Creating the right social media connect – Original Content

A Facebook fan page and/or a Twitter account used to mean you were special. It meant your company was not only savvy enough to know about social media, but actually knew how to use it. Now though, just about every marketer out there is crafting the ultimate fan page or Twitter profile just because they can. When I saw a “Become a fan on Facebook” notice at my local diner, I knew the movement had hit critical mass. 

The social media strategy for many companies is to “build it and they will come.” But just as in life, simply showing up is not enough. You have to establish a business objective and a corresponding strategy to help you achieve that objective. Common objectives include building brand recognition and awareness, driving sales, finding new customers, and speaking to current customers. So what is the best tactic for social media engagement? Original content.

Content marketing has become one of the most important trends in the field, especially as mass markets dissolve and media choices multiply ad nauseam. Smart and savvy companies have positioned themselves as authoritative experts and trusted sources of information by creating their own content. These companies understand that when they become the media, they strengthen their bonds with their customers.  

Here are some guidelines for turning your social media network into your own content media channel.

Determine the information needs of your audience. What are they reading, watching, and linking to for content? What topics bind them together as a community? If you don’t know, do research to gain insight on your audience’s needs and behaviors.

Put a team together. Once you’ve figured out the content themes and topics of interest of your community, decide who will be in charge of creating and disseminating the material. If the content creation talent does not exist in-house, look to custom media companies and freelance writers who can “become” your brand. The sweeping cutbacks at media companies over the past year have flooded the market with talented freelancers who would jump at the opportunity to create your content. 

Inform and educate, don’t sell overtly under the guise of content. Become a trusted source of information by providing content that is objective and relevant to your audience. If your content is no more than a thinly veiled sales pitch, at best you’ll be ignored, while at the worst you’ll be seen as deceptive. Take the high road with quality content and rely on the “halo” effect to help boost sales. Also, stay on message. You will lose your audience if your focus drifts.

Keep the content fresh and updated. There is no question about it. You must supply fresh content and new ideas to your audience. Stale content is a turnoff in today’s non-stop news and information cycles. Fresh content will also fuel viral conversations. The fresher, more relevant, and up-to-date the content is, the more likely it is that your audience will share it or retweet to their friends and followers. 

Have a conversation and make it interactive. The best Facebook fan pages and blogs have hundreds of comments per post because readers and fans feel invested enough to comment and to make their voices heard. Encourage your community members to interact with each other and always make known that comments are welcomed. Create a page on which consumers feel comfortable enough to chat and learn. Establish a page and/or profile moderator who can monitor content, serve as customer service, and reply to posts when necessary. 

Dell has become a standout example of driving sales through content and social networks in B2B marketing. In 2009, the company sold $6.5 million worth of product from its Dell Outlet Twitter account. Overall, Dell has 35 Twitter channels and communities categorized by the type of technology discussed, users’ geographic areas, and users’ lifestyles and communities. 

On the B2C side, Coca-Cola has transformed the way it engages customers. The brand has shifted its emphasis from traditional campaign sites toward social media platforms. Why? Because social media platforms promise more bang for less buck and because a member of the captive and engaged audience on Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace is more likely to spread the word about Coke than someone who sees an ad in a magazine.

Instead of just selling Coke through its content, Coca-Cola has also broadened its message to include themes like “live positively,” which tie into green ideas and social responsibility.

Each example presented proves that community building through original content produces the desired effect: a gaggle of brand loyalists and advocates. It is no longer acceptable for companies to simply speak to their customers. They must instead speak with them and listen to them. Trusted content is the only way to build community, create a two-way relationship, and foster conversation that will ultimately bring you company closer to your customer.

Challenges in aligning PR and Interactive marketing

Today I continue a very recent and interesting discussion about the challenges in aligning PR and interactive marketing. There are two schools of thought on the topic:

Thought 1

PR firms are poised to lead the way in social media because they approach conversation influence from an earned media perspective — finding existing story lines and figuring out how to make their clients’ point relevant. PR firms with a digital development capability can use visual and dynamic storytelling to add a deeper layer of engagement–digital assets designed specifically for social media engagement.

