Web 2.0 Rule #4: Change your 1.0 Mindset BEFORE changing to 2.0 Marketing.

Note: This post is part of a current series for B2Bs and B2Cs that explores 10 (essential!) Rules That No Marketer Should Pass The "Web 2.0 Go" Without. All posts in the series are archived here. In this post we illuminate:  

Web 2.0 Rule #4: Change your 1.0 Mindset BEFORE changing to 2.0 Marketing.

The age-old corporate mindset of "We’ll change on our terms and our time schedule" has worked well with past media and through previous market shifts. The reasoning is obvious: with traditional media, companies retained all the power since the use of those media were limited to but a few. After all, traditional media were one-way vehicles (company-to-consumer vs. consumer-to-consumer) and expensive (vs. free) to employ.

But no longer.

In this era, and with social media (aka "Web 2.0"), consumer and professional audiences don’t need to wait on marketers to "get it," or get on board. Hey, meet your new world or don’t. No matter. Because in this world, by not participating, marketers aren't stemming the social media tide... it just flows on without them.

The biggest Web 2.0 learning curve for companies, however, is not in understanding how best to use the new tools or learning the many new best practices. Nope. The biggest adjustment for companies is accepting and embracing that consumers, not them, have new power and therefore, set many of the new rules. It's not just a new set of media but a new order.

What, then, are the implications of these powerful changes? Indeed there are many. But the greatest shift for marketers does not occur in the tools they use—but to the very way they think (and then act). And without fully transitioning to a 2.0 mindset and implementing the cultural, organizational and marketing changes it requires, companies will waste a lot of money and potentially place their brand reputations at risk.

In fact, the Social Web is already littered with many efforts that tried to shortcut this process, just search Twitter on any given day for tweets tagged with the word "#FAIL".

As this is such a core and important rule, I'm going to use an example that I’ve used on my blog in the past and still often use in my presentations. One could say it’s befitting of royalty since it draws upon themes from the 2006 movie, “The Queen."

While the film focuses on the fallout after the loss of a renowned public figure, the film's message is centered around the struggles, resistance and challenges of an entity being pushed by its people to modernize. And what struck me about the film are its parallels to today's businesses as they grapple with their own mandate to modernize.

The movie chronicles the British Monarchy—most notably Queen Elizabeth II—during the week following the devastating death of Princess Diana in 1997. Due to keeping silent and stoic in her mourning, Queen Elizabeth II was criticized by the nation (and the world). After all, a world had lost its popular princess, was deep in grief and was looking to the Queen for consolation.

But Queen Elizabeth was staunch in abiding by deeply established regal protocols of duty and nobility. That was tradition and it was her duty to uphold tradition at all costs. After all, tradition was so sacred because of the sheer fact that tradition means NEVER changing.

The Queen was struggling with a world imploring her to 'modernize' into a role based less on dignity, and much more on sensitivity. Especially given that the person that the world most related to was Princess Diana; a beloved figure coined the "People's Princess" because she signified personality (not protocol) and vulnerability (not stoic values).

This was a display of emotion and outreach that the Queen couldn't relate to; it wasn't how she was taught and this new world was foreign to her. But the world had been changing around her for years, the death of Princess Diana just made her resistance to new ways that much more pronounced, and shone a spotlight on how her "traditional ways" were now irrelevant to her people.

In the film, The Queen said that the people would soon quiet their backlash against her, that it would "go away in a matter of days". But the backlash did not. She insisted that traditional policy would persevere as tradition always had. But traditional policy gave way to modernity. After she witnessed her popularity plummet and saw poll results citing that her people no longer respected her, she recognized, "But I can see the world has changed... and one must modernize."

The takeaway for today's marketers? If a centuries-old monarchy can take steps towards change to ensure it viability and growth, then I assure you, even the oldest and most traditional businesses can change, too. And change they must, their relevancy and revenues depend upon it (just ask the Queen).

More posts providing insight and direction stemming from this rule:

• Learn why a shift in mindset is critical before a shift in marketing spend right here.
• Find out why this change in our media and markets is best described as The BIG Shift right here.
• Unlike all other media, regular people--not profit-driven companies--fuel the growth of social media. Learn all here.

Rule #5 comes your way next...

(Psst! all posts in this series are archived here)

Social Media Tips • Social Media *Extras* • Social Media Training • Contact CK

Comments

[Peter Korchnak]

CK, I'm enjoying your 10 Rules series. All good, sensible stuff. I see a major challenge though, and this rule #4 is a perfect example. It's a whopper. Yes, you need a mindset change before engaging in the social web, you're absolutely right. However, I think it may be asking too much right off the bat.

It appears to be a chicken and egg problem. The social web requires doing but you can't do it well unless you change your mindset, which you can only change by seeing the meaning of what you do. I see people start "getting it" only when they see enough examples and when they actually begin to do it themselves. Of course, some initial education must take place.

My own experience is similar. Reading about social was one thing, and yes, I read a fair share of must-change-mindset content. I don't think I really got it and I don't think my mindset changed until I saw concrete effects of my own actions in the social web.

[CK]

Thanks for reading Peter, excellent point and one I get asked quite a bit by colleagues and clients.

No question that “doing” is a huge part of the change process. I look at my own journey, as you do yours, as a testament to that. When I started tinkering around with social media a few years ago, I certainly wasn’t advanced at it (nowhere near!), but I was open to it. I saw how markets were shifting and the need for change on my own part. So I made understanding the needed changes—including the trends, tools, practices and nuances-- a priority. That was key in my transition.

But there’s a difference in being perfect at it right off the bat (like any marketing effort, that comes with time/guidance/solid strategy) vs. being resistant to the changes needed in how we approach our markets and marketing. And there's also a big difference in viewing social media as merely a “set of tools” (i.e. "let's launch a blog and then we're all set!") vs. understanding the profound shifts taking place that affect corporate culture, policies and practices.

(And fyi: I’m sorry that there is a lag in publishing comments but the SP*M bots have been wreaking havoc on my blog so I’m having to moderate comments in the interim. *Sigh*)

[Imran Anwar]

You make great points, CK. I like the Queen as an analogy though feel there may be more accurate examples. Had she done any "ordinary" displays of emotion, far more people would have bitched and moaned about her destroying tradition.

I think what businesses can relate or learn better from would be the railways and airlines or even many computer systems makers of just 25-30 years ago who could not keep up with the pace of those relatively slow-changing days.

Just my 2 cents :-)

Imran
IMRAN.TV