Posts tagged as:

Engagement

Engage Me, Beyond The Price Of Admission

Ticket good for . . .

I’ve noticed a startling trend.  It’s not a beneficial trend, and I’d like to help curb it.  Today.

Many festivals and events flounder with carrying the social media conversation past the point of purchase – meaning that once I’ve bought a ticket, there is very little effort at engaging me further.  UGLY TRUTH ALERT: If you don’t give me a way to interact with you after the show, you may very likely find that you have lost my attention completely when next year’s show comes around.   All the hard work you’ve done to attract me will have been for naught.  I will no longer be listening when you have something to share.

See?  It’s not a pretty scenario, but you can see how it happens.

Here’s the thing – I want to be included by you.  I want to share my experiences, both with you and the other people who came to your show.  I want to talk about where I’ve been and what I’ve done.  If you’ll help me stay connected, I will help market you, within my sphere of influence, simply by interacting with you.  It’s a win, win!

What’s to be done?  Help me extend my offline experience into the online conversation.  Here are a few, quick suggestions – please feel free to use them, and to report back on the results.

  • At the gate, remind me to post a photo and comment on your Facebook Fan Page so that friends back home can see just how much fun I had.
  • Invite me to post a link to a 12seconds video while I enjoy a specific attraction.
  • Create a scavenger hunt of on-site images for me to collect, and offer a monthly prize drawing in exchange for me posting a specific image with a hashtag to my Twitter account at the right time.

See how easy that was?

How will you help your communities bring their offline experiences from your show to the online conversation?

Image by oximOrOn

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WHY Are You Following Me?

Protect Your Community

Are you following me on Twitter?  Have you added me as a Friend, or become a Fan on Facebook?   Yes?  Why?

Do I bring relevant content to the conversation between you or your community?  If not, perhaps you should consider removing my posts from your streams.  Whoa – did I just ask you to unfollow me?  Maybe.

Here’s what I like to call an UGLY TRUTH ALERT:  If you are responsible for managing a community that is focused on connecting, say, cheese makers and cheese lovers, then my posts aren’t adding anything of value for either you or your followers.  My posts, about marketing and social media,  are an irritant, just noise, to people who are interested in Cambozola, Havarti and Cheddar ripened in Oak leaves.  For the health and relevancy of your community, you should unfollow me.

Social media success is not achieved by following people indiscriminately.  It is achieved through forming relationships by following the right people for the community you are building.  I am building a professional networking community for myself and I am selective about the people I follow; most of them are related, in one way or another, to my industry, and some are there because I find them entertaining.  I don’t expect that any one of them will follow me back and there is no reason they should, unless they find my posts relevant to THEIR conversation and community.

In defense of your community, please review your content stream.  Is it full of mostly on-topic posts, with the occasional off-topic entry, or is it full of so much off-topic noise that a casual visitor might not be able to identify what you’ve gathered people together for?

How do you protect the integrity of your community?

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Cross Posting: It May Not Be What You Think

Services are available that make it possible for you to post the same content across multiple profiles at one time, whether or not you are logged in to those profiles.  I don’t support the use of them, and here’s why. First, is my desire to protect the relationships you are building.  Your community is made [...]

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Please Stop Talking AT Me

Social profiles should not be used as digital billboards to shout a message at people over and over and over and over. There, I’ve said it. It’s not that shouting at people is ineffectual.  In fact, it very effectively encourages people to un-follow, un-fan and de-friend. May I be so bold as to suggest there [...]

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