Thought 2

In the past, PR has typically been responsible for communications with internal and external audiences; developing the communications strategy and leading the execution. For most organizations, interactive marketing includes all the “online” marketing stuff. Today, with so much more communication taking place online, it’s more common to see progressive interactive agencies managing all online communications efforts, particularly around blogging and other social media.

So which side is better equipped to manage a client’s social media strategy?

I think both PR and Interactive marketing, looking at the market dynamics today have a very critical role to play. I think both the activities in question are in fact more similar than one realizes, but their differences in perception drives them apart.

But while their services complement each other – positioning/branding, messaging/key words, impressions/click throughs, storytelling/application building – their strategies and success metrics are very different.

As a result, we create great tools that don’t necessarily extend PR’s finely crafted messages.  At the same time, the messages PR creates don’t always evolve to reflect the way users search for information. And we tend to overestimate PR results and underestimate interactive marketing’s. Our individual clients may be happy, but an overall social media strategy may suffer.

And so the larger question for me is not who wins the battle, but how do we tap the talents of both sides to align marketing and PR objectives?  How do you create a strategy that incorporates key words and messaging, click throughs and impressions and storytelling and technology?  

 In the end we may need to reframe the debate and demonstrate how PR and marketing and are extensions of one another, not opposites and not independent of each other.

Please do let me know your thoughts on what is the point where both PR and Interactive marketing meet.

Are all your employees ‘YOUR’ online brand ambassador’s???

Or just one or two people are being social media representatives of the company in the social media space, What if all of them were?

We could achieve this however there are rules to this concept working in practice, not just in theory.

Cover your you-know-what.

Namely, adopt a Social Media Policy. I’m talking about a formalized document that establishes some guidelines on ethics and privacy. While you may already have a corporate communications policy of this sort, it’s very smart to be clear that social media is part of that policy too.

Training

This is a step that can separate the purely compliance-minded from the folks who see this as an opportunity to turn employees into communicators. This isn’t a stage made up purely of what to say and what not to say. While you may speak to that, training also describes being able to show employees how you’re opening up the doors to them as representatives of the company and letting their voices be heard in a very centralized area.

The right Space to write

Now that you’ve set some parameters – and your employees understand those parameters – put a dedicated page on your site that allows them to post, share links, communicate with themselves and the outside world, etc. It’s easier to reinforce a culture of openness and transparency if management is actively participating in the same social media tactics as its employees and not just monitoring their posts.

Sure, you need to monitor – but reward influencers too.

Let’s say you’ve got people Twittering aboard a main area of your site and while some of it isn’t offensive (you know what to do if it is), it may not be the most useful stuff in the world to know either. Yet maybe there are other employees tweeting about useful company products, taking a position on an industry development, sharing useful article links and more. As those people are doing that, they’re building influence for themselves and for the company by association. How do you know they’re influential? In the case of Twitter, take a look at a nifty tool called Twitalyzer and you’ll get a clear picture of how it encompasses the total package of an employee’s tweeting influence, including how many links they post, how many Retweets they make, how often they tweet and how many times that person has been referenced on Twitter.

Blogging by wish or naturally!!!

I’m not a big fan of trying to force people to blog, post and chat about nothing but the company because that just isn’t natural. People need to be allowed to wander off the ranch and post some fun, non-offensive things that give the company personality. But do set up a reward system that shows you appreciate the quality of their communication. That doesn’t even have to be monetary but can be a seat at a newly formed and exclusive Social Media Committee, for example (one that encourages creative ways of communicating in the social media universe, not merely about compliance). Want to show you’re not all business? Reward the funniest Tweet of the Month too.

I didn’t say this is for everybody. Many companies are only comfortable with 1 or 2 individuals being their official representatives, which is fine. But if you want to open the door up much wider for turn more employees into company ambassadors of your brand in the social media universe, it can work. And when it does work, you don’t just have talk among your own walls but interaction that can be meaningful with the people who may buy your product or service. Those people can build upon a positive conversation that revolves around your brand.

