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Comments

Craig

Alex and mcmcgrath,

Thanks for reading through all of it and sending in some comments. The one point I do want to respond to has to do with an organization-centric vs community centric point-of-view on all of this. As one offline comment made to me put it...
"..clearly your ecology is not intended to be an organizational structure for a social marketing organization but rather a description of our cosmos...the Digital Community seems representative of the gravitational field that influences the orbits of the entities you’ve described. This is a bigger and more dynamic conceptual framework than the way the discussion has gone up to now; one which called for an organization to make social marketing “real”. This model truly captures the “community” of social marketing in a way no one had done until now..."
It also captures what I believe is the essence of the struggle many people have with both social marketing and social media - THEY are no longer the center of the universe. A community should drive governance, not the other way around which is why I believe that the community should be the focal point of our activities whether we are practitioners, experts, academics, implementing agencies or donors.
Then, once you dive into the description of the community at slideshare, you can see where the social marketing project manager becomes the center of that universe. Our collective efforts should be focused on making each of us as innovative and effective as we can be in applying social marketing to all types of social problems in education, environment, health care, housing and yes, public health among others. An organization can support it and play various roles with external audiences (such as advocating for social marketing policies), but it cannot make a community happen. People have to do that.
And finally, as I end many of my social media presentations - "it's when people stop thinking of something as a piece of technology that the thing begins to have its biggest impact." Social networks are strategies to develop, engage and enable communities - it is not what many, but not all, of the 'new social marketers' (aka social media marketers) think of as just a new communication hammer. Though it can clearly be used for such narrow (and banal) purposes, let's aim higher than that for true social marketing that is aimed at improving lives and changing the world.

mcmcgrath

Hi Craig,
I agree with Alex about placing the Social Marketing Organization in the center, and the whole framework within the Digital Community. Perhaps certain transactions (speaking engagements, field laboratories) would need to be moved to indicate they are outside of this Digital Community sphere, emerging from it.

Alex, aka Socialbutterfly

Craig,

This is great news, and as you know, I for one am pumped. The potential in this type of network to get individuals and organizations to connect and collaborate across geographies, intangible boundaries and more, will allow those of us who are all working on the same cause to come together, share best practices, and learn from one another.

In terms of the presentation, I really like how you outline the "opportunity" that exists in our already existing community. In addition, it might be good to show the size of related fields who could also join up (i.e. NPOs). In addition, I do agree that the relationship between social marketing, and its need for social media marketing will be a growing focus for our field, and thus, am glad that is reflected in that powerpoint. I recently have also got into some thoughts on exploring more its fluid relationship (which I'd love to hear your thoughts on more sometime), considering so many get the two confused. This confusion is one reason why I think it is so important for us to know the differences and similarities. And, after that tangent...moving forward.

In terms of the diagram, I agree with the audience groups, though, I would place the Social Marketing Organization in the middle, as the social network is really the tool, and a means to an end. Then, I would add a background umbrella circle that envelopes all aspects and mark THAT the digital community. Just my humble thoughts. Plus, investors might be more slow to invest in "another" social network, but not as slow to invest in something more traditional, that also offers innovation...i.e. establishing a community with the tools that are all a-buzz.

I will continue to marinate on this and look over the presentation some more, as I currently have limited time, but wanted to share my first reaction/comments.

All in all, this is amazing and awesome news. And, I hope all get on board the train! =)

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