Marketers, we’re thinking about influence wrong.
I’m a marketing nerd. I love the challenge and the reward of building and engaging a community of people who are interested and loyal to my brand, product or cause. But, I’m also really tired of buzzwords…and self-proclaimed social media experts who can help you change the world with their top 10 lists. Call it fatigue, but can we please just speak plainly to each other?
Lets talk about influence and that terrible buzzword “influencers.” It struck me on the news of the third great music legend to pass in the past few months — Haggard, Bowie, Prince- that social media charlatans can’t even come close to the level of influence these musicians had on the lives of millions of people around the world. And I don’t just mean getting people to buy millions of their albums, which of course is a nice bonus.
Close your eyes for a minute. Can you call up lyrics or a tune from one of them? Probably. Can you call up the extensive musical influence they’ve had on thousands of musicians? It would take eons. Their art is in the DNA of of our musical lexicon. The funny thing is, these men mostly preferred to ride on the periphery of fame (cue Bowie mocking it). Probably more Bowie and Prince than Merle in terms of riding on the periphery of other things like gender and sexuality, but they were able to have considerable influence when they didn’t look like, talk like, act like everyone else. They weren’t striving for Beiberdom.
In 7th grade, when I was mired in the angst of middle school with all girls and nuns, I came home lamenting the fact that I wasn’t “popular.” I know, cliche. My mom sat me down at the kitchen table and pulled out our well-worn Webster’s dictionary.
Popular: adj. common.
She asked me if I wanted to be common. Of course, I said no because I was raised as a middle, only and oldest child, the first-born female for four generations straight. My mom worked full-time and had been divorced and remarried. This was anything but common in the Catholic circle in suburban St Louis.
I know what you’re thinking. To be different is cool. But is it? I think as marketers we’re trying to drive homogeneity and frankly I don’t want to talk to another mainstream “growth hacker.” I don’t need another top 5 list or best practices white paper. I don’t want to be like every other brand out there. I think the world would be a better place if we’d all strive to be unpopular for a change.
