Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith (with Carlye Adler) have a new book, The Dragonfly Effect. This is an interesting short book that is an easy read. The book is a practical guidebook to using social media to enact change. It contains lots of useful how-to lists. For instance, they highlight the need for a call to action. That said, it doesn’t really try to unveil new knowledge or create a new synthesis of ideas.
Improving The World With Social Media
The authors have a variety of great stories of people who have helped improve the world through their use of social media. (One caveat is that often the ending of the stories are a little depressing. This makes sense, they are real stories, not Hollywood confections. As a result, be prepared that some of the admirable characters they introduce have very tough lives.)
To my mind, the most useful element to a general marketing audience is the section on a Call to Action. It is surprising how many marketing students, and even practitioners occasionally, forget that the aim of marketing communication is to provoke action. All communications should have a very clear message. This must tell the recipient what to do after they have listened to the message. In commercial marketing, the action hoped for might be a purchase, “Click here to buy”.
A Call To Action
Aaker and Smith do an excellent job of clearly stating the need for a Call to Action.
Nonprofits routinely try to disseminate information about their causes without providing specific instructions on how interested parties should act.
Aaker and Smith, 2014, page 112
The simple reminder to have an ask is important by itself. Aaker and Smith also provide a taxonomy of ‘asks’ — a useful aide to deciding what type of ask to use.
Remember that marketing should try and achieve something. If you want someone to do something you must tell listeners what they need to do. A piece of marketing communication without a call to action is a waste of time. Always have a very clear, specific, and compelling call to action.
For another book by Jennifer Aaker see here.
Read: Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith (With Carlye Adler) (2014) The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, And Powerful Ways To Use Social Media To Drive Social Change, Jossey-Bass