Assignment for 11/12/12

Strategy is one of the most important aspects when it comes to being successful within a business or just life in general. According to Heath and Heath, Made to Stick, a strategy is essentially a guide to behavior. To me, a strategy defines how a person should act. In order for a strategy to be a good strategy, it must “drive action” (255). If a strategy does not drive action, according to Heath and Heath, then it is inert or simply irrelevant. To many people, it can be fairly simple to produce a strategy that will be successful; however, for many there are barriers that keep a strategy from being communicated effectively. Heath and Heath list three barriers that make communication of a strategy more difficult: Curse of Knowledge, Decision Paralysis and Lack of Common Language.  

Out of the three barriers, I think it is necessary to highlight Curse of Knowledge, which is the first barrier that inhibits strategic communication. This barrier is the one that I believe is used most commonly because people believe it is the best way to reach people. However, Talking about strategy in conceptual terms and using language that is on a higher-level than most people’s intelligence is not the best way to reach a target audience. To counteract the Curse of Knowledge it is better to implement stories into a strategy. Stories use concrete language instead of abstract; because of this, stories make it easier to guide behavior. Stories evoke emotion and are easily relatable; thus, driving people to want more.

All three of the barriers that inhibit strategic communication, can be avoided. Like the Curse of Knowledge, Decision Paralysis can be avoided by talking about strategy: “When people are able to talk about strategy, they’re more likely to make good decisions than when strategy exists only as a set of rules” (260). If strategy regulated, than people will be hindered from making good decisions; however when people are able to talk about strategy, it will lead them to make a better decision. Lastly, to avoid the last barrier, Lack of Common Language, Heath and Heath recommends that people use language that is essentially diverse so that it can be relatable to not only one group, but all groups. 

Assignment for 11/5/12

Because social media is such a huge part of this society, it is important for not only businesses to know how to approach social media, but it can also be beneficial for regular people who use social media. In chapter 10 of Gillin’s Secrets of Social Media Marketing, he discusses the basics for successfully using and creating social media sites. One of the first things Gillin mentions, that I found most important, was the idea that content is the most essential part to making a social media campaign or site successful. According to Gillin, businesses should focus more on writing and speaking content in a way that is original instead of rehearsed or cliché. Content should be distinct and unique so that you can make an effort to understand your target audience and build an honest relationship. 

Understanding your audience has a lot to do with what Gillin refers to as content strategies. For example, if you are a business who wants to use a blog, you can use it in a way to “create awareness or brand image, counteract negative publicity, or to deposition a competitor” (Gillin 182). This content strategy will obviously work for blogs, but may not work to make sales. This example shows how important it is to create strategies that work with the type of goal you want to achieve and audience you want to reach. According to Gillin, social media content should incorporate some sort of dialogue and should have a publishing aspect. One of the things that stood out to me when Gillin proposed this was the idea that social media campaigns should have a “distinctive voice about one or more topics that are compelling and of interest to a certain group” (Gillin 185).

When building a social media campaign, it is important to focus on the content and strategies, in order to use the content in a way that is appropriate and compelling to the target audience. In order to do this, the content should be written in a way that is conversational instead of robotic and controlled, so that the target audience can be engaged, interested, and open to building a personal relationship.