You don’t mind having more positive conversations about your brand than fewer, do you?

 

Top Reasons why Companies are still scared of incorporating Social Media in their overall strategy

1. Employees will waste time with social media. Many large corporations block their employees from accessing the Internet altogether. Others try to block employees from accessing personal email or social networks like Facebook during work hours. The value to workers of having Internet access – in terms of research, communication, and speed – is far greater than the threat of lost productivity. Companies have a right to make policies and rules about personal use of the Internet, but blocking it during work is just weird

 2. Haters will damage our brand. “What about the haters?” is the first question that comes up at my corporate and conference social media workshops. “What if people say bad, mean, nasty things about our brand?” Well, there may be things you need to change about your brand, and in that case, you should thank them for letting you know what they are. Then you should make changes. If you have built an online community that includes people who don’t hate you, that community will rise to your defense and they will handle the problem for you. Also if the haters are there they are talking if not on your platform then on any other platform which may be available online.

 3. We’ll lose control of the brand. Listen up: every person with a computer and even a tiny skill level has the tools to make their opinion about your brand heard by other people. They’re already talking about you. Your workers are talking about you in closed Facebook groups designed to keep you out so they can talk about you in peace. Your customers are emailing, Tweeting, Facebooking, and that old standby – calling – their friends about their experience with your brand. You don’t have control. You might as well join the conversation. At least that way you can influence what is being said.

4. Social media requires a real budget! It’s not really cheap, or free. While many social media tools are free, knowing how to use them takes experience and perspective. The boss’ friend’s high school or college kid can’t integrate social media into the company’s overall marketing. That requires experience and perspective. Having a large social network and a stellar online reputation helps too. Just as there are carpenters who can knock together a book shelf and master carpenters who can create objects of genuine and lasting beauty, there are thousands of social media gurus (of all ages) who’ve never worked for an actual client. Hire them at your own peril.

5. They’re scared they’ll be dragged to court Oh puh-lese. Next!

6. They’re scared of giving away corporate secrets or that information on social networks will affect the market valuation If you don’t already have a social media policy, you need to create one. I think if the brand builds automatically the overall valuation of any corporate rises.

Please post your opinions and suggestions and do let me know of any other reasons that you might think stop corporate from taking up social media as a regular practice

Social Media is here to stay – Yes or No?????

I have been speaking to large numbers of CEO’s and other senior leadership and one thing stands out – a lack of a clear understanding of what social media represents. To some it’s simply the new tech tool on the internet, to others, it’s something their kids use, while others are completely befuddled by it. Unfortunately, with all the hype, the core of social media generally gets overlooked mainly because it is so subtle. Social Media at its core is just that – “social” plus “media”. It is a conversation across a variety of new media that have altered the way we communicate. Put another way, social media is a conversation on steroids. As business leaders, do we have daily business conversations and do these conversations lead to relationships and can these relationships lead to economic benefit? The answer is yes, yes, yes and until the day we stop having business conversations, social media will be around, although it will always be in a constantly changing form. Perhaps the best way to review this is through these questions .

Is there a right way and wrong way to “converse”? There are no “right ways” but there are a lot of wrong ways. For instance, if you and I were conversing and I stopped talking, what would you do? Probably walk away, right? Same thing in social media. If you begin to engage your customers, prospects, etc, and then all of sudden stop communicating with them, the odds are they will simply walk away. This is very bad considering these are the very people that are most interested in your business and now they’ve moved away from you. What to do? Here’s a simple strategy – set a social media participation schedule that you can keep up (i.e. 15 minutes per day or what you can handle) and stick to it! This way you will be able to sustain your conversations with those that matter most to your business.

We are not generating sales yet we are participating, what’s wrong?

