Social Media Stuff

Go beyond “engagement” to actual involvement

In my previous post I wrote about what activation is, and The House That Twitter Built activation example. Now, let’s talk more about HOW to do it (strategy). It’s one thing to activate a truly grass roots movement, like the example in The House That Twitter Built. It’s another challenge entirely to activate around a brand or even a non-profit organization, right?

In his helpful post How To Integrate Social Media With Traditional Media, my wise friend Tom Martin (@tommartin on Twitter) says, “ask yourself – from a creative, offer or conversation perspective – how can you best connect with your audience?” and that is a great starting place. There are stories you can tell, utilities you can create, and people you can connect. We’ve talked about those things here before, and they are often where I start translating “traditional” features and benefits into online relevance.

Today, though, a few weeks after the experience that was #saveteecycle, I’m going to offer up a new overriding thought that I am carrying around with me. The single most important, effective social strategy that you should be considering – beyond telling stories, beyond being useful, beyond even connecting people is this simple:

INVOLVEMENT. Involvement trumps the overused “engagement” every time, IMHO. Engagement is great, but more passive. Involvement is you or your brand, ALL IN.

Creating ways for people to get involved with your brand is part of it, as I discussed in that previous post. For more on that, read this foundational post from Edward Boches, Four Criteria for Your Next Creative Idea (sharable, participatory, interactive and continuous).

Beyond that, if you are serious about social marketing, it is equally important that you get involved back. Make something happen. Get off the sidelines, where you are watching, possibly responding, which is all great, but not really enough for real activation purposes, and dive in head first. “Like what?” you may be thinking, if you’re jumping ahead to tactics which is just human nature. Well, you can make a lot of things happen. Here are a few thought starters for you.

You can make an event or a series of events happen, or a full-blown cause marketing program. Just make sure it’s something that your audience actually cares about. Putting events in the middle of your strategy feeds both digital content and PR content and sets up a cycle-of-messaging-awesomeness (registered trademark).

Or, try this approach. At any given time, there are myriad social events movements happening online already, large and small. Rather than create your own events, especially if you’re a small-to-medium business with limited marketing and human resources, find an existing event or movement that fits with what you stand for and ask how you can get involved with it. This can create social momentum for you with relatively little monetary investment; you will, however, generally have to invest some sweat equity. If you’re not willing to do that, this approach is not for you.

Another possibility: Surprise people. Show up. Be Johnny Depp showing up at an elementary school in your Captain Jack Sparrow costume. Metaphorically speaking, of course. How can you, as a brand, “show up” for your customers and fans in a new and surprising way? An example of this could be unexpected celebrity appearances, or it could be as “simple” as Nokia being at rock concerts with soundproof booths so people can talk on their cell phones (which also creates an off-the-charts amount of utility).

These are just some thought starters. The intention to get actively involved leads to different ways of thinking about tactics. Think way beyond “the conversation”. Think beyond “engagement”. Think about how you can get more actively involved with your audience and the things they care about. You still have to wrap it in engaging, sharable, participatory, interactive and continuous communication.

What do you think? Do you see getting more involved as a potential strategy for your brand? I’d love to hear what challenges you have with this and help talk them through. Or, if a higher level of involvement has worked for you, tell us about it so we can learn from it, too. Thanks.

Social media: to plan or not to plan?

In the debate regarding whether or not social media should be planned, I typically fall on the “yes” side, while others may feel it should be more organic. Really, though, my answer is, “it depends who you are and what you’re doing.”

If you’re a large organization like Aurora Healthcare, you’re going to benefit from a more formal plan, for these reasons, according to Jamey Shiels, Aurora’s Director of Marketing:

“Our social marketing strategy is planned and documented. We have a corporate plan and smaller plans for internal partners that feed the larger plan. The documentation is critical for keeping groups focused on the long term strategy and goals. While documented, the material is not lengthy, one to two pages and is flexible to adapt to performance, user feedback and overall activity. Our success and ability to measure becomes easier to achieve with this approach.”

Yet, on the flip side, if you’re an individual, a small business, or a small, grassroots effort, having the “plan in your head” can be enough.

When Joe Sorge from AJ Bombers spoke at the Milwaukee Interactive Marketing Association earlier this year, he talked about not having a formal strategy: “I just really like to talk to customers.” It comes naturally and organically, to Joe. And that is awesome. Yet it’s also a huge mental shift for planners like me who are used to having a strategy for everything.

When we got #saveteecycle underway, being a planner, I started to write a plan. And while that discipline can almost always help crystallize efforts in some way, there was so much to be done in such a short time that I ended up deciding that the hour I would have spent putting the plan to paper was better spent just making it happen.

Had I put a Save Teecycle plan on paper, it would have contained these incredibly simple “strategies.”

1. Involve as many people in the community as possible.
2. Create lots of ways for people to contribute.
3. Encourage people to come up with their own ways to contribute. Offer direction, when asked, but not control.
4. Ask local businesses to help, in big ways, and do everything possible to create value for them in the process.
5. Be guided by the belief that Miracles Can Happen, when we all work together.

There is a reason why WhatTheFuckIsMySocialMediaStrategy.com exists. I interpet it as commentary that social planning is not rocket science, to the point that when you are writing it, it often seems ridiculous. I’m not belittling the discipline; again, in larger organizations, it is much more complex to make social business happen, and having a written plan can help align the many planets.

So the answer to “Do I need a formal social media plan?” is really super simple: Do what you need to do to make it happen.

When you do a social plan, it needs to be incredibly flexible and dynamic. But that a topic for the next post.

Do you need a social plan, and why? Or, do you prefer a more organic approach?

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