Sacrilicious Marketing

EPIC FAIL: How the world’s foremost authority on permission marketing censored me on Triiibes, then “invited” me to write on my own blog!

That title is not some “play” on words. It’s fact. Seth Godin sent me a personal message on Triiibes, his dying social notwork after censoring a post on the economics of the music industry that contained the word “retard.” Now, this isn’t the first time, Seth has censored me… about a year ago he censored a post on SEO (nothing controversial, just a quick tutorial for new bloggers) because he didn’t want tech mumbo jumbo cluttering the free thinking of Triiibes. He went on to augment that level of awesome with a correction of my business name from “Sacrilicious” to “Sacreligious.” But the issue at hand now, is that he doesn’t want “music industry” mumbo jumbo or “controversial language” on Triiibes. And, I get that it is his network and it has all the excitement of my grandma’s knitting circle and only about 5-6 people update their blogs each day, but who knew that censorship and status quo are the real tools of the man behind permission based marketing?

This is the post he censored: Rockstars, Retards, Helmets & Piracy

This post had a number of comments that delved into the economics of the music industry and what would save it both form a business and consumption model standpoint. The conversation was actually pretty active and it reached the featured blogs in the sidebar widget on the network… but Fun Sponge McGodin thought it was too racy (the picture used is from a modern art exhibit featured on Trendhunter), the word “retard” too politically incorrect and the economics of the music industry too outside the box for Triiibes.

So, what pray tell is allowed on invitation only network Triibes?

Your Crap and Twitter Don’t Mix – a post that gives a tutorial to Twitter Spammers on how to improve their profiles. Ummm…. They are spammers, they aren’t real people who care about improving their profiles on Twitter. They are broadcast only automated accounts. They don’t want advice… What’s the point of this, if the market you are tutoring isn’t interested in improving?

I don’t charge too much, you just can’t afford me – a post complaining that people seeking bloggers on eLance don’t want to pay more than $3/post. Ummm… they are looking for spammy content in bulk for low level SEO content creation – it’s not worth more than $3/post. You can’t talk someone into paying you more for your quality copyrighting service when they don’t want quality copy.

FRIDAYS POST (monday edition): Epilogue and Instruction – oh, this is a good one… it’s an inspirational poem by Mary Oliver on how to live life. About 5 of the last 12 posts over there that are poems or inspirational quotes. I don’t know what you define as the definition of spam on a social network is, but by mine, this qualifies.

The rest of the posts are case studies on small businesses by people that clearly do not understand business economics, rants about why hospitals suck, ideas on how to make more money working from home when you have no real skill, how going green might be expensive but it makes your customers happy so you shouldn’t raise the cost of goods to cover the cost of going green, how to use the word “bloviate” in a sentence, etc, etc, etc. Basically, the whole network is filled with ramble that no one with a real job would care about. It is no wonder why the network is stumbling – there are only about 5-10 new blog posts per week in total by members. The network is dull, does not foster community or engaged conversation and  with the added censorship, it has become a place where leaders cannot be born and ideas cannot develop.

Here’s my take: Seth Godin, for all his talk of permission marketing and community building, is a hypocrite. He positioned himself as a heretic, but he doesn’t want anyone else to be one. It’s easy to be king when you chop the heads off all the other leaders. Consider that Seth doesn’t even allow comments on his own blog – he doesn’t want to engage, he wants to message which is the antithesis of permission based and tribal marketing!He is acting now like an ombudsman, governing every little move of his flock and censoring his tribe rather than embracing growth or inspiring innovation and conversation. Is there a such thing as Marketing Communism?

Godin is an advertiser and has always been one, and cannot embrace the freedoms and new conversation mechanisms social media offer marketers. He has failed to use any of the social theory models used in building a robust community and has essentially alienated portions (mostly the leadership) of his market through his own network, Triiibes.

(*Caveat: for those that don’t know Triiibes is an invite only network that was never really opened up so new blood can’t refresh or grow the “tribe”).

Seth Godin has sent you a message on Triiibes

Subject: Regarding blog posts

“Hi Mary. Hope you’ve been well.

I deleted a recent post of yours, because I (and others) found the photo offputting and distracting and the language (‘retard’) outside the tone I’m comfortable with.

The thing is, there are lots of places to write about the economics of the music industry and lots of places to be really edgy. This is not one of them.

Please don’t try to push the edges of decorum here. That’s not why I built the site. I encourage you, though, to do it as much as you like on your site!

Seth”

OK, great to hear I have permission to write on my own blog. I don’t think I need to point out the kind of pompous ass it takes to say something like that, but it is pretty ballsy to give me carte blanche to write my own words with no threat of censorship on my own website. Makes me seriously question Seth’s understanding of the Internet as it exists everywhere BUT CHINA.

How Triiibes Makes Leaders Feel

The saddest part with all this is not that Seth is not the man or marketer most think he is, but that the network he is censoring for the good of the “few” has alienated the “many.” When this happened this morning, I sent out an email to a few of my friends on the network. They unanimously responded that the censorship is pretty ridiculous considering the spam posts and the foul language posts (you can say Fuck but not Retard) they don’t participate on the network. One of the overwhelming complaints? Triiibes is boring! Below are a few of their responses. I am posting these anonymously as I do not wish them any repercussions:

“Hey Mary,

But I guess that’s not why you are ‘single’ now on Facebook.

Ridiculous, why didn’t he delete the real spam posts we were discussing a couple of weeks ago vividly. Those stupid Friday posts (each and every day’s edition…) and many others. That makes me vomit. I guess the <name group naem removed> wrote emails to Seth. Sissies everywhere you look.

I appreciate that you dropped me a note. Let’s stay in touch.

