Dare more anarchy - give power to the communities
Movements such as the Arab Spring, Fridays for Future or the Global Citizen Movement have mainly emerged from the circle of mostly young web users or are spreading through them. The movements and their young drivers have developed and expanded their surprising power.
Social media are still the number one means of communication for young people.
And that applies to almost all functions such as
- inform yourself and others
- private conversations
- Buy and sell
- Entertainment of all kinds
- Work
- educate and educate oneself and others
However, almost no political, commercial or other campaign uses this experience consistently.
Usually there is a little more participation by the target groups, surveys and some user-generated content.
However, the real potential is wasted.
No matter if the goal
- the development of new target and customer groups for their own interests,
- improvement of own brand values and market shares,
- the serious renewal of products and services
- or the activation of young people, for example for public service, leisure activities or volunteer work is:
To do this, campaigns simply have to be set up differently than most today. "Dare more anarchy!" - This is Fabio Mancarella's message - that is the point.
Above all, more anarchy means a shift in the widespread balance of power. Less power to the platforms. Less power to agencies. More power for users. More participation and more self-determination for more people.
Fabio's thesis: It is also worthwhile for web providers such as companies, political parties, associations, scientists, authorities and many others. Well-known examples of this now exist - albeit very rarely because most of them lack the courage to be anarchy: e.g. Tesla, the Milka biscuit tour and the FIFA Museum.
Unfortunately, hardly anyone dares to do that - especially here in Germany. This leads to increasing dissatisfaction among users. And the providers step on the spot. It also contradicts the web reality of great transparency and unbridled communication. To use this power for yourself, to be heard, that is very much lacking in Germany.
For example, nobody knows better which content attracts 16-year-olds interested in MINT than they do themselves! Therefore, they have to help shape the campaign - as happened in the one we are accompanying Project zdi.NRW.
That is why matrix communication involves the target groups in as many campaigns and projects as possible - and then early and holistically.
Fabio Mancarella has been with the matrix since 2013. After completing his training as a marketing communications specialist, he continued his training as a social media manager.
Hello Fabio, thank you for taking the time to do this interview.
In the matrix you are also called “P2P anarcho”. What does that mean?
"P2P" stands for "Peer to Peer". The technical term originally comes from IT and is slowly finding its way into marketing. Roughly translated, the term means communication between equals. For us, this means that we want to communicate with our customers and the communities on an equal footing. "Together with the community and not through the community" - according to this motto, we want to encourage as many people as possible to participate in our projects. Participation is THE keyword here. I think it's incredibly important that in a democratic society everyone has the opportunity as often as possible to get involved and to shape their own lives independently.
The anarcho comes from the fact that with our approach we give up a lot of creative power to our community. However, this is far from anarchy, as we check the content again before publication. So far, we have only had positive experiences with giving up creative freedom to the community.
How exactly can you imagine a P2P marketing strategy?
The participation of the target groups is particularly important to us. A key element for this is empathy. Only when I understand the thoughts and feelings of the target group can I reach them. That is why for us the conception of a P2P strategy begins with the analysis of the target group. Then we approach the target group in order to actively shape our content with them - we actively enter the community. In our zdi project, the YouthScienceCamp is probably the best example of this approach. You could almost call it analog social media. The young people tell us on site what they would like to talk about, what topics they are interested in and what they are hoping for from the event.
These meetings also enable us to find out which communication channels the target group actually uses. In the camp, the young people have the opportunity to actively organize the event. Since this concept has already more than proven itself there, we also experimented with the concept on our social media platforms. The whole thing runs under the title "Takeover". The target group creates their own posts on events and relevant topics. This is authentic and close to the target group.
Participative offers are only slowly finding their way into corporate communication strategies. Why is that?
Giving the community the opportunity to create content itself always means relinquishing some of the control. This notion is still frightening for some institutions. A good example of this phenomenon would be an online voting for a project that we carried out some time ago. The community was allowed to submit suggestions as to what we should call our project alumni. This was then voted on online.
