I think this book is going to help your business so I want to give one of you a copy (details at the bottom). I didn’t pay for it, it came in my mailbox and I want you to experience the same joy!
A Conflict Perspective on the Impact Equation
I just finished reading Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s new book the Impact Equation that comes out this Thursday (October 25, 2012). All I can say is: Wow. This book will help improve your community, pump up your message, and get people reading it. It will show you how to transfer that passion and make it contagious (If you can’t tell, I enjoyed it!).
Here’s where it all starts;
Impact = C x (R + E + A + T + E)
This book unpacks these 6 (CREATE) attributes to help you begin to understand and implement these attributes into the community. They are Contrast, React, Exposure, Articulation, Trust, Echo. While Chris and Julien likely could have written an entire book on each of these 6 attributes, they did a pretty solid job of explaining each one.
So What’s the Conflict Perspective?
I don’t think Chris and Julien fully realize this, but this book really speaks to the preventative measures you should be thinking about when faced with a crisis or conflict in the online space. Particularly in the Articulation, Trust, and Echo sections of the equation. Sure they talk a little about critics, using the audience’s vocabulary, and having a comment policy for your agency’s networks and blogs which are great reactive strategies and things to think about, however, from a preventative measure they are giving some tools to brands to use in a time of building a community but also to diffuse and handle conflict online.
Community = Support
As Chris and Julien express in the Impact Equation, communities are awesome. You can have lots of fun, great conversations, help people become better all in community. You can also receive feedback, accountability and support from communities, both in the good times and the bad. If you build a strong community they are going to be there in the good and the bad. If you are a company that is self-aware, introspective and has a pulse on your community, this is going to help you when you make a mistake or offend someone. The support you’ll receive from that community will blow your mind, so long as you’ve treated your community right and own your part of the crisis.
Take the recent KitchenAid mis-tweet for example, if they had not focussed on building a strong community, owning their mistake, and showing transparency it could have been a lot worse! Instead they had folks, from their community, talking about it being an honest mistake and that the companies strong brand would overcome this.
The Impact Equation is on sale starting October 25th and we want to send one of you a copy of the Impact Equation. So, all you have to do to get a copy of the book is answer ONE of these three questions and we’ll randomly pick a winner!
1. What does community mean to you?
2. How are you creating community online?
3. What kind of impact do you want to create?
We’ll pick a winner on October 31 at noon!
Update: Congrats to Trina for being randomly selected to win the book! I know you’re going to enjoy it as much as I did! (For this draw we used Random.org)
“Know thyself”. You’ve probably heard that old maxim a lot. Recently, that maxim comes to mind as I try navigate our digital world. Know thyself seems good advice. Spend time with yourself. Get connected to the inner you. That will be your rudder as you sail forward into this crazy sea of change brought on by the Internet.
Hang on though.
Who really lives alone now? We all seem to be connected through our digital devices. We seem to be living in networks. What does it mean to be “you”, when we’re wired together? Even when we’re alone, we’re together. For good or bad. Sherry Turkle did a TED talk, and wrote a book, about being “Alone Together”.
We used to equate growing up with the ability to function independently. When I was younger, I thought Marlboro Man was pretty cool. I tried to emulate him, even though I didn’t have a horse. I’m still recovering.
These days our always-on connection leads us to consider a more “collaborative self”.
Instead of understanding our feelings through time spent alone, we’re putting our feelings out there, on the web. We wait for responses. Then we incorporate those responses into our thoughts. We seem to be sharing our feelings with others, as part of discovering who we are.
First comes the feedback. Then we figure out what direction we want to go. Ready… fire… aim. It’s a strategy increasingly being applied in business. More and more, it also seems to be how we are leading our own personal lives.
People adapt in response to their changing world. Or else they die. That’s how evolution works. To survive, we have to be alert for what’s new and different in our surroundings. Then, we respond appropriately.
Today’s new includes the Internet and social media. The more time you spend online, the more you will adapt to those surroundings. And, “the more paths that connect you to others in your network, the more susceptible you are to what flows within it.” You can take that to the bank (or read more in “Connected”).
Is this collaborative self approach a good way forward? I’m guessing there would few young people with that question on their radar. For they live it. To be online, connected, and in a constant feedback loop with their network, is normal.
I’m all for integrating feeling, thought and action.
How are you bringing it all together, being true to yourself? Is it through the “know thyself” or the “collaborative self” approach?[wpsr_socialbts]
Here’s the thing about love. We all want it. We all want to feel its comfy warmth, wrapped around us like our grandmother’s knitted socks, or freshly cleaned, air-dried sheets. We look for love everywhere we go; at the bar, church, strolling through the park, everywhere…but we still have our standards. Companies are all about the love too, they want to give love and receive love from their customers and clients. They too look for the love everywhere they can and let’s face it…they’re a little slutty. They’re looking for love from anyone and they have some low standards.
I just finished reading The Power of UnPopular written by Redhead Writing’s Erika Napoletano and to say the least, I’m impressed (If you don’t know about her, slap yourself with a wet pool noodle and then go to her website here). Erika’s book reads like she’s having a conversation with you and she offers you some no-bullshit, un-polished straight truths. If you’re looking for a book that strokes your ego or will give you a pat on the back…then watch your back, because this book may slap you in the face. Perhaps what I like best about the book is that all of her examples aren’t big named brands that you see in every book. They are the grass-root brands, ones that aren’t on the cover every magazine, but ones that truly understand their customers and what type of customer they are after.
So why am I talking about this on a site that deals with conflict? Because your brand deals with conflict, especially if you haven’t decided who your target audience is. You can’t be everything to everyone, so you need to know when to own up and address the conflict, and when to let it go (more on that later).
No matter what business you run, you will always have people that hate you. You will always be unpopular, so embrace it, enjoy it, and have fun with it. Whether your starting a company or already have one, this book is definitely something that you should be reading to both build your brand and establish a living community.
If you’ve already read the book, I would love to hear your comments about it. If you need the book, tell me why and maybe I’ll send you a copy!
