Hey, know what? Seth Godin, [insert your own incoherent gushing statement of fandom here], is — no surprise to anyone who reads his stuff — doing something interesting.
Observe, please, the power of Seth.
If it were anyone else I’d think “Hmm, interesting gimmick”. Or: “Nice try, I’m still not buying your book.” When it’s Seth Godin, though, I never think gimmick. In fact, I automatically assume “intelligent, well-considered, ballsy experiment”. Because, you know, that’s his thing.
Oh, right. Let me tell you what I’m talking about
The thing Seth Godin is doing here doesn’t seem all that exciting if you don’t have background information. At first glance, it basically looks like a new experimental social network for learning and sharing information. For people who own his new book Tribes.
And yeah, if anyone else were behind it, most people would think, “Oh, boy. Another boring, lame time-waster-ey thing.”
But this is different because there are already thousands and thousands of smart, creative, thinking people who consciously work with Seth’s ideas and concepts. That’s why it’s legitimate to hope — and even expect — that this Tribe-ey thing of his could actually be an interesting, exciting place to hang out.
I’m game. In fact, I’m totally looking forward to seeing what happens.
But never mind the thing itself. Right now the interesting thing is thinking about the creative way he’s promoting it.
As far as I’m concerned — and yeah, no one’s asked me yet, but that’s the fun of self-publishing, I get to share my theories with all and sundry — he got a couple things really, really right. And maybe two things somewhat less than right.
Still admire the hell out of him. You know that’s a given, right? Okay, moving on.
Shall we?
Smart thing #1: achievable but palpable barrier to entry
If you’re going to ask people to become members of something, part of your success depends on creating a just high enough barrier to entry so that people want to work for it. A little. Not too much.
In this case there are a couple things.
- Pre-ordering the book
- Sending the electronic receipt as proof of purchase
This is actually two things. One is the money. The other is that you’re buying a book without knowing anything about what’s in it, just that you want it because Seth Godin wrote it. You do.
Okay, admittedly it’s not a lot of work but this is the land of internets and on the internets (“on the emails“, if you’re my mother) we don’t like doing things that make us work.
C’mon, we don’t even like clicking on a link if it doesn’t seem like it’s going to give us hard-core value for that nanosecond of “work”.
I’ve said this a million times but here goes again:
Asking someone to click on a link is the online equivalent of asking them to cross the street, walk two blocks, and pick you up a loaf of bread and a carton of milk.
Same goes for emailing someone an electronic receipt. Especially when you have to copy-paste in the address by hand (uphill both ways!) because it’s going to an address you’ve never corresponded with before.
Is this absurd? Possibly. But baby, that’s how it is. We don’t like to work. Sort of how we don’t like people to make us think, but more so.
Smart thing #2: help people feel extra special
Obviously if you want a members-only environment, you’re going to have to make it seem special. So it’s really more about how you help them feel privileged to be enjoying exclusive, cool, member-ey things. Things that they’d want.
- Numbered membership (works on desire to be visibly cool)
- Scarcity (works on fear of losing out or of being left out)
- Chance to win free stuff (works on the “we’re suckers for free stuff” gene)
Invites are sent out in batches. Numbers are visible. As Seth explains, low numbers = “prestige, first dibs on various assets and bragging rights”. But everyone knows that bragging rights is the biggest.
He’s “letting” you buy his book, sight unseen now and getting the privilege to join his thing until August 10th and then it’s over.
“Members of the tribe” (aside: am I the only one who automatically associates this phrase with people who read Heeb magazine?) are in the running to win free tickets to a launch event/presentation thing in New York …. and then there is the vague promise of “a few other goodies”.
Again, if this were a big corporation, you’d probably be turned off by some amorphous “and more!”
But you know the goodies will be legit. And anyway, at this point you’re already thinking about how you are going to buy the book anyway so you might as well check out his Tribe-ey thing.
I mean, at the very worst, you’ll have something interesting to blog about.