Lets answer this question with a question – In your non social media tactics, are you focused on a hard sell and not relationship building? Basically, do you just talk to people to see if they want to buy something from you without having a relationship with you first? Probably not, right? Yet that is what some business leaders are inadvertently doing with social media. They are simply trying to “sell” without establishing a relationship first. In terms of the buying cycle, they are expecting social media to be a magic pill that attracts late stage buyers without relationships, and expect them to immediately make purchases. However, no relationship is no purchase potential. This is no different than what we face in real life. Businesses spend vast amounts of money to build relationships through branding, customer relations, etc and then over time, those relationships convert to sales. Interestingly, the spot that social media is very powerful is in connecting with early and mid stage buyers and building exponential amounts of relationships.

I can’t participate because my customers aren’t on social media.

Well, that can be true, but typically businesses have more than one type of customer. Perhaps the end customer is not on social media, but perhaps a referral sources or connector is. Alter your thinking slightly, wouldn’t it make sense to build social media relationships with those “customers” vs then ultimate end user? I am worried about customer reaction and it spreading negatively on the web, so I don’t participate. Well, the bad news is that it is not up to you whether you want to participate or not. In a recent study conducted by Edleman, they stated that roughly 6 out of 10 people between 25-64 were willing to share their experiences on the web and roughly 8 out of 10 people in those same age brackets, trusted their peer’s recommendations. We can talk about this for 3 hours (and we usually do during our presentations) but let’s surn it back to you and hear your perspectives.

The key takeaway here is that social media at its core is about a “conversation” and we have hundreds of those in our businesses daily. The challenge is to determine how to leverage social media tools to plug into online conversations and relationship build.

Teeing of in Public – oofff PEEING in Public is it a right in DILLI

Teeing off in public – ooppss ‘Peeing’ off in public is more relevant when it comes to Dilli. You may be walking in crowded markets or public places you would always find that ‘MAN’ finding a corner or a wall to ease himself without worrying who is around or the most basic civic cleanliness is at stake. I am sure we men would have done this somewhere sometime without really caring about our surroundings.

Who is to be blamed for this? As citizens have we forgotten the basic need for sanitation and cleanliness in our surroundings?

I think more than blaming the individuals I would blame the local authorities for not having basic sanitation amenities in the vicinity. Delhi being the capital of India I think has the minimal number of public toilets making basic sanitation the most difficult to adhere.

So the result is some random corner on every road or street becomes a convenient place for men to ease themselves. Are we looking towards a better capital that has better malls and no basic civic amenities for local people who make the most of the population?

Is it not one of the very key issues of civic amenities that, we as responsible citizens and the powerful youth of today should stand up for?

How many of us realize the need of such basic sanitation to avoid the often read statements on walls of various streets “ yaha …………….karna mana hai” !!!! or ‘Dekho Gadha …………..kar raha hai’

Suggestions:

Our civic department needs to probably take up the following suggestions

• Build more public toilets for men and women at convenient locations
• Cleanliness to be prime in existing public toilets for all to visit
• Heavy fine or disciplinary action against people using roads or walls as toilets
• Places like Petrol Pumps, convenient stores, parks etc to have toilets

I think its time for citizens to JAAGO to their rights and help make our surroundings a cleaner and greener space to live in.

Do post your suggestions on how we can improve SAADHI DILLI

Changing communication trends of our Society

There have been times where social media has been perceived to be a fad like most other ventures on the Internet. Also the activities that take place in social media platforms are unorganized and hence seen as chaotic. This further lends doubts on the credibility of the medium and the impact it can have for a brand. These are valid observations and must be resolved to win the marketer’s confidence in the medium. 

I have tried to map out few changes that have occurred over the last five years. As a society we have changed in the way we consume media and the way in which we communicate. Marketers have to take these trends into account while rolling out their marketing campaigns. 

Trend no. 1: 

Consumers start the communication cycle today by actively looking for information. The need for the product/service makes them look for the appropriate brand to provide the solution in a platform of their choice. And if during that search the brand doesn’t appear, then it loses out from the consumer’s consideration set. So instead of creating silo-ed brand sites, marketers will have to move their communication to where consumers are spending time – on blogs, social networking sites, discussion forums etc. Coz if their brand doesn’t show up there, then it has lost on the opportunity to communicate with those users.

