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Free Stuff Motivates and is Web Marketing Genius


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Free stuff motivates.  I think we can all agree with that.

During college, it was all about finding free food.  It almost didn’t matter what the event was or the organization holding it or even the cause that was being supported.

Free hamburgers?  Sure, I’ll support “No more offshore drilling” for a day.  Free Tshirts and coffee mugs?  Yup, I’ll be there and no, I don’t mind having to wear that wristband for a couple minutes for cancer.  Free “entire meals” deals complete with drinks, sides, and a main course?  Sure, I’ll be a “christian” for a day and join those wierdos in the student lobby singing praise songs to a God who supposedly died on a tree…

And what’s so great is that the internet should be a prime resource for not only giving away “free” stuff but also providing added benefits for marketing (if you can find a creative and easy way to do it).

Thomas Nelson Publishers has done just that with their new initiative called Book Review Bloggers, which has a super simple premise:  They’ll send you a free copy of a book if you promise to blog a 200 word review and another one on Amazon.com (and it doesn’t have to be positive!)

Genius.

Not only do they get ratings and reviews on Amazon, one of the most visited online bookseller in the entire world, they’ve injected themselves into the blogging space where viral and grassroots marketing can blaze through the interwebs faster than a California firestorm (and that can be a good thing or a bad thing, like the SoCal fires of course).

But the point is that people are talking about it.

I’m not familiar with the costs associated with publishing a book (perhaps some day) but I can’t imagine that Thomas Nelson and co are losing anything but pennies on the dollar for their free reviews (but shipping might be a pain in the tookus).

So go ahead and signup.  It’s free, takes a second, and then get your phat-free-loot-on.  I’ve already done my first review on Lynne Spears Through the Storm… easy cakes!

If you want even more information, check out Michael Hyatt’s (President and CEO) blog post about it.

So do some creative thinking this week about your ministry and online agenda for your organization.  Does it include giving away something for “free”?  Is this a reasonable initiative from a financial, business, marketing, and strategic perspective?  (One size doesn’t fit all, of course).

Ah, and remember, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is free too.  Don’t forget that.  =)

The Profitable Social Network


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Business Week had a thought-provoking article about making Social Networks “profitable”.  Of course, what Google is thinking about (and pretty much everyone and their brother) is the almighty greenback:

The new technology could track not just how many friends you have on Facebook but how many friends your friends have. Well-connected chums make you particularly influential.

The article goes on to say that with this new technology, which is based upon some of Google’s already nebulous algorithms, that this new “influence tracking” would be able to follow and understand one’s browsing patterns and social influences and target the most active and most influential.

From a marketing and advertising standpoint, this is huge: It’s like when you finally learn about Bernoulli’s Principle in High School Physics class or having that “AHA!” moment when you finally learn that walking is actually “controlled falling” (or some derivative… or perhaps “falling with style” – Buzz Lightyear).

But on the technological token, it’s neither surprising nor that ingenius: The data to run this particular algorithm are already there for the picking, and are already tracked individually.  It’s about putting the pieces together that makes it so unique.

And Google’s track record for attempting to make another buck out of their megapolis (another metropolitan outpost that is just roughly connected) is legendary.  Their success? Questionable.  But I’m sure it’ll make some financial gain. It has to.

But when I think about making a social network profitable I think of only one thing: Christ.

Making a social network profitable then means, for the technoevangelist, that if we can bring the knowledge and message of the Gospel to those within the social network we have done well (perhaps being used by the Spirit for transformation is another hoped for possibility).

The pieces are there, the players are present, the possibilities are endless, but the power of the Holy Spirit isn’t (always).  I think true profit has eternal results.

Politics, Tech, and Ministry


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With the election right around the corner and the fate of the world (as some would see it) resting in the political hands of one of the presidential candidates, “politics” are on the forefront of nearly everyone’s mind (and certainly on many people’s blogs and twitter).

Inevitably (as in pretty much every election) the church and religion play an important role, and choosing sides often means finding those in the evangelical elite that we most align with and following their lead.  Unfortunately, many elevate politics to the level of biblical standards and are more vehement and vocal about their political views than their more important faith.

And unlike any election in the history of mankind, technology is playing an uncompromising role unlike anything we’ve ever seen before: We have presidential candidates blogging, twittering, establishing platform-thematic digital-memes and using grassroots viral marketing and social networking platforms and mediums as a valuable tool of not only information-sending, but information-gathering, proclamation, and sometimes exploitation and your typical political mudslinging.

So if technology is playing such a vital role, are we taking the necessary steps (and perhaps precautionary measures) to make sure we’re doing the very best to represent the ministries that we work at and represent?

Are politics damaging your ministry brand?

Is it possible that the way that you’re using your blog, your twitter, your facebook, and the things that you say online, are affecting your professional and ministerial credibility?

It’s a tough question, but it’s one that’s worth asking.

One example where politics, social media, and branding collide is Jason Goldberg, the founder and CEO of SocialMedian.

He obviously owns the twitter account for @socialmedian and so represents the business with that account, but it only takes a few seconds to realize his personal opinions about the general election, the candidates, and more are posted on the same twitter account.

What’s up with that?

This can, to a certain degree, discredit the business since he is a representative of the business and suggest to a casual observer that SocialMedian, as a business, favors this particular presidential candidate.  If this is the case, then this could turn off many users, participants, and partner businesses.

Kyle Lacy also caught onto this a little while back and asked pretty much the big one:

Should personal politics be brought into the company communication medium? When you are trying to set an image of a company into a market is it best to keep neutral and just share information with your followers?

So let’s move toward your ministry then:

What are your thoughts in regards to using your online mediums as channels of official marketing/branding as well as personal opinion in regards to politics?  Are we doing our ministries a disservice?  Should leaders of ministries not include their political opinions amongst their “updates” on such social services?