate, and 5) host a charity event using FB invitations.

Links and more details in the original article on Mashable, HERE.

So, what’s missing here? We’ve got plenty of social media, and plenty of doing-good. What’s missing is clients. Clients that align themselves with a cause, and join the online communities that already exist, they’re ready to act, stand to gain a lot. A lot of loyalty, a lot of goodwill, a lot of sales, possibly another generation or two of happy healthy customers, a lot of leverage over their competition, and a lot of VIP treatment in marketing heaven.

Tide Loads of Hope: the Final Analysis (side B)

Tide's Twitter-thon has been blogged to death, so I will keep this brief and connect you to some insightful thoughts by others.

(NOTE: This is a dual-blog post covering two aspects of P&G’s “experiment in social media” for Tide; the social side (covered by my colleague Griffin Farley on his blog, Propagation Planning), and the charitable part of the campaign, which I’ll comment on.)

Of everything I've read, one dissenter’s comments stung, probably because of how true they were. Brian Morrissey, digital editor for AdWeek says, “Using charities as a guise for people to do marketing for enormous corporations gives me the creeps. … what happens when we commercialize those bonds?”

I agree. It’s a slippery slope. A conundrum. And I don’t know the answer. This may be the biggest lesson from this experiment. How do we not ruin a good thing by getting our advertising all over it? It’s the biggest danger with Marketing+Good; coming off like the disingenuous manipulators that we are.

It’s an icky feeling. Like when I’m listening to NPR and I hear several sponsorship mentions in a row, then they tell me I’m listening to non-commercial radio. I am? Really? ‘Cuz I just heard 3 ads. It sure doesn’t feel like it.

BMorrissey also asks about donating to Feed America directly, “Why is P&G necessary?” Answer: it’s for the exposure of course. One thing Tide has that Feed America doesn’t is a colossal marketing budget. Tide gets to shine a nice big spotlight on a good cause.

Last point: I understand Tide washing clothes for a relief effort (i.e. Katrina). I don’t get Tide feeding America. Not super strategic.

There’s a great round-up of online reporting of this event, HERE.

For Side A of this Final Analysis, read Griffin’s take on the Social Media aspect of the whole crazy thing, HERE.