Social Marketing
From Awareness to Action: Using Pledges and Triggers to Make It StickK
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 | Public Health, Social Marketing, campaigns | 2 Comments
Have you ever forgotten to do something? You’re not alone. This is why to-do lists are so handy–they remind us of the tasks we need to complete. Going through my own mental to-do list on my walk home today, I came across something to add to the list. A poster ad that asked me to “pledge to be car free on Car Free Day September 22.” Let’s walk through this:
Moving Through the Stages of Change
Before seeing the ad, I did not know about with Car Free Day, so the ad helped me become aware of the day. The ask was clear: Pledge to go car free and actually go car free on Sept. 22. Enter my dilemma. At that moment, I wanted to pledge, but I couldn’t take an immediate action except to add it to my already long to-do list. Imagine a different scenario…
What if, instead of just asking me to pledge, the ad encouraged me to pledge, on the spot, by sending a text message using shortcode as the way to officially make a pledge. And then, by pledging, what if I was also able to get a reminder on Sept. 21 that I had pledged to go car free or opt-in to receive tips, promotions and specials from participating partners? And then what if on the 22nd, I received another text in the morning letting me know of the total number of people who made the same pledge I did. To go even another step, what is on Sept. 23, I got a text letting me know of the collective impact my pledge helped create, and asking me if I wanted to opt-in for a reminder to participate in Car Free Day 2011. This would make the desired behavior: easy to accomplish, fun to do and more popular.
Activate the Trigger: Pledges and Reminders
Lately, I’ve had a soft spot for the act of committing to follow-through on a certain, suggested behavior. This is because–in order for someone to go from the preparation stage of change to the action phase–they first need to make a commitment to do so.
Now, I realize commitment can mean different things to different people (just look at reality TV). This is why it’s important to understand the audience you are wanting to reach and the desired action and behavior you want them to take. For the Car Free Day example, I wanted to commit, and I can. But I know, that fitting something like that into my daily to-dos and priorities is hard despite my good intentions. However, I know if I got a reminder the night before, I would be more apt to follow-through. In short, a reminder would trigger the action I pledged to make.
Making It stickK
At the CDC conference earlier this month, a panel discussed the role of behavior economists in public health. They touched on a variety of applicable concepts to our work–one of them being the role of triggers in behavior change. In the case of Car Free Day, reminders can serve as a trigger to the action. As another example, the CDC panel highlighted stickK.com. Users of stickK.com sign a “commitment contract” where they agree to achieve a certain goal and uses various triggers (reminders, personal support networks, and monetary incentives) to help people take and maintain action.
For the behaviors you want people to make, how can you help them go from good intentions to good follow through? Help them make a commitment and leverage triggers to make it easy, fun and popular for the behavior change to occur.
flickr credit: stevendepolo
Defining Sustainable Social Change
Thursday, August 26th, 2010 | Changeblogging: NP, activism, social change +, Social Entrepreneurship, Social Marketing | 1 Comment
If there’s one word that deserves to be on the “Top Words of 2010″ list, it’s the word sustainable. It seems to have an aura around it as we all work to define exactly: What is sustainable social change?
There are lots of opinions about the word. And, I’ve discovered that the word means different things to different people. The environment folks read it one way, nonprofiteers another and you have a whole other group transforming it into social innovation, social capitalism and/or social entrepreneurship.
What is clear: Is that we’re all pretty social about it. But in all seriousness, I don’t yet have a clear, simple, 140-character answer. But, I have do have some places that I go to help me refine my own thinking around sustainable social change:
B Lab, B Corporations and Social Business
In April 2010, Maryland was the first state to sign Benefit Corporation legislation, followed shortly by Vermont. This legislation was heavily lobbied by B Lab, a non-profit group that rallies businesses to serve more than a bottom line. To improve society and address a number of our problems, my mind had been circling back to influencing and impacting systems, ecosystems and networks. In others words, my interest in creating and growing sustainable business continues to increase. Sometimes for change to happen, there needs to be a change in what’s possible and accessible.
