How To Use Social Media To Create a 'Movement'

With the power, immediacy and virality of social media; brands and individuals have the power to create a movement. The ALS ice bucket challenge is a prime example of a brand harnessing the energy of creating a fad on social networks in service to the brand itself. Individuals latched onto the movement and not only contributed to a cause, but enhanced their personal brand in performance of a good deed.

The ALS Association received $31.5 million in donations compared to $1.9 million during the same time period (July 29 to August 20, 2014). This remarkable increase in their fundraising potential is largely due to the snowball effect of cause marketing coupled with a social medial fad.

Significant opportunity exists for brands to create movements around all sorts of causes, events, and any host of possibilities. With the millions of micro influencers on social media, creating a 'movement' or brand experience that carries far beyond social media is a real phenomenon. The solution to create a movement is easier than you may think.

Forrester technology researchers published a report entitled We Are All Media Companies Now, that looked at how publishing firms were dealing with the shift from a distribution paradigm to one based on consumption. Any good brand marketer knows that someone else saying you're good weighs much heavier on consumer perception and decision making, than a brand saying they're good.

For a free strategy session to brainstorm what your 'movement' might be, or how you can leverage your brand with micro influencers for 'social good,' let me know. Creating a 'movement' or leveraging your ideal target audience to spread good sentiment to influence brand preference and purchase is more cost effective than just about anything you can do digitally. Plus it's measurable to the individual influencer - it doesn't get much better than that. Create a movement - why not. Right?