I’m considering starting a web video series that would start off covering some of the content taught in the seminar in video form over the coming weeks on MessageMastery.com. To make this interesting, in the comments below, go ahead post what you’d like me to cover specifically.

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“I guess extremest have rights too.”

- Seminar Attendee

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This statement explains why its not that easy combating “recruitment” from extremists.

About a month ago Farhad Chowdhury from M100 Foundation sent me an invite to attend a seminar organized by New America Foundation in Washington D.C. hosted at Google’s office

The intent of the seminar was to train leading Muslim non-profits in the tools and processes of online marketing, covering tools provided by Google, YouTube and Facebook as a means of combating increased extremist online activity.

A big part of being effective in marketing online and building a loyal following has to do with continuously giving value to the community you’re targeting.

The challenge with combating content posted/uploaded by post-prison Anwar Alawlaki fans is that they have the same rights and privileges and access that we all have.

Anwar Alawlaki is one of those individuals who has plenty of beneficial content from his pre-prison days that continuously builds social capital. So if someone were to post a video of him saying attack certain people and how its an obligation for all Muslims, it has potential of pulling some people in the wrong direction.

Muslims here in the west have the interesting challenge of not only having to combat religious extremists, but also combat extremists on the other side of the spectrum too. The likes such as Robert Spencer, Asra Nomani, Irshad Manji, Daniel Pipes, Newt Gingrich, Pamela Geller and others.

People on both sides of the spectrum are using online marketing practices to get their message across quite effectively.

The thing with Muslims in the middle is that they have a lot of beneficial content to share but don’t understand technical tools or practices of getting their message out and its for that reason this seminar was held.

One of the prime examples that a Google instructor presented was MPAC. When you type “MPAC” into Google, you don’t find MPAC. Instead you find either a “performing arts center” in some city or you find content written by right wing extremists. If you’re going to search for your name on Google, YOU should come up. If you don’t then you’re not marketing yourself appropriately.

MPAC also has a decent YouTube page with over 100 videos, but due to bad SEO, no one gets to see it.

The following is an outline of what Google presented to the seminar attendees.

Some of these tools are quite powerful if you know how to use them. I was intrigued to find out that Google has a program called “Google Grants” where if you’re a tax excempt 501(c)3 while not being either a political party or a religious institution such as a church or mosque, then you can be eligible for free Ad Words credits between $100 – $10,000 a month.

In addition to Google, YouTube and Facebook were there presenting their systems too and how to effectively read the metrics they publish for their users to reach out to specific target audiences. Below is the YouTube insights view.

Personally, while most of the stuff was a refresher, some of the Google content was new.

I personally don’t like to get into the politics of extremeism. However, I do find that the content presented in the seminar can be useful in dawah and depolarization of views on Islam.

These are videos and interviews from this past weekend American Muslim Consumer Conference. Enjoy!

Go ahead and post comments of what you’ve learned.

This past Saturday was spent at the American Muslim Consumer Conference which is one of the most interesting and educational conferences I’ve ever attended. I share with you my thoughts on the experience, a few videos you might find insightful and entertaining and some photos of the conference as well.

Some gems from the conference:

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Brands need to UNDERSTAND & RESPECT Islamic values and demo it in their communication and behavior. Be sharia friendly. Have values like humility. Brands also need to have Fearless PUBLIC SUPPORT for these values. If a brand takes our side, we’ll need to take theirs too.

- Nazia Hussain (OgilvyNoor)

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How we engage the western media has to change. We need to re-present Islam. The commercial arena will allows us to do this.

In the mainstream perception, “halaal” and 9/11 have a very small gap. The fact that we have to defend this position is a loss in perception for us. “Terrorism” and “barbaric” aren’t part of our language. When they make negative statements about us, they automatically put themselves in the “good guy” position. If we follow the sunnah, we will claim the moral high ground.We need a proactive language. The truth is Muslims need coaching on how to talk as well as coaching PR.

The marketing language that will emerge from the western world will have ripples around the world.

Friedrich Nietzsche said God is dead. He meant that Christianity failed to give Europe what it needed. We need to approach Economics and Business from the Quran and Sunnah to be the commanders of this market.

- AbdalHamid Evans

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If you want people to commit to your brand/character, you have to connect with them on a human level. If they dont believe in your humanity, they wont believe your fantasy.

- Farhan Tahir – Actor (Iron Man, Star Trek)

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In the US you have fear due to ignorance but its not like the Netherlands where a political party comes to power due to islamaphobia.

Globally Muslims are a 1+ trillion market. We cannot ignore it. The values of Muslims (Sharia) needs to be embraced by brands: transparency, sincerity of intent, humility,  modesty, ect.

For Muslims to be recognized they need to be strong in art and design. It does well to diffuse fear because art connects at an emotional level. Muslims today aren’t known for art of design. Brands are an emotional thing owned by the customer. Products are owned by the company that sell the emotion.

Muslims need to understand that halaal is a brand ingredient, not a brand itself. We need to find a narrative and define the emotion, imagery and design that goes with it.

- Miles Young, CEO of Ogilvy

The following video of Adnan Durrani with some advice for aspiring entrepreneurs – recorded by @SaadMalik

One of the treats of AMCC for me was meeting actor Farhan Tahir (Iron Man, Star Trek) and learning about the entertainment industry from his perspective.

One of the advices he gave me was:

Hollywood is a cut throat industry and it isn’t for everyone. You cannot have a glass jaw. People will hit you hard and knock you down. You need to have some sort of support system of buffer you can fall back on so that you can get back up and keep moving forward. Without that buffer you won’t be able to continue. You need to decide or find what your buffer will be.

Farhan will be starring in a few upcoming films in the next year, one of them being a movie titled “Jinn” – one of the lead actors is this film is Ray Park (Heroes, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, X-Men)

Photos from the conference The following photos are from last year’s AMCC (courtesy of @SaadMalik). This year’s haven’t been uploaded yet. Will post it when its up.