 Consumers are searching for information

 Trend No. 2:

People are moving away from being mere content readers to content publishers giving importance to Web 2.0. This provides an immense opportunity to create experiences for the consumers. The move from passive to active consumption of information presents in itself a big opportunity for the brands. Create applications, widgets, tools that provide genuine value and build engagement with the user. Think of consumers as living, breathing, thinking humans and not mere robotic recipients to whom you intend to sell. Create videos for online users that engage at a deeper level and use social media to promote it.

 Shift from static websites to interactive communities

 Trend no. 3:

People are forming common interest groups and communities online thereby devoting more of their spare time in those activities. This is the most wonderful development a brand manager could ask for. Segment users on psychographic parameters rather than demographic. The impact of this segmentation is higher and also cost effective. Media consumption and social interaction are moving to global platforms, constrained more by language and not borders! To engage with this targeted group of users, brands will have to create presence in these communities. And presence is not reflected by banner ad on the sites but by building conversations. Listening to what they really want to know and then providing it. Develop networks to distribute content that is relevant to your consumer and then build in brand proposition.

 Travel community on Tripadvisor.com

 Trend no. 4:

People prefer active forms of engagement over passive ones. And this is best reflected with how TV channels have tried to adopt themselves to it. Reality shows have cashed in on user voting; news channels have started citizen journalism to involve the viewers.

 Citizen Journalism show on CNN IBN

 These trends reveal that brands have to go much beyond the 30 sec TVC to capture the changing consumer. This is where social media scores as it involves brands with users and gets them to participate with them in their communities.

Twitteringggg the riggghhtt wayyyy

 

People are drinking the Twitter Kool-Aid like it’s the last day before Prohibition. It’s fantastic that so many are finding value in something so simple that can be so powerful.

But many experienced marketers who’ve joined the latest wave of Twitterers seem to be overlooking a fundamental premise of the Twitter follower/following paradigm — people only know as much about you as you tell them.

Having a succinct, compelling profile is more critical on Twitter than anywhere else. 

Your Twitter landing page
Just as the landing page is the most important component of a PPC, email, or banner ad campaign, your Twitter profile is the most important landing page for your personal brand or the brand of your company/agency on Twitter.

Every time you follow someone, they will be asked to make a decision on whether to follow you back. At scale, these decisions are made in increasingly large batches, and are made quickly.

I’m not Twitter royalty, but routinely get 50+ follow emails per day. For each of these, I visit the person’s profile page and decide whether to follow back. And just like on a landing page, I scan and make this follow/no follow decision in about eight seconds or fewer.

Here are important considerations for your Twitter profile.

1. Use your real name (and don’t use underscore)
I realize your real name (or even business name) may not be available, but try to get as close as possible. This isn’t an AOL chat room circa 1997; this is business — especially if you’re a professional marketer.

Using made-up names makes it very difficult to tie your Twitter profile to your Facebook, LinkedIn, blog comment and other profiles (unless Twitter adopts Facebook Connect). Further, five weeks from now when I see “@batgirl63? in the tweet stream, it’s difficult to remember who you are.

I’m also not a big fan of using @”youragencyname” as a Twitter handle, if you’re really serious about interaction. Increasingly, the “official” agency or brand account is more of an announcement megaphone, and less of a conversation platform. If you want to truly interact in Twitter, use your real name (or your name combined with agency name like @jason”agencyname”.

The underscore issue is more of a personal peeve. It’s not inherently terrible, but it’s much easier to remember for direct messages, etc., if you do not have an underscore in your name.

2. Use a real picture (especially if it’s a real name)
Twitter is about human connections. Don’t use a cartoon, a dog, a tree or any other animate or inanimate object for your profile picture. A simple headshot is great — preferably with some interest.

