In a recent AdAge post, Marsha Lindsay addresses two deceptively simple questions regarding social media conversations: How do we start them, and how do we maintain them?
Perhaps you have started a Facebook page, but your only fans are a handful of employees from the marketing department. Have you posted a video to YouTube, but the only comments are from your brother? Why?
Think about this…what would happen if you walked out into the middle of Times Square and started talking. You didn’t take anyone with you. You didn’t tell anyone you would be there. Who would care? Who would stop and talk to you? Easy. Nobody. What you start saying may be interesting, relevant and credible, yet you most likely won’t get an audience.
In some respects, online conversations are no different. If you try to start one without making a concentrated effort to tell people, most likely your efforts will fall on deaf ears. As Marsha Lindsay points out, good ole traditional media can be very useful in alerting your audience that a conversation is happening. As she points out, even for brands as universally recognized as Nike, their most successful online efforts have been introduced at least in part through traditional mass media outlets such as TV. Or, consider how your targeted direct marketing efforts can work together nicely with social media to help you engage your audience.
So once you get people to your home in your social network(s) of choice, then what? Keep the interest of your growing audience with contests, games, surveys, forums, invitations to contribute and relevant, interesting content. Listen to what they have to say to you and, more importantly, to each other. Use different types of media to keep things fresh. Give a framework for discussion, but don’t dominate the conversation. Treat your audience like people. You know, be social.
What have you found to be most successful in growing and maintaining your online communities?
Recent Comments