I’m all about nonprofit efforts, volunteering, fundraising, helping others lead healthier lives and improving quality of life–but at some point, for our work to have a lasting impact and a legacy for the next generation, it must be sustainable. Liz Forkin Bohannon, my friend and sustainable business leader at Sseko Designs, asks some poignant questions in one of her latest posts–talking about the impact of free, donated secondhand clothing in Africa and its impact on the local economies. This is just one example of how doing good may be doing more harm. Why do I bring this up? Because sustainability is at the forefront of her argument.
Social Entrepreneurship
A close cousin to the social business discussion is social entrepreneurship. I learned in recent months that Georgetown University and the great Bill Novelli are working on creating Georgetown’s own Center for Social Entrepreneurship. Both Harvard and INSEAD even have their own social entrepreneurship initiatives. This isn’t about coincidence. It’s about the need for sustainability.
When talking about social entrepreneurship, the immediate go-to resource in my head is Social Edge. Social Edge is an amazing resource that isn’t afraid to dive into the nitty gritty, as well as the large scale and impact of social entrepreneurship. Written by social entrepreneurs and for social entrepreneurs, it seems that sustainability is at the heart of many of the topics discussed there. Just this week, Social Edge tackled the definition of a “social business” leaving more questions than answers. For me, that’s my kind of resource. It shows thinking, it shows engagement and it also tells me that we have our work cut out for us.
Sustainable Behavior
In the social marketing arena, renowned social marketer Doug McKenzie-Mohr recently announced the development of a new peer-reviewed resource: The Journal of Sustainable Behavior. According to the journal’s first call for papers, the “transition to sustainability requires programs to encourage a diverse array of behaviors.” The take away–we social marketers better start to understand sustainability and how it relates to our efforts and our audience.
Social Innovation
Social Edge covers a variety of topics–which together, you could say the theme is social innovation. But what does this phrase mean and how does it relate to all the other players on the field? According to the Hub, social innovation “refers to new ideas that resolve existing social, cultural, economic and environmental challenges for the benefit of people and planet. Even more simply, a social innovation is an idea that works for the public good.” Well, non-profits work for social good. So do some government agencies. So, who is responsible for social innovation and what will its outcomes look like? Even Stanford has its own Center for Social Innovation. According to its website, its purpose is to “build and strengthen the capacity of individuals and organizations to develop innovative solutions to social problems.”
To me, sustainability is seen here again. Perhaps—sustainability is what connects the dots between these movements. Perhaps, our answers lies in the spaces between the words and in the thoughts between our actions.
Social Capital Markets
Ever heard of SOCAP? Well, SOCAP stands for the social capital markets conference and SOCAP ’10 represents the third year of the conference and will be held Oct. 4-6 in San Francisco. According to the website, SOCAP ’10 is the “largest interdisciplinary gathering of individuals and institutions at the intersection of money and meaning.” SOCAP ’10 will seek to answer the question: What next? (See–there’s something about asking questions…) What’s next for the social capital markets–the social entrepreneurs, the social business wanna-bes, the social innovators, impact investors and social marketers?
Might I dare suggest that sustainability–and figuring out how to develop it, fund it, seed it, and maintain it–might be part of the answer?
CDC Asks You to Name That Blog
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 | Education and Resources, Social Marketing | 6 Comments
You may have noticed a fun new badge on the bottom right of SocialButterfly. This badge links to CDC’s recently launched “Gateway to Health Communication and Social Marketing.” This gateway acts as a feeding ground for those looking for resources, tools, templates, case studies and answers to all their questions about social marketing and more. At the very least, it’s a starting point.
Part of this new land is a new CDC Blog–and guess what–you can be the one to name it! Though, CDC isn’t the only one with a new blog on the market. Ogilvy PR recently launched their Social Marketing ExChange as well (and started an office in Atlanta–as did AED…). I know I’m not alone when I jump up and down at these new steps in bringing social marketing to bear. Maybe one day, with organizations with this type of umph and leadership behind us, social marketing will be a household name. Or, at the least, recognize-able as a profession.
