Does your company or idea include a ‘social mission’? Many entrepreneurs today, especially from the Gen Y, are bringing some social agenda with their venture to the marketplace.  The old notion that you work for 30 years, then begin doing charity work and pro bono services once you’ve “arrived” is dead.  Lifestyle entrepreneurship is here and thriving.  It is now time to look at work/life integration, not simply “balance”.  What do you love personally? Is that your business? if no, why not? Would it or could it integrate with your business?  These are some questions we all ought to ask ourselves as entrepreneurs.  Do I want my business to have a social mission? Well, that is obviously up to each individual and/or team.  The key to recognize is that having a social mission carries additional benefit and not simply the value of the mission itself. In today’s more socially conscious marketplace, having an open social mission improves brand image, marketing, and loyalty. That is, if the mission is authentic and not fabricated for those purposes.

The modern consumer can smell inauthenticity from a few simple interactions with your organization. Fancy marketing hype and a good smile don’t get you quite as far as it used to.  Especially in economic downturns, people are more skeptical of corporate bull and sales hype.  If, however, your mission is authentic, you will reap the benefit.  This is the beauty of the modern economy.  We are rewarded for pursuing social agendas, allowing us to ‘have our cake and eat it to’!  It is no longer simply a drain on for-profit resources but a boon.  It is much more an investment than some ‘sacrifice’ and that is great!  It allows us to continue on with the social mission as our business is bolstered by it, who doesn’t want that?

So the question is, what are some simply ways to develop your social mission? Here is a simple list of ideas to get started:

• brainstorm causes, concerns, and areas of interest that you have personally.  It doesn’t have to be so cliche as ‘inoculate babies in Burma’ (although that is great if it authentically is a concern) but even hobbies can become great social causes.  For example, I am an avid mountain biker.  There are many concerns for trail preservation, natural forest maintenance and other related interests.  Maybe I should distribute bikes to children in Burma! Simply create a list of ideas and interests.
• Identify interests that run congruent with or compliment your business.  What is your business? Do any of the above ideas coincide with your business in any way?
• Identify a list of interesting charities and special-interest groups that compliment your own ideas and/or those of your business.  Do any groups do anything listed above? Are there other ideas gleaned from this new list of charities and non-profits?
• Explore the ideas and concepts with your team to garner support and acceptance as well as to explore alternative perspectives to the new idea.
• Develop the ‘dot org’ side of your business.  Start a website or blog and begin developing your social mission and agenda.  You may use the platform to focus and hone your purpose, deciding on the key areas your social mission will include.
• Create a 6-month action plan to integrate and enact this new mission.  Be wary of any dangers and shifts in current company culture to ensure preservation or positive transformation of it.

This is a simple list to get you started. Many companies are becoming economic powerhouses will changing the world (at the same time!) and your organization can do it to.  You don’t need to wait until your “microsoft” is built to start a multi-billion dollar “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” of your own (which I think is totally awesome by the way, I just don’t have that pocket change laying around quite yet).  Your social mission can begin WITH your company, not after it…

What other ideas are out there to help entrepreneurs in their social mission?  What is your social mission?!

Episode 4 of 37 Signals’ podcast is Jason Fried’s speech at BIG Omaha 2009.  As usual, he creates some friction with his viewpoints that often oppose the “trend & hype” of current venture buzz.  I like it!  I like the balance and alternative thinking that helps ground the entrepreneur.  Listen to it here.  and here is the quick and dirty summary from their site:

In this talk, Jason discusses what he’s learned at 37signals over the years. Topics covered: The idea that you should “fail early, fail often” is bogus. Plans are guesses. Interruption is the enemy of productivity. Sell your byproduct. Emulate chefs. Focus on what won’t change. If you want to do something, you’ve got to do it now.

Listen to it, I highly recommend it.  If you feel the need, let me know what you think of the key ideas, namely:

- “Fail early, fail often” debunked.

- Planning is a joke, just live in the moment!

- Don’t talk to each other, its an interruption.  Use tools instead.

- Sell byproducts.

etc…

Who is your customer?  A common question to ask but possibly the wrong question… according to Roy Williams in his latest Monday Morning Memo.  I would recommend subscribing to it as he brings great insights to get your week started right.  In the latest one (today), he discusses the possible misconception of marketers attempting to pinpoint the exact average or perfect customer.  He discusses the strength in proper wording of such introspective questions and the value that may be garnered by reworking them.  Roy gives a great quote regarding these issues from Dr. Neil Postman:

Dr. Neil Postman, the celebrated Chair of the Department of Culture and Communications at New York University, has this to say about it:  “We must keep in mind the story of the statistician who drowned while trying to wade across a river with an average depth of four feet. That is to say, in a culture that reveres statistics, we can never be sure what sort of nonsense will lodge in people’s heads… A question, even of the simplest kind, is not, and never can be unbiased. The structure of any question is as devoid of neutrality as its content. The form of a question may ease our way or pose obstacles. Or, when even slightly altered, it may generate antithetical answers, as in the case of the two priests who, being unsure if it was permissible to smoke and pray at the same time, wrote to the Pope for a definitive answer. One priest phrased the question ‘Is it permissible to smoke while praying?’ and was told it is not, since prayer should be the focus of one’s whole attention; the other priest asked if it is permissible to pray while smoking and was told that it is, since it is always permissible to pray.”

