Critical Mass and the Analogue Social Network
OK this is a curve ball for this blog, but at a marketing management tutorial this afternoon another student wondered how they could benefit in their marketing plan from the cruise ship tourism aspect of our inner city Port. It’s a fair question, but the answer is easy – critical mass. Think of designing an event from the perspective of what we understand about creating successful social networking software applications.
How many parties have you wanted to go to where only 5 people expect to turn up? How many social networking applications did you join to speak to only 5 potential users? How do we get from 5 users to 5 million users in social networking software? An empty forum is as useful for advice as a pair of quartz underpants. One of the biggest challenges of creating a healthy piece of social networking software is building community… which means you need critical mass. That point at which people want to be at the party… a tipping point. What the Americans out there might call The Show.
So, back in the real world where we deal with analogue social networks, a marketing plan for the inner city might actually identify one or several of these large cruise ships that visit as an opportunity; where a large number of cashed up tourists jump off and rake along our shoreline hotels and restaurants. They, my friends, are a currently undervalued resource of inner city critical mass. If that’s what you’re after. They’re jump-starters for your intended social something. A ship full of gays, retirees, whatever takes your fancy – all party food for the hungry event out there waiting to happen.
What I mean by that is if you wanted to jump start an event for the first time you could probably think about launching during a specific cruise ship’s presence. They have money, and they don’t drive cars so the inner city parking weakness isn’t an issue. But here’s the tickler – they aren’t your real target market. Not the tourists, they’ll be spending money and slogging the pavement regardless of your new event or whatever it is you’re selling. The tourists are your hook, the critical mass, the bums on seats at The Show. Step right up ladies and gentlemen and slap that poor white guy across the chops for a fiver! Yep.
The value of the tourist presence is almost entirely as the enticing lure of critical mass for The Show. Kick start your analogue social network and you’re away, my friend. And, while it might not suit every plan and it actually does nothing for my own, it’s always one of those opportunities sitting out there if you need it.