So, what would you name the new CDC blog? Here are some thoughts off the top of my head:
- Push and Pull: Not only does social marketing combine a number push and pull strategies and tactics, but the blog can also serve as a forum for health communicators and social marketeers to debate, discuss, share and “push and pull” insight and information amongst one another.
- Influence Health: This is action oriented and speaks to behavior change, but also to the impact and influence social marketing and health communications can have. Influence health could be interchanged with a name like Impact Health or Improve Health as well.
- The Power of Health. This is what we believe in–if we improve health, we improve quality of life, and therein, increase happiness (in sum).
- Speaking of Health. I didn’t come up with this…someone who already commented over at CDC did, but I like it too. I feel it’s catchy, frames the conversation for health, is action-oriented and can umbrella a number of topics.
What do you think? What would you name it and why?
PS: For a listing of additional blogs, UNC’s School of Public Health has a strong listing of health blogs, and I have a long list of social marketing specific blogs as well.
Is Public Health a Competition?
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 | Blog Talk, Public Health, Social Marketing | 3 Comments
The NY Times recently published an article titled, “Tobacco Funds Shrink as Obesity Fight Intensifies,” pitting anti-smoking public health folks against anti-obesity public health folks. The NY Times asked us, in short: Should we focus on addressing obesity over anti-smoking efforts? Is this the right thing?
David Katz, Director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, published a response via the Huffington Post to examine the “this vs. that” and “right vs. wrong” approach the NY Times took–and asked another question: What choice are we really making?
Now, this is an important one. The NY Times article does do a great job in bringing up the debate: What are our nation’s health priorites? Katz brings up a second good point: How do you divy resources amongst these health priorities to get the most juice from the squeeze (so to speak)?
First–> Disclaimer–In the words of Katz, I too, am not prepared to answer the NY Times’ question of this or that because I don’t fully know–but then, who does? That said, I have two additions to Katz’s suggestions:
1. Katz first suggests “conduct modeling exercises to determine what general allocation of research and policy dollars — across an array of conditions, behaviors, and even types of research — would most improve our health over a defined period of time.
To this, I say, that we all need to get more involved and clued into the Healthy People 2020 initiative that is run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (disclaimer: This project lies within a client of my employer that I work on). This is a collaborative, science-based approach to setting 10-year national health objectives to promote health and prevent disease. So, when we are talking “this or that” or about our Nation’s health priorities, Healthy People 2020 is a good start. (Stay tuned, in December the Healthy People 2020 objectives will be released along with guidance for achieving the new 10-year targets).
2. Secondly, Katz suggests that we need to be more “holistic.” Going on to say, “A healthy person is healthy…Recent studies have shown that people who don’t smoke, eat well, are active and control their weight are roughly 80 percent less likely to get ANY major chronic disease than their counterparts who do the converse in each case…So, a healthy person doesn’t smoke. A healthy person eats well. A healthy person is physically active.
I couldn’t agree more and this is why–I don’t feel it needs to be an either-or type of situation. It can be all the above. Healthy living (aka living a healthy lifestyle) can be defined by a number of behaviors such as:
- Not smoking
- Eating Right
- Being active
One could argue that other behaviors could be umbrella-ed into healthy living such as getting immunizations or getting preventive screenings. Thus, the message could not just be anti-smoking or anti-obesity, but instead, be about promoting a health lifestyle which encompasses a set number of behaviors. This should be our focus. Thus, I leave you with the same question Katz asks at the conclusion of his Huffington Post article:
What interventions for individuals, families, schools, worksites, communities and more will encourage, promote and empower the adoption and maintenance not of some single preventive strategy, but of healthful living?
flickr credit: lets.book
The Story of a Church Making the Impossible, Possible
Sunday, August 1st, 2010 | Social Marketing, campaigns | 3 Comments
I wrote this post about a year ago and just re-discovered it this past weekend while doing some blog maintenance and wondered--why did I never post this? This is good stuff!
