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What Tribe are you?
Masai. Ona. Inuit. Chibcha. Iroquois. Gurage. Aborigine. Are these the names that come to mind when you think of a tribe?
Anthropologists use the term to refer to societies organised largely on the basis of kinship and more recently commentators are using it to explain the phenomenal growth of social networking.
As human beings we are pre-programmed to belong. We like being part of a crowd. There is comfort in concensus. It’s good to know that we are not alone.
What new technology has given us is the ability to ‘multi-tribe’. To connect not only with our current work colleagues, but with ones that have moved on but retained an interest in the same area as us, and with peers who face similar challenges to us in their day-to-day working lives. It enables us to join forces with others who share our passion for a cause, or a sports team or a particular entertainer.
What drives the tribe are the leaders and the creators, the individuals who are prepared to step out from the crowd to declare their interest and their point of view. In business these are the people who make or spot a trend and are willing to make the first move. If they have read the signs well they will be followed by the early adopters who will begin to create the groundswell that will altimately draw in the crowds.
The question is… Are you a leader, someone who is driving the agenda, manoeuvring your message and your marketing strategy to attract clients and customers to your tribe? Or are you one of the crowd?
I know which one I would rather be.
hellen @missioncontrol
Getting connected
con·nec·tive (k
-n
k
t
v)
adj. Serving or tending to connect.
n. One that connects.
Clever organisations are already engaging in connective marketing: joining all of their activities together into a seamless strategy that encompasses all of their internal, online, mainstream media and live communications.
It’s such a simple idea that it’s hard to understand why it is such a new concept. Why is bringing all this activity together so difficult?
Perhaps it is because events are often seen as an adjunct to, or separate from, the main marketing activity, or that online is so sophisticated that it can only be handled by a specialist agency.
But technological advances mean that this is no longer the case. Platforms that enable live events to be knitted into the very fabric of online activity are now available; social media can be tied into conferences and disparate workforces bought together to exchange ideas and proffer solutions.
Creating connections has never been easier.
