Just one link in the chain

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REALLY NOW–WHY DOES WEB 2.0 MATTER TO ME?

Stick with me here. You’re going to be impressed–unless you duck out early.

This is actually more important than marketing. A woman’s life is actually in the balance. (No joke.)

I’m still meeting people who completely can’t grasp the imperative of social media and user-generated content.

In fact, Saturday night (yes, we were working), we had a phone conference with a new client. (An excellent new client, I might add, who is totally gung-ho.)

This client insisted he wasn’t going to get involved with Web 2.0 because it freaked him out.

WEB 2.0 MADE HIM TOO AVAILABLE–TOO EXPOSED

It was clear that he didn’t realize what it means to be online and to stay on-brand.

As far as I know, nobody has ever said, “I don’t want to advertise on radio because too many people can see me and it makes me too exposed.”

Yet, that’s essentially what he was saying about social media. He didn’t want to put his message out there because people would find him.

There’s a right way to add Web 2.0 to your media mix.

Just as you would never say anything in your radio commercial or your print ad that isn’t on-brand and on-message, you wouldn’t say anything on Facebook or on Twitter or in a blog that wasn’t on-brand and on-message.

We all know about how word-of-mouth is the single most important kind of advertising.

Web 2.0 has a quality very much like that.

Allow me to illustrate the significance of Web 2.0 word of mouth.

WELCOME TO “WORD OF MOUTH 2.0”

Some time back, you’ll remember that I wrote one of these weekly screeds about the power of the brand called Guy Fieri.

If you’re hiding under a rock or are virulently anti-Food Network, Guy Fieri is the spiky blond-haired host of Diners, Drive Ins &Dives and Guy’s Big Bite, and is owner of various successful restaurants including Tex Wasabi’s Rock & Roll Sushi BBQ.

My assertion then: Guy is The Real Deal when it comes to a brand, and is an excellent example for any marketer.

Every successful business carries with it an amplified sliver of the owner’s personality called Persona.

From the curmudgeonly guy who owns the local appliance store to Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines, every business’s outward personality is influenced by the owner’s persona.

IT SEEMS THE FIERI EXAMPLE HAD FIRE

Apparently, voiceover man extraordinaire Bob Souer (formerly a Salem Radio Program Director and a Senior Producer at the Billy Graham Organization) thought enough of the Guy Fieri piece to want to republish it on his blog. (I love Bob. I can’t understand what he sees in me or my work. He’s republished several of these screeds. I hope they haven’t cost him readers.)

Not only did Bob’s regular readers enjoy it, but the post was found by a woman named Dora.

Dora also publishes a blog. It’s called Fans of Guy Fieri.

It seems Dora is devoted to blogging anything and everything about the man behind that powerhouse brand. Accordingly, she emailed me and asked if she could republish the entire missive.

So, for the first time, one of my marketing screeds ended up on a blog that has nothing to do with marketing.

Dora’s readers read it. There were actually comments. (Well, maybe one.)

DORA REDUX

That was in August. Last Friday, Dora emailed me here at the Slow Burn Mountaintop Marketing Fortress.

She said,

Good morning Blaine,

I thought this post may be of interest to you.

Way to blaze a brand, eh? We hope to do some good with it.

Best,

~Dora

She included a link to her blog post, which is rather poignant.

LENDING A HELPING HARLEY

The story Dora linked to is about a raffle for a custom Guy Fieri “Kulinary Gangsta” Harley.

It seems that Guy’s sous chef, Dirty P., is married to Lisa Thompson, who’s been diagnosed with stage 3 Anaplastic Astrocytoma. That’s a form of brain cancer that comes complete with “seizures, neurologic deficits, headaches, or changes in mental status.”

Boy, do I feel for Lisa Thompson.

Apparently, $20 raffle tickets are being sold for this Harley, which has a Kelly Blue Book Value of probably $15,000.

The interest in this raffle–which seems unlikely ever to make national news–has already spread across the country. The friends organizing it are examining the lottery laws in each state to make sure they remain in compliance across the board.

Guy Fieri’s wife, Lori, is personally mailing the raffle tickets to everyone who wants them.

As Dora says, “Friends Raising Funds, backed by the Community Builders Group of Santa Rosa, CA, is in its first year, inspired and formed by the friends of Lisa Thompson. Lori Fieri, wife of Guy Fieri wrote, ‘our goal is to see how this fundraiser goes and whether we can help with the needs of others in the years to come.’ …People of the road, bikers, cancer survivors, friends, fans of Guy Fieri, Harley-Davidson… anyone can buy raffle tickets to win the bike.”

WHY WEB 2.0 IS CRITICAL TO THE NEW MARKETING PARADIGM–AND LISA’S TREATMENT

You’ve heard the theory of six degrees of separation.

Ostensibly, everyone on the planet is connected to everyone else by no more than six social connections.

Sounds crazy, but it has an empirical foundation. Believe it or not, “Six Degrees of Separation” is predicated on a scientific study.

Now, not everyone in the world is in any way connected via Web 2.0.

But Web 2.0 (we’re talking blogs, social media networks, YouTube, wikis, all of it) are extraordinary fuel for any business that understands the power of connection and word of mouth.

This story about Guy Fieri’s sous chef’s wife is living testament to how you yourself have been touched by it.

Something I wrote in an email newsletter (later posted on my blog) was picked up by a second blogger, which was then taken by a third blogger, which spread my influence farther than a single email ever could have, and it came back to me with Lisa Thompson’s story, and now–

You, who may never even have heard of Guy Fieri before last August, suddenly knows about Lisa and might even be inclined to pop for a raffle ticket to help her out.

AS BLANCHE DUBOIS FAMOUSLY SAID…

 “I’ve always relied on the kindness of strangers.”

Never have I witnessed a more potent way to tap into the kindness of strangers than Web 2.0 and, specifically, social media.

This is an extraordinary democratization of media that brings with it enormous power to do good.

Thanks, Web 2.0. And Dora. And Guy.  

I’m saying a prayer for Lisa. I suspect there will be a few more out there.

If you’d like to read Dora’ blog entry in its entirety, visit:

http://guyfieri.blogspot.com/2010/01/win-guy-fieri-customized-harley.html

For more on Bob Souer, who was an instrumental link in this, visit https://bobsouer.com/