Less-than-cool thing #1: Allow room for confusion
There’s a FAQ (not a mistake, good idea). And on the FAQ you see a graphic of the website-to-come. It’s called Triiibes.com.
Thing is, I read it (and I know I’m not the only one) as Triiibe.com.
Because the thing that stuck out was “Hey, three ‘i’s! Don’t forget three ‘i’s!” The thing that didn’t stick out was the ‘s’ on the end. I know, the book is called Tribes, but I hadn’t seen the book yet when I was at the FAQ.
Anyway, Triiibe.com (three ‘i’s, no ‘s’) is already a thing. A sloooow-loading website whose Triiibe is a “collective founded in 2006 by performance artists Alicia, Sara and Kelly Casilio (identical triplets) …”
That was when I stopped reading because my interest in performance art trends towards non-existent, though — given the amount of time I spend in Berlin — my opinion does seem to be moving slowly but steadily from apathetic to semi-antagonistic.
Anyway, if I made that mistake, lots of people will make that mistake. Either don’t give away the name of your top-secret invite-only site or make it really, really easy to get there.
Less-than-cool thing #2: Promote ginormous companies, some of whom who are the antithesis of the stuff you teach
Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Borders. Dude.
This goes not just for Seth Godin but for lots of biggifiers out there.
Guys. Your whole work is successful because it helps small, quirky, good-for-the-world business owners do their cool, unique thing and put it out there. We appreciate that. But then you drink coffee at Starbucks and send us to Amazon to buy your stuff.
Live by example. You’re trying to help us be the non-Walmart, the non-box, the non-mainstream-conventional option, right? Support those options in the real world. Encourage us to support those options.
Your words inspire people. Your actions have impact. People who admire you might end up making more socially responsible decisions just because they think you’re cool. That’s power. Use it.
What’s the point of having powers if you’re not going to use them for good?
Yes, on the FAQ, there was one tiny link (the last one) to the independent bookstores option. Why not make that the first option? Most people will buy from Amazon anyway. But at least make it clear where your support lies.
I pre-ordered Seths’ book Tribes from Powells.com. Yes, it was more expensive. And yes, that kinda sucks. And yes, I’ll give an extra couple of dollars to support a company that’s in line with my values. And — in my case, at least — also local.
Whatever, I can buy one book fewer this year. The point is, living by what you teach is important.
I know that Seth Godin and I have all sorts of shared values because reading all his books has made it clear that he cares deeply — and thinks deeply — about stuff that’s important to me.
So come on, bump up the Buy independent link to the top of the list. Lose a little on your Amazon ranking. It won’t be the end of the world.
And the lesson for the day is …
I’m not sure if there is one. I bought the book. Seriously looking forward to reading it.
But even more, I’m looking forward to some intense and interesting conversations about what it means to be part of a tribe, to create a tribe, and to take risks and do creative stuff in ways that other people wouldn’t.
Because that’s where the learning happens. And really, it’s all about the learning.
Thanks
thanks for the lesson, and the great post and for buying a copy.
and thanks for joining the tribe.
1. you’re right about triiibe.com vs. triiibes.com. I’m just a little late to the .com party, alas. Not sure what I could have done. Fortunately, you’ll never have to type it in, since it’ll be in your invite.
2. the thing about Amazon is a really interesting one. Most of my readers get upset when Amazon isn’t the primary choice, because they have one click and a credit card on file and it’s easy and you know, they’re not particularly annoying.
when I send people to independents, many times they come back howling. It’s not in the computer, the site won’t load on my browser, the price is 50% higher…
I never go to home depot (ever) nor Wal mart. They don’t seem to have the community in mind. And I like independent bookstores, like them a lot. But it’s turning out to be increasingly difficult to serve my readers without making Amazon the first choice. By most measures, they’re just better.
Sorry if I offended, and thanks!
Seth Godins last blog post..Are you in the tribe?
