What an honor that Inc.com has accepted me as a contributing columnist. My column, Community and Conversion, explores the intersection of leadership and marketing. This has been a theme for all kinds of writing and speaking for me, serves as a differentiator for my agency Three Over Four, and pretty much the as point of my book Leading in a Social World.
Kudos, as always, to Nichole Kelly, a marketing exec in the DC/Baltimore area, for leading me in the direction of the column’s name. Nichole was able to generate some serious value in her social media community when working with a debt relief organization, and it captured my attention during my book research. I was lucky enough to interview her, and learned that among other things, we share the idea that interceding in social spaces (like social media) is more community building than marketing. She told me “recognizing opportunities for human connection is very different from opportunities for conversion.” What a pice of gold of an insight.
I featured Nichole in my June Inc.com column, 2 Little Letters that Can Change Everything for Your Social Media Efforts. Here’s an excerpt, distilling the main concept of Leading in a Social World:
Social scientists have recognized for some time that social groups acting together for a collective purpose while putting individual desires and goals in an ancillary position-—ike what Kelly was able to achieve and what social media marketers usually just fantasize about and promise—is what generates actual value in social groups. Namely, social capital.
This is called associability. Two little letters. Big difference.
How is associability achieved? A nuanced focus on the ties that bind the connections together (including structural ties), allowing for agency, and trust. In a word, leadership.
The first column I wrote, Why Your Marketing Team Should Go to Fewer Marketing Conferences (and Where They Should Go Instead) looks at leadership and marketing’s intersection from a change leadership perspective. Here's an excerpt:
Imagine a branding effort led by a team versed in John Kotter's principles of change leadership. A team that understands the importance of and knows how to instill a sense of urgency for the rebrand; builds the proper internal coalition to advocate for it; creates a compelling vision for the future state of the new brand; enables others to act by removing barriers (as opposed to imposing talking points); and seeks to highlight early and small wins to build momentum.
Grasping those kinds of concepts is a lot to ask of a seasoned C Suite, let alone a team trained to create logos, set up drip campaigns, and report keyword rankings. And you just won't find any John Kotter breakout sessions at your typical marketing conference.
We’ll see how writing for an actual deadline suits me… I’ve never done it before! Wish me luck, or offer sympathies!
-Aaron