Cell phones are changing the fabric of our world

There are almost two times more Cell phones in the world than TV's. Ant three times the number of PCs. This information is part of an excellent summary on the state of technology changes worldwide.

In the developing world, where the infrastructural costs of setting up telephone lines and other hard-wired communication tools are enormous, cellular and wireless technology has created incredible opportunities for rapid development.

For example, the UN Foundation, in partnership with the Vodaphone Group Foundation (UK) documented the use of wireless technology for development and aid agencies. The survey reveals that 86% of NGO employees are using mobile technology in their work, with the following key benefits:

-time savings,
-the ability to quickly mobilize or organize individuals,
-reaching audiences that were previously difficult or impossible to reach,
-the ability to gather and transfer data more quickly and more accurately.

In South Africa cell phones are easily accessible. According to UNICEF, approximately 40% of South Africans in rural and urban areas own phones - and relatively inexpensive with cellular networks covering approximately 90% of the country. It is therefore eminently suitable as a tool for delivering critical information or for transporting requests for information from members of civil society.

Now the Rockefeller Foundation, the United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation have launched the Mobile Health Alliance with the goal of improving health care in the developing world through programs and information supplied by mobile phone. It is believed that the use of mobile technology will assist with accelerating the collection and storage of patient data, training rural professionals and personalizing the way patients receive medical treatment.

There are currently 1.3 billion fixed landline phones on the planet. In Jan 2008, there were 3.3 billion mobile phone subscribers (up from 2.1 billion in 2006).The Mobile Health Alliances reports that of this number, 2.2 billion mobile phones are in use in the developing world. Ironically, market penetration of cell phones in Canada and the US is amongst the lowest of all countries, with only 75% penetration. In Europe, penetration is estimated at 110%; ie more than one cell phone per person on average, including children and the elderly.

It is estimated that 80% of the world’s population now lives within range of a cellular network and the cost of cellular phones is becoming more reasonable--even within many developing countries, clearly.

Economic and social development is predicated on being able to communicate; the cell phone now allows people the ability to set up meetings with friends, colleagues or clients, communicate the price for a crop before going to the marketplace, setting up a microenterprise, or use mobile banking services—or, as in the case of the Mobile Health Alliance, improve access to basic health care and to educate patients about health care programs available.

Tool for social change? Absolutely.

Tech tools and marketing mockery

I vowed to myself that I would try not to blur the lines between social marketing and social media marketing, but I just can't help myself. Google simply doesn’t distinguish for you.

First, my simple definitions:

Social marketing is the use of commercial marketing techniques to change audience behaviors for the benefit of social good.

By comparison, social media marketing is all about how to use Web 2.0 as a marketing tool.

The real confusion is in the overlap.

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, Linked In, Blogs, RSS readers, Myspace, etc.) are all part of the toolkit of modern marketing professionals. Collectively, social media are like the Swiss Army knife of marketing: one medium with many heads.

Social networks are now accepted by many to be an equal among the communication peers: direct mail, television, print advertising, billboards, word of mouth, community actions, speaking tours, celebrity endorsements, product placement…

Interestingly, according to the Pew Research Center in the US, the internet—including the informal social networks—has now eclipsed newspapers as the preferred medium to get news (TV still tops the list).

So, to be a social marketer, one needs to be able to use all the tools available to spread messages and to foster a change in behavior…including the social media networks.

The problem is that people always want to be perceived as leaders in their field.

The belief is that early adopters of these new, ever-adapting, groovy technologies will be rewarded with success. To rephrase: the very use of social media marketing tools will bestow greatness upon social marketers.

The thing is that basic marketing theory—and basic common sense—informs us that the communication vehicle has to be the right vehicle for the target audience.

For example, after almost a decade of fundraising conference sessions promising the secret on how to use Facebook to make money, almost nobody is giving directly through, or because of, Facebook. Seems like the generation(s) of Facebook users don’t give that way.

