Marketing, public relations, social media... and a little of this and that.
I live a few blocks from the World Trade Center site and have been wanting to pay a visit to the new memorial.
You have to reserve free tickets, and after doing so a month in advance, I was able to go last night.
It was a great experience (read: a bit mind blowing) and I thought you might like to see some of the shots taken during the visit.
Some people want things to happen.
And other people make things happen.
Making things happen isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but it’s often the most fulfilling way to live life and to challenge yourself.
We all have busy lives and have tons of excuses for why we “can’t” make things happen, but that’s just multiple layers of excuses adding up.
So here’s the deal. If an 11-year old can make things happen, so can you.
Here’s what I’m talking about.
Over the weekend, an 11-year old boy entered the subway car I was riding in – and he was by himself (which always seems so odd for some reason – little kids – big city…).
He greeted fellow passengers, sat his radio down, turned on his music… and danced.
He clapped his hands. He danced on his toes. He spun in circles. All to the beat of Michael Jackson.
The subway car wasn’t the least bit crowded, but he performed as if there was hundreds of people watching and exuded energy.
I watched in awe for a second thinking about his motivation, and the simple fact that he was making it happen. In fact, I was so intrigued that I only captured a short clip as he was ending the routine – click play above.
He’s not begging. He’s entertaining. And he’s got a darn good hustle (not all hustles are bad) going on.
He danced for around 2 – 3 minutes, and probably made $20 or so bucks – easy. I forked over $5 simply because I thought his effort was fantastic.
The next time you start to think about the reasons you can’t make something happen, find your inner 11-year old and channel the fearless, yet motivated, attitude you know is inside of you.
Occupy Wall Street has now been taking place for nearly one month and doesn’t appear to be losing steam.
There are signs of organization starting to come to life, and it’s becoming a technologically advanced “movement” that is using the digital space to spread it’s message the word.
I live three blocks from the park in NYC that is the home front for the protest, and spent nearly an hour on site Sunday talking with protestors and observing.
There are three core-organizing flaws that I observed and that are worth pointing out.
1. Leadership
One thing that I heard loud and clear is that the movement doesn’t have a “leader,” and the term is all but frowned upon.
If for a moment you think leadership should be frowned on, you’d be heavily mistaken.
Just like cars needing a driver, movements needs to be lead. Without a leader you end up with mobs of people and annoying people like myself saying, “But what are you actually trying to accomplish?”
2. Lack of a Message
I’ve seen coverage on NBC Nightly News, Drudge, CBS Sunday Morning, and many other outlets. Throughout all of the coverage what I’ve not seen is a clear message.
What you end up hearing is something a random protestor with their face painted or covered up saying something to hold the reporters attention.
That’s not getting the movement anywhere. They need to appoint people, especially at the NYC location, to be spokespeople. Companies do this. Politicians work this way… and it serves a purpose.
Messaging is wildly crucial and thus far, Occupy Wall Streets message is… well, I don’t actually know. Depending on who you ask, you’ll constantly hear something different.
3. Image
This isn’t going to be a popular item amongst protestors, but they have a huge image problem.
When you are trying to bring about change, and wanting to be taken seriously, you have to act and look the part. It’s just how the world works.
I’m sure this young lady is a great person, but is that really the image they want to project?
And, this one is almost disturbing. The mother of this 15-year old basically laughed when stating that he’s been without shoes for two days. The kid is lying on the ground covered up by clothes and pizza boxes.
I don’t know about you, but that image isn’t going to reflect well with mothers living on Main St.
This list could go on and on, but these are a few core elements that are preventing Occupy Wall Street from being much more than a pain in New York City’s butt, content for news organizations and a growing expense to tax payers.
Occupy Wall Street is an anti-Wall Street protest that has been taking place for more than two weeks (as of this writing) in NYC.
The protesters have gotten a good amount of attention, managed to shut down the Brooklyn Bridge during a march, and cost New York City a boatload of money.
While walking home last night I walked by the home base of the protest in the Financial District, when one of the local news stations stopped me for an interview.
My small part in the segment below comes in around 1:49. Oh, and excuse the rough “Sunday evening just got out of the movies and haven’t shaved in a couple days” look. 🙂
As you know, Facebook has changed a lot in the last couple of weeks, and will continue to evolve as time goes on.
The changes have done one major think to the social network: made it more visual.
As I’ve posted updates and interacted with the new layouts, I’ve made a decision that marketers, and anyone else running business pages needs to pay attention to.
If you want your status updates to standout, you need to make sure they are accompanied by a photo or video moving forward.
And I’d almost go as far as saying try to not post anything that doesn’t at least have a photo.
Photos stand out in an amazing way now that thumbnails are larger and albums are being displayed in a different way, and when the changes are implemented for brand pages, you need to seize the opportunity to be visual.