What marks out good engagement in social media? Some of the Cs of social media are in the title of this post. A while back at the EU NGO event we were asked about methods of engaging online and I thought that these were relevant.
Creative
There are only so many flash mobs, viral videos, blogger launches, hashtag polluting tweets and phototagging campaigns you can take and that can be cloned and redone again and again before people become sick of them and starting generating negative sentiment towards them. Do a Princess Bride night, do a Tweasure hunt.
Consistent
Update your Facebook Page on a regular occassion. Update your blog. Respond to questions and replies. Be around on Twitter and if you are interacting, answer questions even if they make you uncomfortable. Don’t selectively answer positive questions or broadcast out happy clappy stuff while people are tweeting you and having issues with your service.
Constructive
Add to a conversation. Earned media. If you know the answer to something, share it, share your experiences and insight. If you are worried about giving away knowledge and your IP, just how empty is your playbook? A few blog posts, tweets or Facebook updates shouldn’t make the smallest of impact on your body of earned knowledge. If it does, worry more about why, not about hiding it away.
Community-minded
Do stuff to make the overall community better. Do you necessarily need to wait to be asked? The more you partake, the more you are part of the community and the more you’re respected and loved.
Use case studies
Case studies are stories. We like stories. We put ourselves in stories, we make things up and wrap them around the words in the case studies. Telling a good story is important for any product/brand but having someone retell that story and add their own personal bit of magic to it is more powerful.
The above are a bit like the “Be” Tweet I sent out months ago on how to use Twitter well: Be useful , Be interesting, Be first , Be around, Be supportive
Damien
Good engagement is obviously what people should be aiming for, but some people still haven’t even got basic engagement right.
It amuses me that fantasy animals, people’s pets and vegetables attract larger followings than a lot of business trying to use Twitter, Facebook and other media.
Michele
This is great work Damien.
Ah Damien… you left out your favourite C-word! 😉