Roy concludes by discussing an alternative to the typical “who is your customer?” question: Why does my customer buy my product? What does it do for him or her? He states:

Create your marketing plan around the question, “Who is my customer?” and you’ll soon bump your head against a very low ceiling. The true profiles of “your customer” are like the characters in a Fellini movie; an unimaginable circus of people with conflicted personalities and unconscious buying motives.

Proponents of hyper-targeting are quick to say, “You’re using the shotgun approach. I believe in putting the customer in the crosshairs of a rifle.”

But we’re not hunting just one customer, are we? Hyper-targeters believe in fishing with a hook. But for best results, I suggest you find a net.

If you want to grow your business, don’t target age, sex, income or education. Target according to buying motives. The question isn’t, “Who is my customer?” but rather, “Why does my customer buy my product? What does it do for him or her?” The answers to these questions will tell you exactly what to write in your ads.

Congratulations. You found your net.

Thanks for the thought Roy… What do you think?  Is this strategy too unfocused?  or is it focused on the right areas?

Entrepreneur Mag for December includes an article here that helps put Twitter into perspective a bit more and gives “The netiquette of Twitter.”

From the Article:

“Twitter is about reaching the right people at the right time,” says Becky McCray, a longtime Twitter user and advocate who operates her own cattle ranch and liquor store as well as a website, SmallBizSurvival.com., in Oklahoma’s Woods County. “But you have to think carefully about what messages you want to communicate.” Here are some recommendations for what to do–and what not to do–on Twitter.

• Listen before speaking. “When you sign up and start reaching out to folks, listen to them before joining the conversation,” McCray says. “What are their customers talking about? Who are they listening to, and what can I learn from them? When you feel it’s time to tweet some messages, share things you find interesting–share things you wish other people would share.”

• Don’t be boring. “Make sure your tweet is interesting to the reader–be unselfish, and be useful,” says Laura Fitton, co-author of the book Twitter for Dummies and founder of the Twitter application storefront oneforty.com. Short, direct messages work best, especially given Twitter’s 140-character limit. Talk about what your business is doing–e.g., new products, services or promotions, or anything else likely to pique the curiosity of your clientele.

• Consider the source. “The beauty of Twitter is that tweets with value are almost instantly recognized,” says John Battelle, founder, chairman and CEO of Federated Media Publishing. “Does it come from somebody who’s been on Twitter for a month, or for a year? Someone with 10 followers, or 10,000 followers? Did that tweet get picked up and re-tweeted? You can tell a lot about the value of a tweet by those metrics.”

• Update daily. Give your customers a reason to follow and return to your Twitter feed. Download a mobile client to your smartphone to facilitate regular updates while on the go–some of the most popular include Twitterific, TwitterBerry, PocketTweets and Twidroid.

• Embrace Twitter applications. Don’t wait for followers to find you–identify and connect with local Twitter users via services such as Twitter Advanced Search, ChirpCity, Nearby Tweets and Tweepz. Other Twitter apps of value: SocialOomph (for scheduling tweets, tracking keywords and sending direct messages), CalTweet (for tagging, promoting and sharing upcoming business events) and Twitalyzer (for measuring the impact and influence of your tweets).

“Twitter is a tool that’s incredibly powerful,” McCray says. “What makes it powerful is the fact that it can be used in so many different ways.”

Well, there you have it straight from Entrepreneur. One day, we will all figure out Twitter and maybe, just maybe, Twitter will figure out itself!

Twitter’s growth is leaving some fascinated and devoted to the platform while others are confused and, frankly, wasting too much time with it.  A recent article in Fast Company here discusses Katalyst Media and Ashton Kutcher’s venture into the emerging realm of social media/ advertising/ entertainment/ whatever else you want to call it.  He is dominating twitter with 3.9 million followers and maintains an equally impressive facebook fanbase.  As Sarah Ross states regarding Katalyst’s business:

We provide a content solution for marketers and syndicate it through social environments.

The article states, speaking with Kutcher regarding Katalyst:

What the Katalyst team is planning, he says, is simple: Make entertaining stuff, give it to people where they already are, let them have some fun with it, and mix in brand messaging. And because of the viral nature of the Web, each new consumer is cheaper to win than the last one.

The article continues:

Of course it’s risky, Schmidt adds, because the more commercialized personalities become, the less influence they have. Kutcher acknowledges this: “I am consciously risking my career on the edge of what’s too much information. Eventually, we’ll open up this platform to others, just like Facebook and developers. For this to work, it has to be open.”

I love that Kutcher is grasping the open nature of the web and social media.  This is crucial to understanding and capitalizing on it.  Katalyst has become successful in utilizing the platforms that so many struggle with including raising substantial money for charities and current work with Pepsi.

The obvious benefit illustrated by Katalyst regarding social media is not direct monetization but maintains an emphasis on monetization nonetheless.  In today’s no revenue digital world, this is often a lost focus.  In order for business to survive, it is absolutely necessary; it’s just common sense!  Katalyst is actually profitable with social media!

So what is the take?

What can each business learn from Katalyst’s experiences?  It is about building reputation, enhancing customer experience and loyalty, and creating highly effective channels of information distribution.  Don’t prostitute the channels, however, through product hocking and spam.  That does not enhance experience or reputation.  This is the beauty of proper social media management, if reputation, experience, and loyalty are considered, the channels of distribution will maintain effectiveness and integrity.  They will only grow and become more efficient as well.