Tribes

One of the best marketing books ever written is Seth Godin’s latest: Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us.

In reading this book I was reminded of the tribes I’ve gravitated to and been a part of throughout my life.  They ranged from a church youth group, cliques in school, friends who liked the same music, peers working in the same industry to people who shared similar interests, ideas or beliefs.  Think of the tribes you’ve ran with as you grew up, moved to different cities, started a family (or not) and changed jobs or careers.

The idea of tribes is nothing new, but with social media like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, tribes are larger and more powerful than ever.  And because they are self-chosen groups based on relationships, the likability, and trust factors that lead to persuasion coalesce much faster than traditional marketing campaigns searching for eyeballs.

In the last week someone created a Facebook group for a teen night club I went to in the 80′s.  This idea had someone else start a photo page for the Las Vegas 80′s music scene I was a part of which in turn caused me to start a Facebook Group for KUNV, the radio station the scene was based around where I was the Program Director.  I’ve reconnected with over 50 people in 3 days from a long lost tribe that’s over 20 years old because of the connective power of Facebook to rekindle and build relationships.

In the 2008 election the Obama campaign had the highest number of followers on Twitter, over 100,000.  This was a large part of making their campaign successful.  They got their messages out instantly to their target market (who all opted in voluntarily) multiple times each day.  This was one major factor in making the Obama tribe feel that they were a part of the action.  And they were, even the ones who don’t know Twitter exists.

There’s a lot more that will be said about the power of tribes and how we’re now in a time of leaders (anyone in the tribe can lead others) and followers rather than a time of managers and employees or people with big titles giving orders to others.

Just read Seth’s book.   It’s a fast engaging read with information broken down into simple ideas and story chunks.

Read the review from Publisher’s Weekly here: Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us and read Seth’s awesome blog

“Tribes is a must read for all of us. It’s up to each one of us to lead in today’s new kind of world.”
—Former U.S. senator Bill Bradley