Yes, in the title, I said the church. I debated sharing this case study because I was afraid people might not read it because it says church. But then I thought, some just might read it because it does say church.
The focus in this post, however, is not the “church.” It’s about a creative, integrated strategy that utilizes a social marketing approach to achieve to strengthen America’s concept of love in the union of marriage. This love is admittedly, from the perspective of the Church, but don’t we always have the question in social marketing of – who decides? (That dear friends is another ethical conversation that can range to anything from paternalism to essentialism and everything in between.)
Onward. Have you taken the Love Dare? Is your marriage Fireproof? In the social marketing realm, there’s been talk about providing tools that equip and empower individuals to not only make personal behavior change but to help evangelize behavior change in their communities and networks. Let me walk you through a movement started at a church in Georgia.
Sherwood Baptist Church created Sherwood Pictures, a volunteer-driven moviemaking ministry in Georgia. This movie studio was created from within its congregation and uses volunteers to act, produce, film and market their movies. Sony caught on and premiered these movies across the United States in movie theaters everywhere. The movie studio’s goal is to harness the influential power of Hollywood to influence behavior change: adopting Christ as one’s God, while also working to address societal issues. Their first two movies were Flywheel, followed by Facing the Giants. Facing the Giants was a surprise hit and was the best-selling resource in Christian stores in 2007.
A Lesson from the Church on Social Marketing
Building on this momentum, their latest movie, Fireproof, went above and beyond the work that even Call+Response or Invisible Children have propelled. Not in terms of raising “awareness,” but due to the plethora of TOOLS the Fireproof movement has around it. First, Fireproof has a few interwoven objectives (according to the makers of the film):
- Show what real love is.
- Show how this love is integral for a successful marriage that is Fireproof against today’s high divorce rates.
- Show how families are a foundation of today’s society that should be nurtured.
I’m not here to debate whether you agree or disagree with the message behind the movie. But look at the TOOLS! These tools help someone commit to changing, take action to change and help them maintain that behavior over time while also encouraging others. What can this teach us about how to provide tools for people to address their health? Not just relationship health, but environmental health, public safety health, civil health, etc.
- A national launch fueled through grassroots evangelists for “premiere night” with watch parties through already-built church networks.
- Fireproof DVD and movie at a low price (about $8).
- At purchase, you can opt-in: 1) their email list survey, their feedback survey, or for their ambassadors survey, where you can get involved in the MOVEMENT for healthy marriages.
- Download and/or purchase an educational curriculum. This curriculum can be utilized in churches, small groups and/or between individuals to assist in marriage preparation classes or for sermon series.
- Step-by-step DVD to assist in nurturing healthy discussion about the topics presented in the movie.
- Because the movie is centered on a concept called, “The Love Dare,” which is a 40-day challenge to love your spouse. The producers of the movie actually wrote a hard copy of the “The Love Dare,” so that any couple can walk through the same process the actors in the movie did to nurture their relationship and/or marriage.
- And, if you don’t have a way to view the movie, the movie “Fireproof” was also developed into a book for those that prefer reading to video.
As for promotion? It all started with Facing the Giants. A Christian movie produced by a church in Atlanta all by volunteers within the congregation that premiered through Sony in movie theaters across America. Congregations rallied around the movie and its purpose--here again, with Fireproof, people did the same. Couples, churches, communities, businesses, firefighters, and the Catholic community all pitched in to help promote the movement. In addition, any consumer who bought the materials online, could also opt-in to be an ambassador of the movement to arrange get togethers, watch parties and more around the central themes in the movie.
What This Means…
Let’s remember where this all started…at a church, by a group of volunteers wanting to a) show the power and love of God and 2) work to address societal issues in a big way. In other words--they started with their goals. They didn’t see barriers. They didn’t stop at possible. They saw the impossible and made it happen.
