The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways to Use Social Media to Drive Social Change by Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith with Carlye Adler, (©2010, Jossey-Bass: SanFrancisco, CA). will help you harness the power of social media to achieve a single, focused, concrete goal. The authors also hope you will be inspired to use social media for social good. Think of this as your playbook for moving your cause from awareness to action. To be successful, you must translate your passion into a powerful story that generates contagious energy. Jennifer and Andy draw on abundant psychological research to show you how to do this. They also provide many inspiring stories to make their points and inspire their audience. Click the icon at the bottom of any page to purchase this book.
Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith
- They are a married couple. Jennifer is a Professor of Marketing at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business where she teaches a course on social media. Andy is a principal of Vonavona Ventures, where he advises on marketing, customer strategy, and operations. The book also contains a forward by Chip Heath, coauthor of Made to Stick, and Switch.
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The Dragonfly Model
- The Dragonfly Effect, like the dragonfly, relies on four wings that achieve great results when they work together. It starts with focus. This is where you identify a concrete measurable goal. Next you grab attention by telling a personal story with unexpected, visceral, and visual aspects. Then you engage, which is where you empower your audience to care enough to want to do something. Finally, you enable and empower others to take action. To make action easier, you must prototype, deploy, and continuously tweak your approach towards making your audience team members.
Wing 1 – Focus – The HATCH Principals
- There are five design principles associated with the focus wing. First is humanistic. You first need to understand who your audience is. Listen, observe, ask questions, and empathize. Second is to make your goal actionable by breaking long-term goals into a number of short-term goals that are small, actionable, and measurable. Third is to make a goal testable. You need to measure progress and success somehow. Fourth is clarity. Goals need to be highly specific. Failures often involve goals that are vague, conflicting, or too numerous. The final principle is happiness. Your goal must be personally meaningful. The prospect of happiness will serve to motivate.
Wing 2 – Grab Attention – How to Stick Out
- Aaker and Smith suggest four design principles for grabbing attention. First is get personal. This can be a personal hook, using one’s name, or tagging someone’s picture. Second is to deliver the unexpected. The element of surprise can result in viral behavior, and you need to be original. Third is to visualize your message. Pictures trump words in terms of grabbing attention. You can juxtapose two images, combine images, or replace one with another. Finally you want to make a visceral connection. Do what you can to trigger the senses of sight, sound, hearing, or taste. Use music to tap emotions.