(I’m not doing much on triiibes anymore either. It has become boring. Not a forum for leaders. Leaders wouldn’t be put off by words or an image. Only people with a JOB left. Since Linchpin this seems to be the new target group for Seth. Sad.)”

“Lol, censored again!

Such a bad girl.  It’s no wonder you don’t fit in there, it’s kind of a touchy feely place, where members go for a shoulder to cry on.  I rarely visit triiibes anymore because it’s boring. Too many unspoken rules and too PC.  I lurked because every time I tried to join in I felt like a bull in a china shop. I have no where near the drive you have.  It’s a place to fit in to bolster the tribe members.  Not a place to be controversial or really interesting.

I always found your posts thought provoking and entertaining.  I don’t always agree but that’s what makes you interesting.

Hope you’re well, safe and happy.”

“Wow. Well, that does seem like a load of crap, and weirdly antithetical to Seth’s mantra of pushing boundaries and being the heretic. It seems to me that rather than deleting your post (which I did find interesting and provocative), he could have just commented on it like any other poster, bringing up his discomfort with the image/words that touched him off, which I think would only have added to the discussion. He could have aired his points to all of us, which only helps to disseminate his and other points of view.

I’d call it censorship too, and I can see why you’d be pissed. (Huh, I remember that I said “fuck” in one of my responses to something recently. I suppose it went under the radar, though…)

Sorry about that, Mary, and I hope you don’t leave, because you have a unique point of view and powerful tools to express it. But I can see why you’d shake your head and say “why bother?””

In my first run-in with Seth Godin, he corrected my spelling of “Sacrilicious” (AKA, my company name)

Now, all that said, lest we forget… about a year ago, Seth not only censored a post on Black Hat SEO but he corrected my spelling of my company name… YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT! He pulled out his professor’s pen and corrected my spelling of Sacilicious.

Seth Godin is so awesome, he will even correct the name of your business! The AWESOME never ends. So, last year I read a post where Seth said he didn’t keep current on pop culture. Really? Hmm… how do you market to various demographics if you don’t know what influences them? So, as I was considering writing a post about “Why Every Good Marketer is a Pop Culture Junkie” awesome struck again. I wrote a little SEO post over on Seth’s invitation only social network, Triiibes.com and hilarity ensued. Apparently Seth does not like SEO or my sardonic wit and he politely requested that I not post on the topic again, which I can respect, but you all know me, I decided to debate the issue.

The offensive SEO post: Why does everyone cringe when you start talking about black hat SEO?

So, my stance on the debate was this: if SEO is off topic for Triiibes, then what makes someone posting about their dog on topic? In any case, since the launch of this site, I have taken to using the signature line:

Sacriliciously,

Mary

Now, for those of you that do not know the origins of this pop culture term, here is a history lesson. Sacrilicious was first used in a Simpson episode, Homer Loves Flanders, where Homer eats a waffle after questioning God and says, “Mmm… sacrilicious.” According to the Urban Dictionary, Sacrilicious is a portmanteau of sacrilegious and delicious and is an adjective used to describe something as both SACRILEGIOUS (grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred) and at the same time DELICIOUS (Extremely pleasing to the sense of taste or senses).

So, of course I signed my email to Seth with my new signature line and he ACTUALLY tried to correct my spelling (read below). That killed me. I mean, it’s kind of pompous and condescending to correct someone’s spelling in the first place, but more importantly, it was wrong. That pop culture reference is what makes the brand of marketing I practice work. I can connect with markets through visual, audio and textual references to pop culture from their childhood or other important moments in their lives to create that “warm- fuzzy” feeling that makes them trust a brand and want to buy.

The Hilarious Trail of Email Between Seth and Myself

From Seth Godin to Mary McKnight
Mary
please don’t post any more on SEO or related topics. That’s not why we’re here. There are countless other places to discuss this stuff.
thanks

From Mary McKnight to Seth Godin
Seth,
Thank you for the email. I was actually writing about the tribes of white and black hat SEO. The first paragraph shows how many SEOs look down on the black hat way – the rest of the post is just explaining the different types of SEO and their uses for people that have never heard of it or are only marginally educated on it. I don’t really feel as though it were off topic and it was aligned with what you said in your previous email about my writing about SEO in the context of tribes. However, since SEO isn’t something I do anyway, I’m happy to refrain from discussing it here if that is the rule.
Sacriliciously,
Mary

From Seth Godin to Mary McKnight

This is the full dialog between Seth and myself:

I think it’s about the right tone and topic.
Do you mean “sacreligiously?”

From Mary McKnight to Seth Godin

Seth,

Do not read every word of this– it will only offend you. I am a kiss ass. No, not really. I can follow rules. Not, really. I am what you breed in your books (the meatball sundae) and I don’t care you reprimand me. I don’t agree that you should ask me to NOT write about SEO because it is off topic. I don’t see it as anymore off topic than the people over there that ask people to review their website, post about their dog, landing in America or asking for help picking out a tagline for their business. In 1 email you said it was OK to talk about SEO so long as it had to do with a tribe (previous email to me) – in another you say I can’t write about it. The topic and tone are 100% authentic to me as you will see in the comments and my other posts. All my writing is tongue in cheek and sarcastic.
#1. sacrilicious (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sacrilicious) is a marketing term coined from the Simpsons and it is a proper spelling(in the urban dictionary). But I am appreciative of your correction.
#2. As far as tone is concerned – I think you ought to read other posts of mine- I am sarcastic, sardonic and a whole lot of other polysyllabic words. I am a rebel rouser. It would be completely in-authentic for me to blend into the background and write about things in a Wonderbread voice/tone.

Sacriliciously,
-Mary

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