Motive, in the Eye of the Beholder

This past Wednesday two British girls were attacked with acid in Zanzibar, when they were on their way home from a nursery where they had been working as volunteers. Altruism of these two 18-year-old girls were somehow a threat to a certain group inspired by Sheikh Issa Ponda who recently got arrested by the local police. 'Good intentions' are not enough. Something I had to learn from two years spent at the School of International Service at American University with other do-gooders with global, ambitious goals.

We live in such a complex, political world that involves countless evolving perspectives, including judgments that can be forceful and oppressive. Intention can only be truly valid for the person possessing it, and otherwise, it is fully subject to other perspectives that may validate or invalidate it.

Your entry as a altruistic volunteers, non-profit organization, CSR program or a social enterprise into a community is like meeting with the 'future' in-laws for the first time. As in-laws question the potential new member of the family during a dinner and try to influence their son/daughter, a community meets with you and decides whether you are a blessing or a threat, regardless of your bringing in 'goodness'. The community, like the in-laws, will perceive you based on what is familiar to them--their previous experiences and personal worldviews.

Sarjana.co.id enters the community in Indonesia as a breakthrough internet technology that collects admissions information from universities locally and makes it available to Indonesian youth for free. Plain, simple and no harm done, I thought. Surely, I was proven wrong. When soliciting for data, some universities found us untrustworthy (possibly misusing their data) and forcing undesirable transparency (allowing users to compare one university with others). Some others welcome us with open hands and understand that we offer some service (sincerely) for free. And the rest lost our 'invitation' in their own bureaucracy.

Then, we go to those who benefit from our services but not from our mission directly, and they are potential advertisers. We have very few people, out of almost a hundred that we have contacted, who took a leap of faith in us and sponsored our media. Very few, also, took the effort to praise our mission; the rest just saw us as a regular business.

Explaining a social mission and the impact, in an environment where trust is lacking and motive is always questioned, is often obsolete. "What's in it for you?" and "what's in it for me?" are the questions asked silently. Many say that do-gooders have to always be ready for abundant uncertainties, and I say,  they should not let the blaze of passion rip through the passage into the community but be let the community be participating audience of your work. If some community members refuse to participate, excuse yourself and move on to talk to others, without proactively burning bridges.

Because if we do good for ourselves, it often becomes obvious, like 'parenting' the beneficiaries by forcing ideas on the basis of good intentions or not listening to them to identify the real needs, yet coming up with the silver bullet to social problems.

If our work draws resistance or even violence, like girls in Afghanistan who get harassed for insisting to go to school (inspired by international NGOs), we need to stand back and weigh the collateral damage. Our motive should only go so far, not beyond the will of the beneficiaries. Our good intentions are only as good as perceived by the eye of the beholder.    

Humanize Social Media Marketing!

What the media prefers flashes of things than to go deep. Flash news, flashes of singing and dancing in music videos, and of course 'flash' ads. Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, too, offer flashes.

Gaming, that I recently picked up, can be a frustrating experience. Gaming apps that get funded by ads increasingly become annoying when images of products or other games (that I have no interest in) pop up at random moments.

This is also true for online shopping. Being a frugal 26-year-old, I thrive on daily newsletters sent by online merchants selling discount 'anything'. Every day between 10 and 11AM, I get 'flashes' of clothing, furniture, or pet supplies, which a few months ago I finally started to get rid of religiously without unsubscribing, thinking that I will eventually need them again. And when I do, my shopping experience is based on what I see, things that often look better in edited pictures; it's more like taking a leap of faith for spending and saving at the same time (what a paradox!) rather than shopping with confidence. Sometimes browsing these 'flashes' would get so overwhelming that my 'appetite' would fade. No purchase, maybe next time.

Overwhelmed? Yes. Can deal with it again? Sure. Will I pass on the message to others? Most likely not. Is it the only way of marketing? I hope not!

Continuum wrote an article about how “With Technology, Shopping is More Stressful Than Ever.”[1] Retailers are constantly badgering us with 'flashes', discounts, and alerts. The more we are connected on the communications industry, the more doors they can knock.

