Rohit Bhargava, author of the Influential Marketing Blog, and Personality Not Included wrote an interesting post yesterday on what he calls Egommunication. Rohit believes that Egommunication is probably the best way for a “David” blogger to communicate with a “Goliath” in the web 2.0 space. In the blogosphere, paradoxically, the big influential Goliaths (though extremely busy and flooded with info) are in reality the most “in touch” with what is being said about them online. So if you want to communicate with the top blogosphere personas, do the following:
1. Tag someone in a photo, note or other content on Facebook so they will go and check out that content
2. Write a blog post mentioning someone’s blog post and count on the fact that they will check their Google alerts to see that mention
3. Write a tweet on twitter mentioning someone or something so that you can reach the audience of people that are doing searches for those terms
There are others who question this practice and wonder if egommunication is really just another form of “attention spamming“. As I am relatively new in the blogosphere, admittedly, I am “on the fence” about what to think about all of this. I did notice that Mitch Joel did something similar recently in a post called “How do you Track it All?” and it seems like he got at least a few comments.
I thought I would test the concept out a bit with an article that I saw recently from Fast Company called P&G’s Sustainability Initiatives–Not So Sustainable. The article acknowledges that while P&G may have a great reputation when it comes to delivering products that can reduce energy (e.g. Tide Coldwater) etc…the company is not yet fully addressing one of the most fundamental environmental challenges: “green chemistry”. Instead of addressing “head-on” the assertion that P&G is not leading in this space (like I recently did in Is P&G Built to Last…a Raging Debate on Brand Purpose), I will try to “linkety-link” (to quote J. Jaffe) to some pretty well known sustainable-biz bloggers Joel Makower, Marc Gunther, David Widger, Andrew Savitz & see what they think (Note: I also have a couple of these guys on my blogroll, so hopefully they have already seen m-cause). I am also doing a Saatchi & Saatchi S “shout-out”.
So even if the term “egommunication” feels a bit negative and turns “the Goliaths” away from commenting on this post (who wants to admit that they live in their own “egosphere”?) I hope at least to engage a few others in the debate on how big companies can best lead sustainability change.
Ryan Jones is interested in marketing and good causes. He currently works in Global Brand Management at Procter & Gamble and resides in Geneva, Switzerland.
5 Comments
Ryan,
After doing my own ‘egommunication’ experiment, I think there are other factors involved. My hunch is that you’re going to be successful for a couple of reasons.
1. Though like me you are a relatively new blogger, your P&G link will get you noticed.
2. You very cleverly linked your egommunication to a hot topic and linked to the appropriate ‘Goliaths”.
I think the whole issue is worth discussing further.
Hi Ryan, I don’t think I understand “egocommunication” (although I sense I may have been victimized by it!) but I just read my former FORTUNE colleage Melanie Warner’s article in Fast Company and I though it was spot on. I’m an admirer of Len Sauers but P&G needs to be more aggressive when it comes to sustainability or it risks being left behind by smaller, nimbler and greener competitors. It’s not just the “green chemistry” issue, either. As I wrote last spring (at http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/25/magazines/fortune/gunther_pang.fortune/?postversion=2008022606)
the company’s commitment to reduce GHG on a per unit basis is nice rhetoric but not sufficient to deal with the global warming issue. The company also has yet to seize the opportunity to lead its consumers to more conscious purchasing. Wal-Mart has done much better at that.
Marc,
Tks a bunch for joining in the discussion! Going over to check out your article on the topic right now…
–Ryan
Love this post for so many reasons Ryan
and just so you know I got told to go an read it from someone in the real world - for the sustainability part - a fellow p&ger that is reading your blog that I am not sure you even know…what you are doing is working.
With regard to Wal-Mart, they have done a good job on some “spot” high profile sustainability issues putting out reports, having conferences and the like, but not so good overall, especially with regard to their supply chain. An article by Larry Rohter in the August 3rd New York Times quotes Naomi Klein: “If we think about the Wal-Mart model, it is incredibly fuel-intensive at every stage…that is necessarily leading to a rethinking of this emissions-intensive model…” Of course, every global company is guilty of this to some degree. I just don’t think we should hold Wal-Mart up as much of a model of anything considering the incredible damage they have done to the environment and communities. Now, of course, they have been caught urging their people to vote against Obama. This from Fox reporting on a Wall Street Journal article: “A Wall Street Journal article today exposed that Wal-Mart is using mandatory meetings with its employees in seven states to tout its political message, warning them not to vote for Democrats in the November elections for fear of new legislation that would make it easier for workers to organize unions.” Well, there you go. A real endorsement to shop at Wal-Mart. The Rohter article is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/business/worldbusiness/03global.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin