Lessons from the Marketing Campaign Trail: Using Social Media to Engage Multicultural Communities

Lessons from the Marketing
Campaign Trail
Using Social Media to Engage Multicultural Communities

Jessica Faye Carter
May 5, 2010

Copyright © 2010 Jessica Faye Carter.

GUIILT

we’re going for the guilt-free session


Every community
and every person
is multicultural.

(it’s not just about race, ethnicity, or
minorities)


This session is not only about how to
market to ethnic groups…


It’s about how to use social
media to connect with
people across different
dimensions of their identity

(ethnicity is only one dimension)


Our approach
•  What is culture?
–  how do we talk about it in this era of emerging
technologies?
–  social media as a culture
•  Engaging users across dimensions of identity
•  Establishing next-level connection points
•  Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
•  Going to market: testing your concept and
site
•  Getting ready for the future


Lesson #1:
Understand Culture +
Social Media

Culture Talk
•  Different ways we talk about culture
–  From the Latin cultura, “to cultivate”
–  Refinement, the arts, things congruent with
the notion of being civilized
–  Mental programming or “software of the mind”
•  Muddled lexicon
–  Sociology, anthropology, business, diversity,
race


What is Culture?
“Collective programming of the mind that
distinguishes the members of one group or
category of people from others.”
Source: Geert Hofstede and Gert Jan Hofstede, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind,
2005


Mental Programming
Specific to Inherited
individual and learned

PERSONALITY

Specific to group Learned
or category
CULTURE

Universal Inherited
HUMAN NATURE

Source: Hofstede, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, 2005

Culture Revealed:
Symbols, Heroes, Rituals, Values
•  Symbols
–  Shared meaning in language, power, attire within the group
–  May shift between groups
•  Heroes
–  People whose attributes are valued and respected by the
group (e.g., Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, Ernesto (Che)
Guevara, Confucius)
–  May be shared by different groups
•  Rituals
–  Important group activities with deeper, hidden meanings
(e.g., religious ceremonies, salutations, celebrations)
•  Values
–  Invisible; inferred from symbols, heroes, rituals
Source: Hofstede, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, 2005

What about social media
culture?

When Cultures Collide
National Cultural
Attributes

“Hacker” Technology Business
Emerging

Culture Culture
Culture

Individual
Cultural
Attributes

Cultural Views
Emerging
Hacker Business
Tech
•  Focus on technical •  How to remain true •  Diverse markets
proficiency to our hacker present a business
•  Stick to the roots, but…show opportunity
“operating system” me the money! •  Revenue is King
•  Human and •  All levels of mental •  All levels of mental
personality levels programming programming, but
of mental •  Opportunity for narrow view of
programming expanded culture
•  Resistance to understanding of
highlighting culture culture


Culture + Tech
•  Long Tail
•  Openness/Transparency
•  Collective Intelligence
•  Hacking/Remixing Data & Info


Lesson # 2:
Engage Groups by
Using Co-cultures

Co-Cultures
•  Everyone belongs to multiple cultural groups
(“co-cultures”)
–  National origin
–  Ethnic/regional background
–  Gender
–  Economic status
–  Education level
–  Physical appearance (e.g., weight, height,
attractiveness, coloring)
–  Sexual orientation/preference
–  Religion
•  Sometimes these co-cultures conflict


What do you see?
•  Lisa Dineo
•  Born in Japan; lived there
until she was 12
•  Teenage years in Iowa
•  ½ Black, and identifies
herself as multi-ethnic
•  M.P.H., Johns Hopkins
•  Religion: Catholic
•  On her iPod: Rihanna,
Colbie Caillat, Lazybatusu
•  Married to a Japanese
man, 1 son


Marketing to Co-cultures
•  Hacker culture
–  Less emphasis on commercial issues—it’s about
exploration of new ideas
•  Multicultural marketing (Business)
–  Choose culture with highest affiliation (e.g., ethnicity,
gender, etc., or socio-economic status)
–  You can only do so much specialization
•  Emerging Tech
–  The Long Tail is profitable (because social media has
aggregated these markets
–  Phase 1: combine multicultural marketing with social
media


Multicultural Social Media
Pros Cons
•  Integrates with current •  Lexicon still muddled
business practices and •  Still using major identity
nomenclature categories—not reaching
•  People are somewhat all co-cultures
conditioned to view •  Some controversy about
culture as ethnicity use of culture in
•  Gives some sense of business practices
using culture as a
connection point


Connecting with Co-Cultures: NBA
•  Rather than focusing
on one aspect of
users’ identities,
establish multiple
connection points
–  National origin
–  Multiple language
offerings
–  Regional interest
–  Entertainment www.nba.com/enebea

offerings


Connecting with Co-Cultures:
American Airlines
•  Part of larger diverse
marketing campaign
•  Focuses on Black
travelers
•  Nelson George, Travel
Expert-at-Large
•  English language
(other languages could
expand reach)
•  Blackness has different
connotations in other www.blackatlas.com

regions of the world


Lesson #3:
Establish Next-Level
Connections

Getting Past Cultural Basics
•  Connect with users beyond what is
generally considered culture
•  Consider these areas:
–  Emotional connections
–  Values (e.g., family-oriented, respect for
elders, religious considerations)
–  Highlight commitment to community
–  Showcase a group’s history


Marketing to Co-Cultures - Search
•  Search engines target
religious users who
want to avoid certain
content
•  Could be of interest to
non-religious users
•  I’mHalal has warnings
for the devout


Historical Connections:
The Queerest Places
•  Chronicles historical
sites with relevance
to the LGBT
Community
–  Cole Porter’s house
–  GLAMA in Kansas
City
•  Celebrates LGBT
culture and history queerestplaces.wordpress.com

•  Part of community of
historical LGBT sites

Lesson #4:
Watch out for Pitfalls

Pitfalls on the Road to Success
•  Assuming everyone
will like your idea
–  Not a fit w/personality PERSONALITY

–  May prefer the
“human only”
approach CULTURE
–  You cannot please
everyone
•  Avoid limiting culture A screenshot of Pitfall! on the Atari 2600
HUMAN NATURE
to appearances,
languages, cuisines

Pitfalls II
•  Skip the stereotypes
–  Reducing an ethnicity to one characteristic
•  Be careful with humor
–  it varies considerably across cultures
–  insider/outsider dynamics may not allow you
to express certain types
•  Remember the idiom!!


Lesson #5:
Test Your Concept and
Site

Going to Market
•  Two models
–  Hacker culture says do the site quickly, make
refinements later
•  Pros: first to market, establish leadership with the
group
•  Cons: this could lead to costly mistakes and really
bad publicity if things go poorly
–  Business culture says test, test, test
•  Pros: Sensitive to the importance of culture, may
resonate on deeper levels
•  Cons: Slower to market; does it get waylaid in the
pipeline?


Unilever’s Approach
•  Tested brands like
Pond’s Age Miracle
Cream with Chinese
women
•  Used blogs to connect
with testers
•  Testers shared their
thoughts on the
product
•  Risky move, but paid
off—product very well
received


American Airlines’ Approach
•  Several stages of
testing
–  Focus groups
–  Employees previewed
and gave feedback
•  Took perspective of
audience seriously
•  Continued monitoring
and engagement www.blackatlas.com


Social Testing
•  Engaged users will
highlight site,
including pros and
cons
•  Try to engage them
(not just to respond to
comments), but take
their concerns
seriously
–  Be selective with this
approach


Lesson #6:
Get Ready for the
Future

Future of Multicultural Social Media

•  Mobile
–  Broad reach across demographics
–  Reaches global markets that lack significant
technological infrastructure
•  Customized user experiences
–  Everyday life
–  Entertainment and leisure


Connect with me

jcarter@jessicafayecarter.com
twitter.com/jescarter
203.539.1436

Thank You.


Lessons from the Marketing Campaign Trail: Using Social Media to Engage Multicultural Communities

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