Social Media: Turning Your Message into a Movement

What does it take to turn your message into a movement?

How can you get people around the world excited about your cause or project?

In what ways does social media play a role?

Social media plays a significant role in turning your message or cause into a movement. Social media allows you to reach people around the globe with whom you would never otherwise be able to connect. Through its reach, you equip yourself with champions and influencers able to share your message, cause, and movement with their national and international circles. This is really powerful stuff!

Social media also provides a platform to create social energy, engagement, and conversation... and this is essential to turn a message into a movement. Creating a movement involves people sharing their experiences, stories, and perspectives... getting into conversation about the message.
With social media, you can create this engagement through:

Videos
Memes
Stories
Polls and Surveys
Contests
Virtual Events
Blogs
Articles
Sharing Media
and SO much more


In 2015, Charmaine did a 14,000 km (10,000 mile) journey across north America… the Million Acts of Kindness tour. Because of her many champions, partners, and sponsors, they accomplished so much more! The #Kindness RV, sponsored by Fraserway RV, helped the team and the tour make a big statement (and an exciting arrival) and helped connect strangers with the mission.


Charmaine and her team utilized a number of social media strategies and platforms.

Periscope (Livestream app) was such a powerful way to engage people in our events, live as they happened. The team loved that it uploaded to Twitter and that the video downloaded to their camera file on my cell phone so that they could use these videos later with editing for other social posts. Periscope also engaged a new audience and immediate feedback as people posted their comments, questions, and so often gave us "hearts."

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were the primary platforms for sharing updates, experiences (in the form of posts, pictures, and videos), and again, extensive engagement resulted on these platforms as well.

YouTube was also a very important part of the social media strategy as was the blog.

Look at all the different ways that sponsors were being promoted, connected to new audiences, and engaged with new social followers.

What can you do on your next project to build engagement and turn your message into a movement?

What is relationship capital?

What does it mean to be an influencer?

How do influencers build relationship capital?

Are there mistakes that people make along the way to building their relationship capital?

One of the biggest assets an organization or business has is relationships, so much so that it is helpful to consider relationships similar to capital assets. Here’s one way to understand what “relationship capital” is. Related Vision, a company with expertise around relationship capital, says that “The network of people and organizations that represent its customers, partners, suppliers, employees etc, constitute its Relationship Capital.” Think of relationship capital as the sum of everyone that is part of an organization or a business.   

Each person within that sum has unique potential influence. “Influence is the ability to get other people to follow your lead in a one-on-one basis,” says Teresa de Grosbois, author of Mass Influence: The Habits of the Highly Influential. She also says, “As soon as we’re talking about a one-to-many basis, then we’re talking about mass influence.” Knowing how to best use your influence is the key.

We are all influencers... we each have our own circle of champions, supporters, and people that we are in relationship with. These relationships flourish when they:

Involve mutual reciprocity or a mutual willingness to help and support one another
Respect the time needed to build trust and the relationship
Value integrity (and model this through actions and words)
Some of the mistakes that people make with influence and relationship building with influencers are:
Premature asks (asking before there is a relationship)
Not following up
Being a champion for them in a way that is not congruent to their brand


How you can build influence and meaningful relationship capital:
Take time to understand each other's brands, mission, etc.
Come from a place of giving and supporting. Look for ways you can support the other individual and make powerful connections for him/her (speaking or media opportunities, like-minded influencers, etc.).
Support their platform. Connect with them on social media, be a champion of their posts, and invite the other individual into your world (to meet your followers).
Be a champion for their launches, events, projects, and message.
...and most importantly... be yourself.

You can listen to the replay of this content rich conversation here.

As you go through the rest of the week, take time to recognize and appreciate the influencers in your life. Being a champion for others helps you build your own relationship capital.