What does impossible look like to you? Make it possible.
PS: Interested in Christian churches who are creating a movie-making ministry? In McClean, Virginia, McLean Bible Church has a group of congregation members working to create a Christian movie studio, named In Jesus’ Name Productions. Their first movie, The Messiah, has a $75 million dollar budget and is due out 2012.
Red Light, Green Light or How to Make Change Happen
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 | Education and Resources, Social Marketing | 3 Comments
Change can be a stop-go process, and sometimes, you feel held at yellow for what seems never-ending. On the social marketing list serv, someone recently asked–in so many words–How do you make change happen? You might have this question (I know I’ve asked it plenty of times myself). Today, I’d like to share with you the “traffic light” approach.
In the email, the inquirer specifically wanted to know how to use the concepts and social marketing framework to influence one’s staff and motivate them in their work for change? One of my favorite social marketers is Mike Newton-Ward. Thus, when someone pointed to Jay Kassirer ‘s Tools of Change website and the case study Marketing Social Marketing in North Carolina Public Health–my ears perked up.
The case study shares the journey of how social marketing was adopted by North Carolina, but my favorite part is in the notes section where the author describes the process of change in terms of a traffic light:
We’ve learned to take a ‘traffic light’ approach to introduce social marketing very gradually, rather than a ‘race car’ approach where change is presented suddenly. For example, if you’re in your city and the department of transportation is getting ready to put up a new traffic light. They don’t just put up the traffic light and turn it on and you stop one day. They start out months before putting up a sign that says, “Warning, there’s going to be a traffic light here.” Then finally they put it up and it just blinks for a while. And then finally, they put up the sign or the light, so that by the time they do that, people are used to the idea. This approach helps staff acclimate to a change in their way of doing things.
In a world of instant gratification, patience and perseverance seem like words from the stone ages. But they are important for a reason. Persevering doesn’t mean doing nothing–it means learning, absorbing, and evolving. If given a red or yellow light, we should be looking for the little signs pointing the direction along the way. Or, thinking about the little ways we can influence a behavior, belief or attitude at any turn in the process–even if it’s our own. Because, eventually, the light turns green. Persistence–this is how change happens.
The authors of the case study talk about how to make change happen within an organization, but there’s some core take-aways for anyone working to make change. Read more lessons learned on the Tools of Change website.
flickr credit: maartmeester
Quote of the Week: Why the Web Was Won
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 | Quote of the Week, Social Marketing, Web Communications | No Comments
Have you ever been in a meeting and someone tells you: We aren’t in the behavior change business, we just want to raise awareness? You are not alone. Put take heart, there are those who know better. Especially in the times of the Web, behavior change–and micro-choices that lead to a great action–are even more possible.
In a post titled Designing for Networks, Mike Arauz captures the potential of the Web–beyond its ability to be a distribution channel, beyond its ability to influence and beyond its use in achieving awareness:
If you only use the Internet in order to raise awareness, and perhaps to influence perception, then you are missing out on what the Web was made for: to enable large networks of people to come together for effective purposes through sharing, cooperating, and organizing collective action.
It might have been okay to work towards just “awareness” in the past, but with today’s technology, we can achieve more. I believe that the Web increases our ability to measure, evaluate and influence behavior change. The thing is: Behavior change is no longer on the same playing field. Just like journalism is evolving and the media, the way we influence behavior change and achieve behavior change has evolved. We, as practitioners, must evolve with it. I recently came across another quote that embodies this belief from one of the TurningPoint Collaborative’s PDFs, The Basics of Social Marketing:
The process of heightening awareness, shifting attitudes, and strengthening knowledge is valuable if, and only if, it leads to action.
Why do we want someone to know to exercise, eat right, and get their vaccines? Because we want them to act on that knowledge to prevent disease. Why do we want teens to know that drinking impairs their ability to drive? Because we don’t want them to drink and drive and hurt themselves or others.
