Nowadays, Facebook is taking quite a hit in the media. After an IPO generally viewed as a failure and big business abandoning ship on Facebook’s advertising platforms, you’d be led to believe that the social media giant is destined for the grave. I say that’s total bollocks. And here’s why: because Facebook makes people feel good. And feeling good is rarely in surplus. It’s a commodity that Zucks and his crew will find a way to monetize.
So forget the skepticism and the voyeuristic nature of the Facebook engine. Focus instead on the feel-good things it can do for you. In my case, I don’t get out much because the 3 kids under 2.5 thing is quite a challenge. Recently, we tried to go to the zoo and it lasted 25 minutes. It’s that crazy. On Facebook, I can share the 1 picture I got of my 2.5 year old son at said zoo with my Grandmother. Generations removed, she’s on Facebook. And she loves pictures. Feel-good stuff for sure.
I’ve got plenty of college friends that I don’t see much, if ever. We try to plan meet ups, it doesn’t work, and that’s life. Yet Facebook gives me a glimpse of their lives I can’t get anywhere else. I’m happy when they’re happy, bummed when they’re bummed, and I’ll take a picture of their kids at a park or enjoying an ice cream over a tasteless internet meme any day.
Facebook may be this or may not be that, but I dare say that more of its users associate it with positive interactions than they do with negative interactions. And when you feel good, who knows, you may even go so far as to click on an ad. Or not.
Neil Dougherty 
Dear Brands, Please Don’t Tell Me to Hurry Up
12 JunPhoto by Frans Van Heerden on Pexels.com
Not a week goes by that I don’t get at least five emails (from retail brands I generally respect) landing in my inbox with the phrase “Hurry Up!” in the subject line.
Now, I could do a little better at managing unsubscribes to avoid this annoyance altogether.
But as a digital and social marketer across a number of industries, I realize that email marketing is a critical component of any brand’s media mix. It still reigns supreme as the preferred channel for permission-based promotional messages. Which is why I keep an eye on promotional emails for trends in both form and function.
Still, while subject line scientists will point to urgency as one of the keys to a successful email, I don’t need to be told to “Hurry Up!” so bluntly in my inbox. It’s okay to say, “There’s still time,” or some similar and predictable construction. That I can live with. (Or just tell me what percentage off I can get this week.) But there’s always been something grating and inconsiderate about the phrase “Hurry Up!”
As many professionals struggle to slow life down and stay in the present, the last thing anyone needs is a brand demanding we go faster, faster, faster. Sure, we may have conceded the personal nature of the inbox years ago, but we don’t need to get bullied by a brand in it.
So sorry. You won’t be upping your open rate if I have anything to do with it.
Consider a piece on Inc. I recently stumbled across, penned by Minda Zetlin. She lists and recalls a number of TED Talks about taking time off or slowing down your pace, and one in particular where journalist Carl Honore admits he was reading way too fast to his son at bedtime in order to get to something else on his list.
It was a wake-up call for him. And when I read it I thought to myself, “Crap! I’ve been doing the same exact thing. Curious George might not be very good at exercising patience, but he’s never had to move along quite this fast either.”
As the influence of technology and choice compels us to go faster at nearly everything we do, slowing down becomes a battle – and most of the time we’re losing the battle.
Undoubtedly retail brands are facing stiff competition and disruption in every category, making the immediate sale very important. They’re not always in a position to tell their story over time and nurture the customer relationship, for fear they’ll lose the relationship as quickly as they gained it. In a way, their own first-time shopper discounting and free shipping strategies may become their double-edged sword. So they deliver messages relentlessly. And they demand of us.
Here’s hoping the smart ones will ditch the “Hurry Up!” reference in their subject lines and elsewhere.
Note: This blog entry previously appeared on my LinkedIn profile. But I thought I’d share it here on neildougherty.com too!
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