#64: On Fear, a Marketing Roadmap, LinkedIn, Trump's Culture War, and Oprah
HELLO HELLO HELLO* to a boatload of new subscribers who discovered this little corner of the internet over the last couple of weeks. I was DELIGHTED to see such support and reach of the Femvertising Scorecard (special thanks to the amazing Cindy Gallup, 3% Conference, and Not Each Other for sharing it!)
If that's what brought you here, buckle up. We've only just begun.
Also, #TeamTrixie
To the many hundreds of you who have been here through 63 issues, I'm sending you mad love. Our family just got a little bigger.
*Hi Ann
In this edition of the World's Best Newsletter:
1. What the Brave Have in Common: Fear
2. The Clearest Articulation of a Marketing Roadmap
3. NEW DATA - What Works on LinkedIn
4. An Arsenal of Weapons in a Culture War
5. I Am the Very Important Longread Everyone is Talking About
6. Oprah Articulates Our Shared Human Insecurity
7. Quote of the Week: A Better Line of Work
8. Events not to be missed
Let's get into it:
1. What the Brave Have in Common: Fear
Beth Comstock is one of my favorite people to follow on LinkedIn - formerly vice chair of GE and now billing herself as "change maker & author." She's producing a "Changemaker's Book Club" featuring excellent POV from authors like Daniel Pink.
Watch their latest video, in which Pink reveals that being fearless comes with a lot of small moments of fear along the way. Any one of us who's worked in startups can relate.
I sought out a lot of great, original thinkers and asked them "what was it like before the idea made it" and every one of them said "I was terrified."
2. The Clearest Articulation of a Marketing Roadmap
As author Tomasz Tunguz writes, "Marketing’s methods can seem intangible."
In this post, he recaps an elegant, stripped down, yet powerful framework for marketing B2B that was given to him by an anonymous but "exceptional marketer."
I love its simplicity, and its emphasis on narrative as power.
( I just wish we knew her name! )
3. NEW DATA - What Works on LinkedIn
I am really into the way LinkedIn releases aggregate user trends to help marketers. So helpful.
(Anytime a company uses proprietary data like this in content, a marketing angel gets its wings.)
Ex: See the research they produced for Int'l Women's Day.
Today, I wanted to share their Content Insights Annual 2017 edition.
This roundup explains what 530M professionals were reading on LinkedIn in 2017.
Consistently popular topics: leadership, management, sales, advice on recruiting and being recruited. No surprise given their readership.
Rise of the gig economy means “Start-ups” and “Entrepreneurship” moved top 20 topics of 2017.
Reaction to news events (Amazon acquiring Whole Foods, security breaches) is the top content driving conversations. This is like Newsjacking on a grand scale.
Content read most on the internet is both useful and entertaining -- well, duh, but read the full post for the top 10 articles on LinkedIn in 2017. Show this list to anyone who says clickbait is a waste of time - if you want eyeballs on the internet, play the game to get the click - and back it up with substance.
4. An Arsenal of Weapons in a Culture War
NYTimes must-read: How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions
When news broke yesterday that Facebook was suspending voter-profiling company Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group, I took it as a major milestone in the developing story of social media's role in the 2016 election.
The most thoughtful analysis of the situation is in the NYTimes today.
"the full scale of the data leak involving Americans has not been previously disclosed — and Facebook, until now, has not acknowledged it."
Highlights:
"Christopher Wylie, who helped found the data firm Cambridge Analytica and worked there until 2014, has described the company as an 'arsenal of weapons' in a culture war... Rules don’t matter for them. For them, this is a war, and it’s all fair... They want to fight a culture war in America.”
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy data, and elections.
The article points out that conservative donor Robert Mercer invested $15 million in Cambridge Analytica, where his daughter Rebekah is a board member, before wooing Stephen Bannon to its promises. This was a right-wing-led purchase of tools that could identify the personalities of American voters and influence their behavior.
"Traditional analytics firms used voting records and consumer purchase histories to try to predict political beliefs and voting behavior.
But those kinds of records were useless for figuring out whether a particular voter was, say, a neurotic introvert, a religious extrovert, a fair-minded liberal or a fan of the occult. Those were among the psychological traits the firm claimed would provide a uniquely powerful means of designing political messages."
Look at the kinds of traits that could be predicted:
I'm not saying this is a problem in and of itself, or trying to villainize republicans for deploying the tricks of the trade in a critical election.
This is important because it's the first time we're seeing the extent of the campaign.
Marketers know data is power in our efforts to influence behavior. This story demonstrates its applicability in the world of politics -- a dangerous game that the majority of consumers using these networks know nothing about. With media illiteracy like this on a massive scale, those with the money, and the data, wield the power.
Please read the full article.
5. I Am the Very Important Longread Everyone is Talking About
This is too real.
6. Oprah Articulates Our Shared Human Insecurity
Please watch this short video of Oprah.
(Those 7 words need no further explanation, but just in case...)
In it, she describes after 35,000 interviews, discovering a common human behavior. After the cameras turn off, each of them turn to her and say "was that ok?" From President Bush to President Obama, heroes and housewives, even Beyonce.
We all want to know one thing: Was that okay? Do you hear me? Do you see me? Did what I say mean anything to you?
The new speed, distance, and anonymity of our world can threaten our empathy. But we share this very common insecurity.
7. Quote of the Week: A Better Line of Work
Comes from Dessa's song Fire Drills which beautifully articulates the problems of misogyny and rape culture. Watch the full video.
I think a woman’s worth
I think that she deserves
A better line of work
Than motherf*cking vigilance
Full lyrics here.
EVENTS NOT TO BE MISSED:
Join me at the AdClub's 10th Annual Women's Leadership Forum, Monday March 26th from 11-6 at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston!
Catch my session at Oracle's Modern Customer Experience on Wednesday, April 11th all about rabble-rousing, ascending B2B brands. Use code CONNECT18 for $500 off.
I'm part of the team behind Marketo's Marketing Nation Summit this year, April 29th - May 2nd in San Francisco. Trust me... it's gonna be good. Save $350 with code "Pinaud350"
Join me May 2-4 in Boston for the 4th annual Content Marketing Conference. I'm sharing the Master of Ceremony duties with the illustrious Jon Burkhart. See you there?
Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading.
Best,
Katie
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