So reading just the beginning part of Content to Commerce by Avi Savar, I realize I have believed in badgering consumers with information when I create strategies for social media marketing. 4-5 posts a day on both Twitter and Facebook, with eye-catching or funny images. Will this change in the short run? Likely not!

But two things that I want to slowly learn and implement around social media strategies are:
1.Publish content with ’substance’ in the least intrusive way as possible

‘Substance’, in the case of Sarjana.co.id, would be things that empower users to dream about college and use the features on Sarjana’s website. It would also be brief explanation about a social media post or about why users should use the features we offer.

‘Least intrusive’ is a tricky one. The conventional wisdom is that the more we flash our brand to consumers, the more they will remember. But the risk is the more annoyed they get and the more meaningless the ‘flashes’ become. I think product placement has been effectively used in movies or TV shows, where products become part of a story line. A hairdresser once chatted me up about how ads should be made in the form of skits like those of SNL to engage the attention of consumers with increasing level of attention deficit. 

2. Brand advocacy with incentives

How does a good word about a product gets passed on? Content to Commerce talks about brand advocates who are more than willing to promote a brand without any compensation. I would love to experiment on structures that can convert Facebook fans and Twitter followers to be advocates. But in my experience, advocacy does not come consistently (or not at all) without rewards. Does good product quality justify the effort of rating? Not always (at least I don't bother rating apps mostly, unless someone who works on it that I know asks me to).  What if product rating comes with rewards like discounts, prizes or even money? Remember 'multi-level marketing'? What if the reward is multiplied charitable donation or a recognition (not just as a loyal consumer, but as marketer)?

My intention to post this is to challenge myself humanize some consumers like myself who refuse to be treated like spending robots or mindless, impulsive clickers. Of course, there will always be those who respond to ‘flashes’, but retention, I believe, costs more than ‘flashes’.


[1] Brian Gillespie. “Retail Therapy? Not Anymore… With Technology, Shopping is More Stressful Than Ever.” http://bit.ly/1cHZyNi

Ambiguity and Patience

Ambiguity is factual. Patience is a skill.

And practice truly makes a skill perfect.

Sarjana.co.id is an example of an initiative initiated in an environment saturated with ambiguities. In this context, ambiguites take several forms: unreliability, indirectness, confusion, inconsistency, etc. It would be very easy for me to link them with the local culture and pass on the blame, especially when the culture is my own. Being away from this culture for so long has helped me see them more clearly, for better or worse.

For better, I have been so committed to giving back to the land where I was born. Carved in my adolescent mind: nationalism, rebellion, idealism. My life experience keeps me grounded. The most memorable moments I went through as a young adventurous lad which shaped me were being away from home to get educated. The privileges I had, I think, are worth sharing with others. What was missing in those moments, I wish I had, is what I am building to give back. Justifiable, I think.

For worse, I often forget that idealism will be broken again and again. This idealistic initiative with a glamorous title attached to it, 'Sarjana', does not seem to thrive as well as I thought. Not forgetting that it's trying to change a whole industry and stubborn mindsets, it is lacking a firm support system.

Sarjana.co.id faces potential clients that do not return your calls or respond to your email, vendors that do not communicate when they deliver their work, potential hires that don't show up to interviews. Potential partners get confused with our vision and activities, and they are skeptical about our motive. Bookkeeping can never be 100% honest. What we can hold on to, for most of the time, is positive feedback from users, most of whom are not very generous. So it does take a lot of patience for progress (I don't dare to use the word 'success'). 

The reason why I write this post is frustration at myself for not anticipating ambiguities. I do and should feel that these ambiguities are familiar. I am flaky at times, but have had the privilege being trained not to be. Business and leadership books are best sellers when they talk about it. So patience is what I am depending on.

While the song 'Blurred Lines' are at the top of the charts, I need to find ways to take advantage of the 'pleasurable' ambiguities: bargain more, be a visionary that projects certainties, train your management skills, be polite but clever. But I can only hope that the amount of patience required will be ... tolerable.