Your Challenge
This week, think about why the Web was won. Sure–it can house knowledge and be a database of information–but it is more and can be more for you, your organization and your cause. Think about your bottom line–What is it you want to accomplish? Solve? Create? End? Start? Because at some level it involves behavior, especially if you are working in a Web environment. Do you want people to click on a certain link, read a certain story, donate to your causes—these are all online behaviors.
PS: Do you like these challenges? Are these helpful? I want to help you in being effective. And, I know I like prompts–do you?
Behavior Change Made Easy (Sort of)
Monday, May 24th, 2010 | Education and Resources, General Events and Happenings, Social Marketing | 2 Comments
Tuesday was the start of the highly anticipated Mobile Health Conference taking place at Stanford University. Though not an on-site attendee, I’ve been staying up-to-date by tuning into the Twitter chat. You can too by following the hashtag: #mh2010.
While scanning the tweets, I came across what I consider a mother-daddy in the world of behavior change: an easy, do-it-yourself module for behavior change planning (see screenshot below) developed by Dr. BJ Fogg, founder of Stanford University’s Persuasive Technology Lab.
The wizard is designed to help those plan and design behavior change strategies through answering a brief set of questions. Depending on your answer, the wizard will describe the type of behavior you are working towards based upon Dr. Fogg’s Behavior Grid–which identifies 15 ways behavior can change (see image below).
This past week, I’ve been refreshing my knowledge of the different processes and documentation for social marketing and behavior change planning as one of my biggest observances in practice is that people like tangibles. They see a print ad or a PSA, and they can respond. But are those effective? Thus, in my current organizaton, I’m working to make behavior change and social marketing tangible and relevant–in terms of the new frontier of technology and the human experience. This is why Dr. Fogg’s work excites me–it’s a tangible. It breaks down behavior into bite size pieces we can understand, digest, analyze and follow-up on.
The conference contines on Tuesday, but already, even though I didn’t get to attend in person, I’m enthused to see that many of the presentations on day one got right into the heart of social marketing and behavior change–not just Dr. Fogg.
Why This Is Important to You…
If you are working to influence the world for good, have a mission or cause you are advocating, you need to get plugged into this arena. Social marketing is relevant and if you are doubtful, just scan the tweets from the Mobile Health Conference. We’ve all heard “Mobile is the future,” but social marketing and behavior change are right along with it. Want more evidence? Look at Jen McCabe’s presentation from the conference. The movement is growing. Join us.
What Behavior Are You Selling?
Thursday, May 6th, 2010 | Education and Resources, Social Marketing | 5 Comments
In the halls of doing good, many of us are dealing with change–which means we are dealing with behaviors. Surrounding behavior is knowledge and beliefs coupled by environmental factors, assumptions and noise. To make an impact, we need to know what kind of behavior we are selling.
For experienced social marketers this might seem like a review–but we can all use a review sometimes. People leading change often “sell” one of the following:
- Accepting a new behavior (i.e. Wear a helmet when biking)
- Rejecting a potential behavior (i.e. Don’t drink and drive)
- Modify a current behavior (i.e. Wear sunscreen with an increased SPF)
- Abandon an old behavior (i.e. Quit smoking)
Some say that selling behavior versus a concrete product or service comes with increased challenges–for one, it’s harder to measure. Two, it’s hard to deliver. Three, we’re talking about deeply rooted, often value-based, behaviors and decision making. Hard? Yes, historically. But, it doesn’t mean that is has to stay true.
We can do better–for example, HHS recently launched its Community Health Data Initiative–freeing up data, making it accessible, drawing out understanding, making connections–this can help us in our efforts to achieve behavior change by working to address that measurement issue.
Challenge
Think about a current project that you or your organization is working to achieve. Can you pinpoint the type of behavior you are driving? If so, tell us about it in the comments. Perhaps we can brainstorm some ways to make it “easier.”
(Hint: Look into the approach and framework of social marketing–lots of good research and case studies!)
