Social Media: A Real World Lesson
A man on a crowded New York City Subway Train yells out to the masses,
“ Would you like $1,000,000 cash? Please come take my $1,000,000!”
The passersby look at the man in disgust, with rolling eyes they walk past the man and never look back. They don’t discuss the absurdity with anyone and have completely forgotten about the man by the time the train stops at their final destinations.
Another man, on the same crowded New York City Subway train stands quietly next to a middle-aged woman. He says “Hello” to the woman when she glances over her shoulder at him. She returns his salutation. The man then whispers to the woman:
“I am running an experiment and happen to have $1,000,000 in my bag right now.”
The woman looks at the man in confusion. He says,
“I’m serious I have $1,000,000 in my bag and my intention is to give it to someone on this train today. Can you help me?”
The woman, still skeptical asks the man
“What can I do?”
The man replies,
“Simple! All you have to do is tell one person what I have told you.””
The woman turns away from the man and tells the young gentleman standing to her right in a very low voice the same message she was just given. When she is done she looks back to the man holding the money.
“Thank You.” He says with a smile and a wink. “Now just watch what happens.”
Soon the man was bombarded by money hungry New Yorker City commuters. He had told only one person about the money, but that‘s all it took. They people surround the man with inquiries.
“Where did you get the money?” one man calls out.
“Why are you giving it away?” another stranger asks.
“What kind of experiment are you running anyway?” a blonde waitress questions
An old man asks “When are you giving it away?”
“Please sir,” a scruffy transient pleads. “ I could really use that money. My father is in the hospital and this money could save his life.”
Soon people were not only asking the man with the money questions, but they were talking amongst themselves. The news of the giveaway spread throughout the entire subway train with rapid speed.
As marketers we have to learn to get personal. We need to befriend our consumer audience in order to engage and sell them on our product or service. Consumers have been abused for too long and marketers who rely on conventional advertising are becoming an endangered species.
You have to get personal. Even with a huge motivating factor blasting the message falls only on deaf ears. We are all too skeptical to buy into conventional marketing anymore. What has worked in the past is no longer working, let’s evolve before we are extinct.
Remember:
It is quality not quantity.
Put your message out in the right way and let your consumers do the pushing.
Written By : Michelle Amos
