Your sweet spot is where what YOU want to achieve using social media coincides with what your audience wants. It’s not as easy to find this spot as you might think. Most organizations are engaging in one-way news-dispersing conversations on their Facebook pages. While they may get "Liked" a lot (which requires only a click), their social media content is not prompting fans to take a specific action or provide more substantive feedback .
As an example, Geoff Livingston wrote about the challenge faced by nonpartisan Common Cause when they tried to get feedback on their list of "core values." They were in the process of rewriting and updating their values for the advocacy group’s 40th anniversary. Asking for "feedback" from their over 5,000 Facebook followers received a tepid response. What to do? Common Cause turned the request for feedback into a contest: write and submit a core value - to be named the 40th in honor of the anniversary. They received 1,200 submissions, chose five and had the community vote to select the winner.
Lesson: your audience wants to be recognized and validated. They want to be part of a real (meaning two-way) conversation. If there is sufficient incentive, they will collaborate and even create content for you. Then they want to be able to broadcast their contribution to their own followers on Twitter or Facebook and to be recognized as smart or clever or funny - even if they are not the ultimate winner. Hence the importance of incorporating "Tweet this" and "like" buttons as well as sharing apps like AddThis.
The Pepsi Refresh campaign nailed this particular sweet spot. On one side is the chance for content creation (a substantive proposal to improve your real-life community), recognition, validation, publicity, promotion and - possibly - a cash award. On Pepsi’s side is credit for being socially responsible, enhanced brand awareness and a savings of $20M or so not spent on Super Bowl ads.
Unfortunately, there is no magic formula for what will make members of your community take an action that meets your business goals. Note that producing an outcome using social media is several steps beyond "engagement." My advice: tread lightly if you’re just getting started with a Facebook page or a blog. See what your fans and readers respond to. Deliver valuable content (an e-book filled with useful tips, a discount coupon). Then use creativity and persistence to find a sweet spot where what you want (related to revenue generation) meshes with what they want (the chance to be validated and recognized and to do something meaningful).
Posted via email from Debbie Weil’s Posterous.
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