Ideally, use the same photo on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, et al. It’s easier to remember that way. And don’t change your photo routinely, as many Twitterers have commented that they look at and remember profile photos more than usernames. There are definitely marketing rock stars that violate the rule of keeping your photo consistent, including @chrisbrogan and @armano, both of whom change their Twitter photos plenty, but that’s the exception that proves the rule.

3. Think SEO when writing your bio
Each Twitterer has multiple spheres in which they operate, sometimes intersecting and overlapping. You want to belong to as many spheres as are practical and relevant to your interests and expertise. It’s helpful if you define your spheres before jumping in, as it will make your following decisions and bio creation much easier. If you’re using your Twitter account for both business and personal reasons, you’ll have multiple spheres that intersect and overlap. This can be confusing, but two rules should be observed:

• Don’t post anything on Twitter (or elsewhere on the social web) that you are not comfortable with the entire web reading.
• Trying to keep your social profile “all business” or “all personal” is not going to work long-term. Social media insists that you are part work, part play.

Just as you would when optimizing a webpage for search engines, when you write your Twitter bio think about your desired spheres and include words and phrases about them. A touch of personality is helpful, too.

4. Include a URL
Make sure to include a prominent link to your website or blog. @briansolis links to his Wikipedia page, which is useful.

5. Consider a custom background
Custom Twitter backgrounds are inexpensive (or free), and can convey important details and contact information. Include information about you and your company, URLs for your other social outposts, and some sort of semi-interesting graphic.

6. Don’t protect your updates
Seriously, what’s the point of being on Twitter if people have to jump through hoops to follow you? It completely runs counter to the spirit of community. If you don’t want people to see your tweets, maybe you should stick to LinkedIn and Facebook where your connections are typically your friends/associates in the real world.

7. Take it slow
Certain Twitterers’ following/followers ratio makes it seem like they are using Twitter inappropriately. When you are following 1,997 people, and have 57 following you back, it looks like you are randomly following as many as you can, hoping for follow backs. That’s essentially “follower spam” and it calls your motives into question. You’ll get fewer followers, not more, with that approach.

If you want to expand your personal network via Twitter, you’ll never find a more fertile opportunity. But, try to follow these guidelines to make it easier for potential followers to decide they want to read your 140-character advice

Twitter vs blog

Given the religious following that Twitter is gaining these days, I am sure that this will be a polemic topic.

Now let me draw my argument on the topic

I do think that Twitter is a very useful online application, for several purposes. It allows people that work from home or alone in front of a computer all day to socialize. It allows bloggers and website owners to interact with their readers on another level. It should even allow one to make new friends and to get in touch with people that would be unreachable otherwise.

The problem I am seeing lately, though, is that many people are giving Twitter priority even when they have something interesting, useful or funny to say; or when they have some resources to share. In those situations, I think it would be a better idea to develop your thoughts and ideas a bit further, and post it on your blog instead. Also i feel that Twitter is being used many a times as a chat room rather than an information sharing platform causing to lose important links and resources therefore a blog can be used more strategically.

Why? Because your blog is your property. It should be the single most important location for you on the Internet. It should be the place where people go to when they think about you. Your blog, not Twitter (unless you only Twitter obviously).

Even if you don’t like to think in abstract terms, there are material reasons to opt to blog something instead of Twittering it. In the long run every backlink and every visitor count. Guess what, every time you Twitter instead of blogging something interesting you are risking to lose visitors and backlinks.

This very post illustrates the case. My initial though was to Twitter about this. Since we have the limit of 140 characters over there, it would be something like “Hey guys, have you ever thought that perhaps instead of Twittering you should be blogging?”

Instead of doing that, though, I decided to develop my thoughts further and create a post with it.

Now think about two people starting today on the online world. One adopts the strategy I am describing here. The other goes religiously with Twitter, blogging once in a while. After one year, I suspect that the former would have a popular blog, while the latter would have a popular Twitter account.

Which one would you rather have?