Philanthropy consultant Renata Rafferty has recently challenged the fundraising community to consider the donors’ needs in choosing the method of communication. Somewhat bitingly, she writes:

“Do we foster a disservice to those generous people and to the cause of philanthropy as a whole by rushing to the new-fangled Web 2.0 social media techniques and telling them, at some point, that their rabbit ears (galas) are obsolete and analog (quid pro quo giving) is SO not where it’s at?”

On his thought-provoking blog, John Dodds puts marketing tools in their place succinctly: “tactics follow strategy…not the other way around.”

Social media marketing is merely a tool.

But social marketing is a discipline to generate improvements in the world in which we live.

Creative Advertising Can Make a Point

Advertising is reviled in the non-profit world.

At least that is my experience. Non profit managers and volunteers suffer a mix of desire for the power of advertising and revulsion at its content.

Sadly, advertising is so often silly, playing upon gender or social stereotypes to promote products we don’t need. Perhaps most insidious is the cost; most charitable or social causes simply can’t afford to develop advertising campaigns, let alone pay for air time. Advertising is thus the purview of the wealthy charities, or the well connected who can negotiate pro bono services.

It is true that YouTube, Myspace and all the web-based creative outlets at least allow ANYONE to develop an advertisement. Sometimes these shorts are even powerful, provocative intelligent or educational. Most of the time, however, these clips are amateur, hand-held or web-cam productions featuring adolescent humor and banal subject matter. The vast majority of these clips don’t generate a sufficient market penetration to be useful (or even entertaining).

Then along comes http://www.computertan.com/. This is a really interesting way to use the internet to make a point about a change in behavior. It plays us.

You can view it yourself, but in short, this is an ad for a fictitious computer application that allows you to tan in front of your screen. The ad is polished, complete with the lovely (and provocative) female spokesperson. The genius behind this ad is the tease; the viewer is invited to go to the website to download the application for a free trial. If you do this, there is a fictitious screen calibration and eventually, “sunlamps” appear on your screen. After a few minutes, the sunlamps fade to white you are rewarded with a line of bold text that states: “DON’T BE FOOLED…UV EXPOSURE CAN KILL”

Up to this point, the viewer has no idea that this is a “message” campaign. But once you’ve gone this far, the message is made so clear. The follow up screens include graphic pictures and statistics on skin cancer followed by a simple three menu visual:

1. directs you to a website of the charity (Karen Clifford Skin Cancer Charity)
2. invites you to “hoax a friend”—adding an intelligent viral element to the campaign
3. allows you to make a comment—which harvests your email address by engaging you in your perspective.

Creative genius is a rare commodity. However, when creativity is married with the right message, advertising need not be viewed as the source of our problems, but possibly a responsible way forward.

The Canadian angle on social marketing.

"When the world is running down, you make the best of what's still around" -The Police, 1980

Hard to believe that pop lyrics from the 80's would be prophetic. Nevertheless, we live in times of fear, financial chaos, unseen enemies, burgeoning information flows and so many other social ills. Our consumer society has created a need for more of everything new.

Even if we can't afford it.

What we can afford to do is to reflect on what we actually need, and how we can go about making it occur. Indeed, we need to make the best of what we have and then build on that to build a better future.

Social marketing is the application of all those well-honed commercial marketing techniques--convincing us of what we think we need to purchase--to a more socially beneficial purpose. Social marketing engages its audience to change their actions for the better of all.

Stop smoking.
Don't drink and drive.
Turn off the lights.
Avoid trans-fats.
Use bednets to prevent malaria.
Use a condom to prevent disease transmission.

These are are all social marketing messages. They don't endorse a product or a brand, they endorse an action--an action that helps everyone.

The field of social marketing is not new. Social visionaries in Canada and the UK have been pioneers. Remember Participaction back in the 1970's?

Oddly enough, I've been looking for good commentary on Social Marketing in Canada and most of the interesting posts I've seen have been from the US. For example, I highly recommend the blog written by R. Craig Lefebvre at http://www.socialmarketing.blogs.com/.

So that's why I have started this blog. This is a uniquely Canadian perspective on social marketing ideas, campaigns, and challenges. I once read that the purpose of a blogger is to help edit, organize and cull the information on a given subject. This is my goal: to edit the chaos of information to generate discussions on encouraging actions that result in social change.