Too Soon?

At 7:00 a.m. this morning as I sat blurry-eyed at my computer hovering over the "Post" button on Facebook, I hesitated for a few moments about publishing a post related to Hurricane Sandy. Would people object? Would they think I was taking advantage?

The Facebook page is for my employer, The Immigrant Learning Center, and we use it to publish information about how immigrants strengthen the U.S. The post in question was a quote from Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi about how immigrants helped his state recover from Katrina. I decided to go for it. So far, the results have been good - eight likes, one share, and no negative comments. (We recently launched the page and only have 78 fans so far.)

I was reminded of an interview I saw with the comedian Louis CK where he said merely waiting until some time has passed after a tragedy to say a joke is like "fake decency." "If I wait a while, why is that better?" I think the same thing can apply to marketing.

So, the test is not "is it too soon" but "is it too self-serving?"

For example, my bank and credit card companies know I live in the Boston area. As soon as Sandy swept through town they sent me emails offering assistance with things like cash advances, waiving fees, customer service reps waiting to help me, etc. Yes, they did it to make money, but I didn't mind because, if I had needed any of those things, I would have been grateful.

Mitt Romney, on the other hand, has been slammed in the press and social media for his attempts to "help" storm victims. I'm not saying whether what he did was good or bad, but the campaign clearly did a poor job of managing perception, and, from where I sit, the backlash looks completely predictable.

In my situation it was a pretty safe bet because our Facebook fans want and expect content that talks about immigrants and their contributions.So, sometimes it is appropriate to use current events to further your message. Just be careful you understand your audience first.