At that time the "gurus" won the vote, a very fitting title we think. The community has also received this name wonderfully. The MINTYouTubing format is also participatory. Here, the freedom of choice about the content is completely in the hands of the participants. The only requirement for the videos is a scientific context. Together with the YouTube duo Lekkerwissen, the community of a project creates its own videos that are published on the project's YouTube channel. Since this is user-generated content, which is produced by the target group for the target group, this content is characterized by a high level of authenticity. So far we have been able to draw very positive conclusions from these experiences and have learned a lot about how to involve a community. In addition, through direct dialogue with the target group, you can quickly find out which formats or communication channels are of interest to them. This can save you a lot of time and resources if you don't have to look for the most effective way to get in touch with your target audience. This topic will become more and more important in the future. Social media are becoming more and more interactive and the community wants to be involved. For institutions, the topic will become indispensable in the long term.
What effect would a P2P strategy then ideally have on the community?
Here we build the bridge to the P2P strategy. If the community is already strongly integrated into the project, it is easier for them to become active themselves, as they can identify with the project. In this case, the drive is the desire to be able to be creative. The interactivity thus meets the target group's wish to become active themselves.
If a few community members are absolutely behind your project, shitstorms, for example, can be lessened and perhaps even avoided before the communications department even knows anything. In this case, committed community members can already explain the positive aspects of the project and do valuable preparatory work. Positive responses from the community are usually much more credible than responses from the institution concerned. This example is of course very extreme, but committed community members are not only active in horror scenarios, they also support the project with their commitment. In any case, our motto is “The community carries the project and not the project the community”. This approach also ensures the sustainability of the work done. The goal is for the community to be so deeply involved in the project that, should the funding stop, it will continue the project without outside guidance.
Participation is a principle that seems to keep cropping up. How important is participation in the matrix projects?
Participation should always be the right way to go in a democratic state. Giving the community the opportunity to actively participate in the design of the content is our approach to get as close as possible to this goal. This way of thinking is also becoming more and more important in social media. Instead of viewing the platforms as a push medium, they are now viewed more as an exchange platform with the community, which is what they were actually created for.
In this context, I would also like to come back to our YouthScienceCamps or Barcamps. Because the participants actively participate in the design of the event and topics, you can guarantee that there will be no boredom and that attention will remain very high in the long term. Participants are always invited to prepare and present topics themselves. After all, that too is a form of participation.
You are involved in a number of projects, tell us a little bit about it.
My focus is on the Next Career and zdi projects. In both projects, I am responsible for communication via social media and take care of getting our partners on board as well as possible. Part of my job is to manage our social media platforms and to design content for the projects. I also advise our partners and institutions and work with them in workshops to develop social media strategies. The challenge is that every project needs its own individual approach. Strategies that work in one project don't necessarily have to be promising in another. The individual adjustment to the project and the users is the decisive factor. This can mean that we develop a completely new strategy or adapt an existing one. The partners should be able to work independently and not lose sight of the participatory aspect. Sometimes customers have to disregard their own tastes and concentrate more on the users. That's not always easy.
Do you have a basic tip that should always apply to P2P, social media and community building?
If I could give you one tip, it would be that you just have to try things out. For example, one could mention the appearance of a new social media platform here.
Of course, you should ask yourself beforehand whether the new platform fits the profile and target group of the institution.
If this is the case, however, it is advisable to react quickly and not think for weeks or months whether you should take the step.
That doesn't mean that you should chase after every trend, but it is worth observing your own target group in order to be able to react to them in good time.
A new platform is always a new opportunity to reach the target group in a completely new way.
How did you get into the matrix and the communication department?
I've always been interested in marketing. I was particularly fascinated by the aspect of communication and how it can be made interactive. The big plus point for me at matrix was and is that it does not advertise typical consumer goods, but rather focuses on projects that create social added value. For me, these are communication goals that I can fully support. In my own training, I learned how important it is to pass on the knowledge that has been accumulated in the company to the right places. That ultimately motivated me to become a trainer and to take the AEVO exam (exam for completing the trainer certificate) at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce. I was able to choose our new trainees as early as mid-2018. At the beginning of last year, I passed the AEVO exam and have also been working as a training manager at matrix since October.
You have been working for the matrix for a number of years and have helped set up the social media area. How did it go?
When I started my apprenticeship at matrix in 2013, the focus for me was on event management and classic communication. My colleague Arne Klauke and I were able to further develop the social media area together from 2017 - from the launch of various Facebook pages for the projects we are allowed to supervise to the start of in-house video production. The establishment of the area for digital media creation in particular was a major step forward. We were able to produce more of our own content and hire more employees for the area. This of course increased the quality and quantity of the content again. We monitor current trends and platforms very closely and adapt our content to the relevant target groups.