@Seth – Oh, not offended! Didn’t mean to imply that.
It’s just something I think about a lot, and it’s been a big theme more recently since so many internet-ey people seem to be teenager-crush-ing on Amazon. Apparently your readers too.
Thanks for the seriously thoughtful comment.
As for the “late to the .com party” thing, I think the world gives you a free pass on that one. And anyway, there isn’t anyone online who hasn’t gone through that at some point or another. We all have our “no way someone had *that* domain” war stories.
@Everyone else, you’re getting the book, right? I need people to talk to about this stuff …
I was just thinking about tribes a few minutes ago. Not in any kind of business context, but in the “your peers define you” sense.
There are several kinds of tribal patterns, some good, some lame.
The lame ones involve subsuming your identity so you fit in: high school cliques, gangs, cults, etc… It’s not about who you are or what you can do, it’s about the props and compliance with the group.
The good tribal patterns are about embracing your identity and kicking ass at being you. Also note: non-compliance, experimentation, and trailblazing are rewarded. This is how I feel about all my friends, whether they are “in person” friends or Twitter/blogger friends. Feels pretty good.
@Nathan: Trailblazing and tribalizing are SO CLOSE to being anagrams that it just can’t be a coincidence.
Just saying. 🙂
Agree with Seth re: Amazon being the best possible default. They just do everything so right, and often for the best price. Also, they enable tons of mom and pop businesses with the Amazon Marketplace.
However, I do deduct points for Amazon’s infuriating “one click” patent.
Nathan Bowerss last blog post..Modal dialogs are the new deadly sin of web design
@Richard – The Trailblazing-Tribalizing thing is eerily familiar. Has someone already written a business book about that? Or a parody of a business book about that?
@Nathan – Yeah, Amazon is easy to use. They totally “got” a lot of things about how online stuff should work way before everyone else (interactivity, customer ratings and reviews, community-building, etc). So credit where credit is due, etc.
But they’re also monopolist schmegeggies who stomp on POD companies. Which means all of us who want to self-publish have no real choice as to who we use.
And the way they get the best price is the Walmart way. Mom and pop businesses don’t so much “get” to use their marketplace as “have to”.
Of course we also want to biggify ourselves and be out there and change the world, etc. For me it’s really important to do it the Zingerman’s way (conscious, compassionate, local + online) and not the bully way. And to model that in terms of who I promote.
But I get that people like Amazon and want to buy from them. Just don’t want that to be the automatic default with no discussion.
Love your thoughts on what makes a tribe. Would make for an interesting post … maybe you’ll write some more about that …
Oh wow… you know Zingerman’s? I lived in Ann Arbor until 2 months ago. Ari Weinzweig is great.
@Brandon – Small, small world. Ann Arbor is full of awesome.
I actually wrote a whole post about Zingerman’s (and Betty Boop) because I’m obsessed.
And that’s where I also make my “secret Ann Arborite” confession.
(I was totally giving myself extra credit for not making an “Ann Arborite of passage” joke but now taking those points away. Curses! Foiled again!)
You know, I finally checked out the Tribes Squidoo page and this feels like a deal breaker:
“Everything on the triiibe, stays there. We agree not to cross post or to quote without permission.”
I get that Triiibes is an experiment in exclusivity, but if I can’t tell a friend about something it might as well not exist.
That said I’ll probably order the book (which I would have anyway) and try to join Triiibes just as an academic exercise.
Nathan Bowerss last blog post..Great moments in bad stock art: “Guy pumping fist and howling into cell phone”
@Nathan – Yeah, my reasoning was also the “I’m gonna buy the book anyway, so what the hell” line of thinking.
Though I have to say when it comes to dealbreakers, there are bigger ones than exclusivity. I’ll definitely post about my Triiibes experience which, at this point at least, is a bit glitchy. Still, super-interesting experiment.
Man, social networks are exhausting though. When is the official “enough already!” backlash going to kick in?