Issue 7: INCENTIVE—FIRST STEP TO INVOLVEMENT

It’s all about me.

"The world revolves around me. Me, me, me. My favorite person: Me. I don't want email from you. I don't want junk mail from you. I want me-mail."- These words of marketer/writer Seth Godin highlight what we all want from our online activity. Pressed for time, overwhelmed by offers, we seek out sites that support us, networks that nourish our needs
"There are so many offers that incentives are required to drive engagement," says keynote PR speaker Patrick Schwerdtfeger.

Commenters on the last blog post shared the incentives that drive them to social media.

Being a creative content producer VitaminCplus acknowledges that the "compelling reason" for returning to a site is the "need to get something out of it"; for her, it’s the opportunity to be creative. She’s not alone. Many media consumers and users are creating their own media content – just as you are doing by commenting on this blog. According to media scholar Axel Bruns, media users should now be referred to as  ‘produsers’.

Bridging physical distances   For  Ianina, Donny and Lee, social media sites offer the chance to maintain relationships with close connections who live far away.  Sociologist Barry Wellman discovered as far back as 1997, even before the advent of social media, that online communities were offering links for family members and friends living far apart.

Offering emotional support Wellman found that virtual communities were also offering generalised emotional support ("a slightly larger form of human embrace, a meta-embrace", in the words of one of his interviewees). Commenter Lee agrees: "On a spiritual level :) I feel FB can also be used to reach out to others in need." 
What do you think?

More about …

Seth Godin on Me me me! http://www.fastcompany.com/events/realtime/miami/blog/godin.html

Patrick Schwerdtfeger’s advice on creating incentives via social media at  http://www.prweb.com/releases/social-media/incentives/prweb10564929.htm

Axel Bruns on produsers:  http://produsage.org/node/67
 
Barry Wellman on virtual communities :
http://groups.chass.utoronto.ca/netlab/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Net-Surfers-Dont-Ride-Alone-Virtual-Community-as-Community.pdf

Example of a  supportive virtual community, listed in my August 22 post: http://themiscarriageblog.blogspot.com.au/2009/02/other-type-of-two-week-wait.html

ISSUE 6: NUMBERS MEAN NOTHING – NETWORKING MAKES MEMBERS STICK

It’s official: personal invitation brings lurkers out of the closet!

My last post, ‘Heroes or hoverers’ (06 September), produced over 20 comments from hitherto silent lurkers. Why did they declare their presence? In most cases, because of personal invitation via email or Facebook. 

It’s a tried and tested model of public relations success: there’s nothing like personal invitation for evoking interest and engagement in a potential respondent.  It works every time, especially on social media, explains MELISSA GALT, Australian born motivational speaker and designer, at

http://melissagalt.com/its-not-about-numbers-get-over-it/

And the next step? Once members are engaged, we need to encourage their activity. How do we create ‘sticky' members – those who keep coming back? See

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-create-your-own-social-networking-community/

Among other things, the socialmediaaexaminer site foregrounds the importance of strong leadership. This is as vital to a virtual community as it is to a ‘real’ community. 

More about 'sticky' members Thank you to the many commenters on my own blog who have highlighted other essential producers of ‘stickiness’. As you’ve  said, social media users will come back to a site if it offers them the chance to:

  *   communicate creatively (25 Aug post-Rox) 

  *   engage (06 Sep post – http://vzrethinks.wordpress.com; 31 Aug post - http://academondownunder.wordpress.com/)   *    listen (ozmediaphiledotcom)   

  *    connect  (22 Aug post-Sally Morgan)  

  *    collaborate with others with niche interests (25 Aug post –Donny; 02 Sep post-Naomi)  

  *    talk the same ‘language’ (25 Aug post-Aiza)   

  *    be acknowledged (23 Aug post)

What makes YOU return to the same social media site again and again?

Please comment–name the site, and your reason for being sticky!

ISSUE 5—Heroes or hoverers? A place for all in online communities

The lead up to the Australian general election on 7 September has seen frenzied social media activity by major political leaders. Both  main contenders for the leadership, Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbot, through their active social media presence have acknowledged the importance of social media for community engagement.

Who has been more successful? Kevin Rudd, with his longer term social media presence, has attracted more followers. Sustained presence and interaction are important for building and maintaining a community of followers. The Sydney Morning Herald explores this issue at  http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/smallbiz-marketing/election-showcases-power-of-social-media-20130815-2rxkn.html#ixzz2eAnNfxbV

In the US, President Obama’s success with his social media campaign is seen as a function of with his long—3.5 year—social media presence in contrast with candidate Romney's much shorter one.  

The politicians are all demonstrating active leadership on online communities. But what of the other end of the scale–the not visibly active, seemingly dormant ‘lurkers’ referred to in this blog by commenter Rox?

Can we count those peripheral participants as part of the community?

Communication experts agree that lurkers are important. According to Kate Crawford of the University of Sydney, lurkers ‘contribute a mode of receptiveness that encourages others to make public contributions’.

It’s clear from the work of both Crawford and Australia’s Listening Project that, like real-world communities, online communities have their active leaders and their inactive, peripheral participants. All play significant roles.

Here is a multimedia metaphor for the interaction between online followers and online leaders—a large-group rendition of the Cup Song. (Don’t know about the Cup Song? This is a viral YouTube-activity that was unleashed with the release of the movie Pitch Perfect.)

This rendition highlights the importance of the leader for keeping a community together–the leader sets the rhythm for interaction, maintains the momentum, and creates a platform for powerful collaboration. But without her followers, there would only be silence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFtfk0bZVRM

Want to know more?

On Obama vs Romney social media use, see http://www.policymic.com/articles/10072/why-obama-is-dominating-mitt-romney-on-facebook-twitter-and-pinterest )

See Kate Crawford’s  article,  ‘ Disciplines of listening in social media’ at

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/sites/cyber.law.harvard.edu/files/Crawford%20Continuum%20following%20you_0.pdf

For The Listening Project: http://www.thelisteningproject.net/

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