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c h a p t e r10: SOCIAL OBJECTS■By looking at the larger objects—human interests and pursuits such as quilting,
being an entrepreneur, or looking for a job—it’s easier to identify and build a social-
media-based strategy that includes a community effort and helps the participants in
that community be “better” at the things they are love or are interested in. People look
to spend time with others like themselves, talking about the things in which they have
a shared, common interest or purpose as an enrichment of their own existence. Your
challenge is to connect those interests to the things you provide through your business
or organization that facilitate their pursuit: Getting this right essentially ensures that
the conversations which follow will help you grow your business over the long term.Marketers, Beware!
The human tendency to form associations around interests is, ironically, both what
powers traditional media and what leads people to avoid it. Virtually all traditional
media marketing operates in the same basic way: On TV, a viewer’s attention is inter-
rupted so that a message may be inserted. Radio, print, direct mail, telemarketing,
online advertising, Gmail’s advertising sidebar, skywriting, and in-store sampling
promotions are likewise all predicated on the underlying condition of someone paying
attention to something that can be systematically interrupted. It even operates in day-
to-day life; after all, as I often ask, If you couldn’t interrupt me, how would you reach
me? The answer, by the way, is via the Social Web, by participating in the same things
as I am participating in.
People form associations around passions, lifestyles, and interests—watching an
episode of “Lost” or shopping at a Whole Foods Market, for example—because they
enjoy doing these specific things, and because they enjoy socializing as a part of the
process. This kind of association and attention—shoppers at Whole Foods are actively
engaged in the Whole Foods experience—creates the opportunity for an interruption,
a relevant offer: “Would you care to try a bite of wild-caught Alaskan salmon?” The
next thing you know, you’re serving wild caught Alaskan salmon for dinner. To be
sure, the Whole Foods Market experience flows from its associates who love their jobs,
who have been specifically trained and motivated to deliver an exceptional experience.
Disclosure: My brother is the Store Team Leader in the Coral Springs, FL, Whole
Foods Market.
At the same time, the continuous barrage of interruptions—the oft-quoted but
never sourced “3,000 messages per day” that come your way—also causes people to
shy away when they see an interruption coming. When Jon Stewart says, “We’ll be
right back...” he means it, literally. He and his viewers (hence “we”) are all going to
disappear for a few minutes, maybe to grab a beverage, or maybe to search via Google
for the background of the guest on that evening’s Daily Show. Do anything, evidently,
except watch the ads.