Multicultural Landscaping
While doing some research for a client I came across a post on Mashable about strategies to engage multicultural consumers on new media platforms. The author, Jessica Faye Carter had some great ideas and insight. Here are some highlights that I wanted to bring to you for consideration:
1. Include Multicultural in Your Larger Marketing Strategy
Instead of developing multicultural social media campaigns on a one-off basis, make them part of your larger marketing strategy.
2. Engage Across the Cultural Landscape
It’s a good idea to expand your understanding of other cultures beyond language, music, and cuisine. Develop your niche cultural campaign knowing that there is a full cultural landscape from which you can draw inspiration and material for your social media site.
3. Celebrate Culture!
The celebration of the culture and diversity of multicultural communities should be central to your social media campaign. Don’t be afraid to highlight aspects of a particular group’s culture
4. Just Say “No” to Stereotyping
It’s common practice to “fill in the blanks” when you have an incomplete understanding of a subject, but when dealing with cultural issues, a lack of understanding can be disastrous. Avoid relying on stereotypes when developing your campaign.
5. Work the Networks
To get a better understanding of the communities you are trying to reach, visit social networking sites, microsites, or blogs geared toward multicultural groups. Spend time on larger sites like TheGrio and MySpace Latino, (yes, MySpace).
Multicultural social media is more than just a passing fad — it's an opportunity for companies and multicultural consumers to connect around ideas, products, and services. Companies are using niche cultural campaigns to increase their brand awareness among multicultural consumers — many of whom enjoy participating in these culturally relevant online experiences.
Dreams require sleep
Slow on the new ideas? Get some sleep.
Need some stare out the window time? Open the blinds.
Dreams to small? Rest.
The world is happening. Look.
Wake Up.
Cooling Down
After a high-stress period of time, it is healthy to have a cooling-down period. I have learned that it’s not good to stop suddenly, you have keep walking to avoid a muscle cramp. (read emotional breakdown)
Have you come off a project lately that you needed to process before you moved on? Do you do that with every project or just “the big ones”?
I tend to keep the heart rate (read schedule of activities) up too long and can crash into a burn out mode if not careful. To avoid burn out or emotional muscle burn I decided to issue a cooling down period for myself.
It seems to have worked, in the last week I’ve been able to rest on what I’ve learned but move forward with new plans and vision without a sudden stop and crash.
What do you do to cool down?
You’re never going to be caught up .. it’s okay
I don’t know when it happened, maybe in my radio training? I used to love, as a DJ, to walk right up to the beginning of a song over the intro. I was thrilled to finish a PSA announcement timed just in time for the top of the hour news feed.
In my professional life after radio (I used to actually cue up vinyl. It’s been a while), I have always set up projects with last minute deadlines. Or, worse, created fake last minute deadlines that only existed in my head to just have one.
I’ve come to realize that I actually never will be “caught up”. There will always be one more call that needs to be made, one more email that needs to be sent, one more blog that needs to be read, you get the point.
My wife Joan brought to my attention that these self created deadlines are movable! It’s true, things do have a finish date, just like they have start dates. The real peace comes in knowing that they will start and stop and start over again without my panicking over it. My friend Linda Mcfadyen-Ketchum, told me calmly, “You won’t ever be done so just do what you can.”
So that adrenaline I get from the words to the song starting just I complete the tag is cool and everything. However, I have learned that I may be stepping all over a really great intro.
Let the music play.