Flickr Credit: trawin
Reference: P. Kotler, N. Roberto, N. Lee. Social Marketing, Improving the Quality of Life. USA: Sage Publications, 2002. Print.
The Social Round-Up
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 | The Social Round Up | 3 Comments
You all seemed to like this last time, so here we go again. I want to make sure I provide the best links for you–links that I feel deserve your time and attention. So, this won’t be every week. It may be every other week…or every month.
Onward.
******
Social Change
- Stories of Change–20/20 Predictions: For Ashoka.org’s third Stories of Change eBook series, Ashoka asked its social entrepreneurs to think about what the world would look like in 2020. And to follow-up that question, Ashoka asked them what each would do in the next year to move us closer to their vision.
- A Wiki of Experts: The WeAreMedia project put together this “Expertise Map,” offering a long list of people who are passionate about doing good. If you are looking to connect with good people, this could be a good starting point.
- The Other City: This film sets out to explore DC–the other side of DC, the side with an HIV/AIDS rate equal to Africa. If you are in DC, be on the lookout as I’m thinking we should get a group together to go to the screening once its announced.
Social Marketing
- The Dragons of Behavior Change: If you read my “Awareness Fever” post, then you will want to read Craig Lefebvre’s follow-up post. In this post, Craig takes the conversation to the next level. Say, everyone around the table agrees to focus not on awareness–but on behavior outcomes, then what? Enter the land of the dragons. You are going to need to prepped with the right tools, resources and questions to ask. Craig’s post can help get you started on the right foot for the journey.
- Healthy People and Social Marketing: Mike Newton-Ward share with us the update regarding adding a social marketing objectives to Healthy People 2020 saying, “This is proving to be quite the year for social marketing! Just today I learned that social marketing is in the preliminary Healthy People 2020 Health Objectives for the nation!” This is a big step for social marketing. BIG.
- MINDSPACE: Influencing Behavior through Public Policy: This document comes out of the UK’s Cabinet Office and the Institute for Government. The fact that this type of report was even written–let alone by such two high profile organizations gives me great hope. The document aims to use behavior change theory to move policy makers to better address some of our worlds greatest problems. The document’s announcement includes the words: “Today’s policy makers are in the business of influencing behavior.” If only more people not only realized that–but were equipped with the rights tools–social marketing–to make an impact. Caveat: I just found the resource and printed it out for myself, so I can’t yet speak to it in its entirety–but a huge thanks to Craig for his post that brought this resource to my attention.
- Journal of Social Marketing: Until now, the only social marketing journal was the Social Marketing Quarterly. In 2011, this will no longer be true as the first issue of the Journal of Social Marketing will be published. Currently, the journal is recruiting work for publication.
Social Media and Communications
- Twitter Your Own Adventure: Remember those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books? Welcome to the Twitter edition. I share this because as the use of social media becomes more sophisticated–storytelling is becoming ever more crucial. How can you be creative in how you tell a story?
- Open for Business–The Google Apps Marketplace: With over 2M businesses having used Google applications over the last three years, Google has recently announced its Google Apps Marketplace. The marketplate is a ”new online store for integrated business applications. The Google Apps Marketplace allows Google Apps customers to easily discover, deploy and manage cloud applications that integrate with Google Apps.” Already, more than 50 companies are now selling their business applications within the marketplace. This is a big development that we will be sure to watch as App stores similiar to Apple’s and Apps.gov continue to emerge and evolve.
- 10 Steps for Optimizing the Brand for Social Search: Brian Solis provides a jam-packed post full of helpful information and next steps.
- Top 10 Best Practices for Federal Government Web Sites from USA.gov: Whether you are a newbie or a veteran, this site offers something for everyone. If not this Web page, all of Webcontent.gov is a great resource and helpful guide.
What about you? What good info have you read lately? Please provide the link in the comments so we can all check it out. Also–if you’re in love with your Google Reader like me, here’s my public profile. Let’s connect.
flickr credit: Benimoto
Alexandra Bornkessel
Email: abornkessel@fly4change.com
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