5 easy ways to connect and leverage your advocates

Ask yourself this question: Do I have advocates or do I simply have a group of virtual acquaintances? You want advocates. It doesn’t matter if you are an athlete, a major brand, a politician, a musician, or just a regular person; it is great to have advocates. Advocates are excited about you; they want to hear what you have to say; they want to brag that they know something about you that others don’t. Advocates make you feel special, and after all, we all want to feel special. 

With advocates comes responsibility. You have to engage them and make them feel important. Otherwise they’ll leave you and become someone else’s advocates. And if you disrespect them, they will turn on you. Trust me: You don’t want a badvocate!

Now, how do you turn that one advocate into hundreds? You treat each one like they are your only one by following these rules:

1. Tell a story
The first thing you have to do is put yourself in the place of your advocates. Why would they want to listen to you or follow you? Because you are interesting. Because you tell the truth. Because you share your life, how you have lived, how you have failed, how you are human… how you are just like them. Because you impart knowledge that can make your advocates better as a result of listening to you. Because you’ll even share some personal scandalous stories that will make them blush.

2. Find your advocates, and let them find you
If you are new to the world of social media, then you’re probably wondering where to start. Should I write a blog? Should I have a Facebook page? Should I be on Twitter? Should I post videos on YouTube? The answer is yes to all. But you can’t be everywhere… at first. The right mix is to be where your advocates are and where you feel most comfortable.

Are you a brand? Then you need to blog because people want to engage with you. You will also need a Facebook page because your advocates are on Facebook — everyone is. But don’t stop there. Find the places where everyone is not, the places where only the few people that really care about you are online.

 Once you are in one place, then you can be in a few others fairly easily. For example, I write a blog. When I write a new post, it sends a tweet to my Twitter followers and syndicates to my Facebook, and LinkedIn page

3. Interact with your advocates; communication works both ways
Way back in the old days (pre-2008) the dialogue between you and your advocates was a one-way conversation. You spoke, and your advocates listened. Advocates interacted with each other, but you rarely participated. This was especially true for brands. Brands advertised and extolled their products’ virtues, but didn’t communicate with their customers (their advocates). Not only were they ignoring their advocates, they were missing a golden opportunity to get free market research.

Ask questions. Throw out a topic and let your advocates discuss them. Ask for opinions about you and your product. Do they like it? Would they make any changes? Embrace criticism. Address issues. Explain that you will fix problems or at least explain why you can’t. 

Engage your advocates. Have a conversation. Ask, listen, respond, and repeat. This is social media, now be social!

4. Understand you need help
In a perfect world you would respond to every one of your advocates individually — but how can you reasonably interact with that many people?

Then you need help.

You need to deputize some of those super advocates and make them authorized voices on your behalf — brand evangelists! Help foster breakout groups of advocates who want to talk about you by lending your support and your voice to their efforts. Help them create Yahoo or Google groups and build pages on social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn. Give them photos, videos, contest prizes, or exclusive news so they can set up branded extensions of you through platforms like Ning.com.

One of the best examples of this is the phenomenon behind the “Twilight” book series.  When Stephenie Meyer was trying to gain awareness for her vampire novel, she started a blog. Eventually the size of her following grew so large that several advocates started their own blogs and social networks to talk about “Twilight.” To lend authenticity and support to these advocates, Meyer embraced these new branches to her brand’s tree and provided them with exclusive information directly from her. I think we know how this turned out!

5. Reward your advocates
Your advocates donate their time to follow and support you. Reward them. Give them props and tell them their ideas are great. Give them free stuff. Literally send them things you have laying around the house. If you are a brand, send them coupons for deep discounts on your product. If you are a musician, give them free music or write a song just for them. When you can’t give rewards to everyone, create contests, sweepstakes, and promotions that allow your advocates the opportunity to win something from you. Thank your advocates for following you.

Your advocates love you, but that love is conditional. That love is fleeting and needs to be nurtured. The world of digital social media makes it possible to nurture your advocates and keep them close. Take care of your advocates, and they will take care of you.