Fear of losing control is a primary stumbling block keeping organizations from building powerful movements.  I’ll admit that the idea of people who you haven’t trained, and who certainly don’t live in fear of being fired, serving as spokespeople for your efforts can be quite unsettling.  But the truth is, in today’s world, you don’t really have any choice.

Reality Check: You ALREADY Lost Control

Yesterday you knew that someone could be telling her friends about your company over coffee.  Today, that same person could be telling the entire world about your company through a product review website, a personal blog, or a whole array of discussion forums, all while drinking her coffee.

What defines the current era is that everyone is connected.  This means that everyone — whether you provided them with good customer service or not — can tell others what they think about you.  And others are listening.  Studies consistently show that people are paying more attention to the word of mouth buzz and less attention to traditional advertising.  So the reality is that, like it or not, you have already lost control over your organization’s image.

The Smartest Reaction: Embrace it!

The old saying goes, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” And in the case of your organization’s public image today, that is good advice.  Fighting it won’t stop your audience from discussing your organization — but by becoming involved you can help to shape the discussion.

This is good advice for customer service (treat everyone as though their experience will become known to the world).  It is good advice for customer relations (engage customers in the discussion, allowing you to influence it, gather information, and show your best side).  And it is GREAT advice for building a movement.

Movements are unique because they actively engage your audience to help attract more support for you.  No matter what you do, your audience’s voice is already going to be attracting or repelling support — and movements embrace this fact and use it to your benefit.

This governs the whole structure of your movement.  Your Big Idea is easy to understand, it is unique, and it excites your audience’s passions.  You begin your marketing by targeting the portion of your audience that is most likely to spread the word to others.  You publicize each success, using it to generate even more buzz.  And you engage your audience, your volunteers, or your customers to ensure that they have a positive experience and that they have the tools they need to accurately tell others about your movement.

All of these steps greatly improve the odds that when your audience tells others about your movement they are positive and on message.  Of course, there are no guarantees.  But the alternative is having no influence on how people are describing your organization or company.  Or, perhaps even worse, generating no buzz at all.  Once you realize that you have already lost control, the wisdom of movement building becomes apparent.