Start A Movement

Without a doubt, the number one question asked about these new Digital Marketing channels is this: do people really care and want brands to participate in online social networks? Most brand managers have a hard time believing that anyone cares that much about their brands and what they do.

They may be right.

Not many people cared deeply about the environment until Al Gore put together his presentation and the movie, An Inconvenient Truth, came out. Many people were not thinking about the digitization of music until Steve Jobs and the good folks at Apple introduced the iPod and iTunes. Nobody thought twice about selling their used junk online until eBay came along.

More importantly, none of these initiatives are really about the individual, the company or the product/service they peddle. What makes these instances (and many more) very exciting is how they all started a movement.

That movement may sound like a joke to you. It might not make any sense in terms of how your business operates. You might even question if anybody would care to be a part of your movement. The reality is that it’s not a joke, it makes total sense and there are always some semblance of a group interested in the most obscure things.

You’re all freaks and weirdoes (and so am I).

This is a movement. Six Pixels of Separation is not about Twist Image, it’s not about Mitch Joel  and it’s not about just you. It’s about all of us. This is a place where people connect, learn, build, share and grow on the topics of Digital Marketing, New Media, Publishing and Personal Branding. And while it may not attract the same mass amount of people as those interested in Lady Gaga, it’s still – definitely – a movement. These online tools, channels and platforms allow everyone (including you and I) to have our own little space to organize, think, learn and push new ideas to the edge.

If your company has one challenge, it will be to uncover what your movement is all about.

Remember this:

Starting a Blog is boring. Staring a movement is exciting.

Dig deep, focus and figure out what movement your company can get behind. The more unique, the more interesting, the more likelihood it will have of catching people’s attention and getting them engaged and active. It’s not easy. It won’t happen overnight, and you have to do it because it’s the right thing to do and because it matters – to you, your employees, the clients you serve and the greater community.

What are you waiting for?