Newton’s 1st Law, rephrased for Business: Organizations tend to do the same thing the same way for as long as they can. This also means that, if they [...]]]> Newton’s 1st Law of Motion:
“Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.”

Newton’s 1st Law, rephrased for Business: Organizations tend to do the same thing the same way for as long as they can. This also means that, if they are not doing anything in a particular area, they tend to keep not doing things in that area. Thus, it is rare for them to lead anyone anywhere; but when they do lead, it’s hard for them to stop, so they’d better hope they’re headed in the right direction.

One example of an organization who repeatedly overcomes this tendency is Google (like them or not) who makes sure each engineer in the organization dedicates as much as 20% of their time to creating and developing new ideas. The guidelines given are something as simple as, “Work on whatever you want.”

Google’s competitors find it ludicrous to think that employees actually know what might make the company more successful without guidance from the “senior visionaries” of the company. Those same companies are stuck in Newton’s 1st Law.

It is difficult for companies to think outside the box when, in fact, they are the box. Employees given permission to have passion about what they do, and encouraged to expess ideas on how to improve the business, improve relationships with customers, and improve the company’s products and services, are the most loyal and successful employees working for successful and innovative companies.

I know, it sounds harsh, but the analogy is sound.

I’ve attended hundreds of parties – admittedly, [...]]]> It astounds me every day that marketing professionals would have the etiquette to attend a friend’s party without trying to pitch everyone within three feet of them; but use social media to try to have sex without first saying hello.

I know, it sounds harsh, but the analogy is sound.

I’ve attended hundreds of parties – admittedly, mostly in college – and have always come to expect at least one dingbat who presumes that everyone else attended the party just to buy from him. It was like dropping fresh garlic in the middle of a petry dish filled with common cold virus. The bugs all flee to the outer rims of the dish!

The party pooper is seen later all by himself – no friends, no fun, and NO SALES. I’m sure you know the type.

The phenomenon we call Social Media is no different. Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and Twitter – for example – are places where we can meet people, have fun, and build relationships. They’ve never been very effective as marketing venues. But this fact doesn’t stop marketing wannabes from dumping pitches on everyone else’s parties.

For example, I get automated direct messages on Twitter every time I follow someone, and more than 60 percent of the messages go something like: “Hi, thanks for following. To make money from your Twitter traffic, click here http://blah.blah”

They don’t even know my name yet, but want to stick their hands into my wallet. No relationship. No fun. And – you guessed it – NO SALE. I simply delete their feeble and transparent marketing attempt and UN-follow them.

The most effective marketing utilizing social media is still “attraction marketing” – which makes friends first by offering free, useful information, attracting visitors to a central hub – usually a well-optimized WordPress blog, where they are given opportunities to learn more from the person they’ve already deemed to be an expert in the given topic AND with whom they’ve already developed a relationship.

Ask yourself this: If I’m marketing to everyone on social media and NOT selling very much, should I continue to do what doesn’t work and expect the results to change for the better?