All right, I'm gonna admit up front that this post is gonna be tough for me to write without an obvious bias. As I read this 60 minutes transcript I felt like I had suddenly been transported back to 1999 - 2003, some of the worst years of my life...otherwise known as High School. I understand that being a social media influencer is a legitimate way to make money these days, and that all kinds of people are successful at it. The people highlighted in this article reminded me strongly of the cool kids I used to be tortured by, but I understand that isn't a completely fair comparison. It's simply a visceral response. This type of marketing is honestly pretty brilliant, even if I don't want to admit it. These kids (just generalizing, most "influencers" are pretty young) make money almost out of thin air. Using just a mobile phone usually, they take photos, record videos, create podcasts, and probably a bunch of other stuff I'm not aware of, and they ...
Here in Southwest Michigan, Whirlpool is a BIG deal. Their world headquarters are located about a half an hour away from me, in Benton Harbor. They are a huge employer in the area. So today, I thought I'd take a look at their online presence, specifically their "Every day, care" campaign and their Facebook page. So I'm pretty skeptical of big corporations. I think profits are their biggest concern and for the most part they don't care that much about individual consumers, or about the communities those consumers live in, aside from how their public relations affects their sales. I'm not sure if this "Every day, care" campaign changes my mind about that, if I really think about it, BUT I'll admit, the idea behind the campaign is great, and the content they've created for it absolutely got to me on an emotional level. I think it is a big challenge for a company to find a way to engage with it's customers on a more emotional and les...