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Jul 8 2009
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Content Creates Engagement

social networksEngagement is the buzzword of choice when social media experts get together to pontificate. And while I agree that engagement, and ultimately action, is the payoff of social media, few social media experts talk about how it’s really created. Engagement is not really created by being a nice, genuine, caring and attentive sort of chap on twitter. It’s hard to create much momentum in any kind of social network without some of those qualities, but true engagement, engagement that leads to customers and partners, is created with content. Or, perhaps more accurately, engagement is created with engaging content.

I know you’re likely sick of me talking about the need to create lots of education rich content, but there’s just very few ways around it as a typical small business. Some exceptions, marry into lots of money and buy super bowl ads, get Miley Cyrus to wear your product on stage, or get Michael Arrington and Robert Scoble to argue publicly about the merits of your feature set – baring these, think content creation.

When it comes to effective social media use, I personally push towards using a great deal of energy and activity to create awareness for your content. So, of course if you’re to take this advice, you’ve got to have lots of content. Many people do little more than create small talk on social networks and then wonder why they can’t get an ROI for time spent. Most small businesses will be far better off if they look at their status updates on LinkedIn, Facebook and twitter, not as a way to tell the world about what they are doing (unless it’s creating content), but as a way to shed light on valuable content housed either within the particular social network or elsewhere online.

This means uploading videos to Facebook, creating events, such as webinars and optimizing them using the Facebook Events app, uploading PowerPoint presentations to Slideshare and using the Slideshare app for LinkedIn, and creating a quick hit point out of your latest blog post and pointing to it on twitter. That’s how engagement leads to orders.

I’m not suggesting that you don’t also have to make referrals, point out other people’s great content, and provide great answers to questions posed on that network – that’s just smart networking, regardless of the platform, and it’s also an important trust building function. But, at the end of the day, if someone, looking for a solution, can’t find that you have in detailed, multi-format, education based content, then social media participation for business purposes can feel like a big fat high school mixer.

So, if you’re one of those that’s determined social media is a big fat waste of time, then I’m suggesting that what you’ve really discovered is that your sparkling personality isn’t enough to make social media pay.

Image credit: luc legay

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  • http://www.iangilyeat.com/ Elizabeth

    Too bad I can't see any of those good fortune things happening any time soon. I guess I'll have to focus on creating strong content. :)

    Chris, you make a really good point (well several) about using status updates. Many people/businesses write in the status about what they're doing, but this doesn't add any value to your followers and that's what they want. If you want people to be engaged in your content you need to show them that it's valuable and lead them to it. Like you said, status updates should be used “as a way to shed light on valuable content housed either within the particular social network or elsewhere online.” Great post.

  • http://www.mariareyesmcdavis.com/ Maria Reyes-McDavis

    This is such a great post, super reality check on this term “engagement” that so-called social media experts keep toting around! When you take real action, around valuable content in social media, you start the process of getting your audience to take action that actually leads to your social media efforts paying off! Great stuff, as usual John :-)

  • http://macinnismarketing.wordpress.com danmac30

    I just did a blog and podcast on this very topic of content strategy in social media for anyone who is interested. http://macinnismarketing.wordpress.com/2009/06/…

    What I can see is it is all about sharing and educating. The faster we can get the swell of small business to see the benefit of having more conversations with their customers the more successful they will be. The social media platform is just another medium to do this. A great medium for small business. This doesn't mean it doesn't take time and expertise to really leverage it because it does, however the barrier to entry is low.

    If you have good content, you will be found. Twitter is a great example of this. Sure, you can assist this with the technology tips, but the key I think is to create content that you believe your customers will find valuable and the rest will fall into place over time.

  • http://www.themindfulbeat.com/ Rebecca Lincoln

    as reader of some social media, I totally agree. I many things competing for my attention. I am far more drawn to people and companies who offer something of value into my day. A little of personal blended in is engaging but too much just gets boring.
    Enjoyed your article which was posted by a twitter friend.

  • http://www.VeriUp.com/ Yna

    Great article, I agree with having a well written content for your product or blog to attract/engage with your audience.

    Yna
    - http://www.VeriUp.com

  • http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk/ Doug Kessler

    Nice one — love the duct tape idea.

    You and your readers might like our Content Marketing Workbook, a free download from:

    http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk/2009/06/09/th…

    Thanks.

  • http://frontofficebox.com frontofficebox

    At last :-)

    This issue has been challenging me for some time.

    It's great to see your leadership on the subject. Ultimately it has to be about ideas, not about tricks.

    Glad I visited, as usual.
    Steve

  • http://www.mikestenger.com mikestenger

    Great insight John. I've recently bumped up content on my blog to 6 days/week plus I'm on the path to writing articles and possibly opening up a posterous account to post there several times/day.

    I know there's a lot more things I myself can do and it all comes down to how much valuable & creative content you put out there as well as how effectively you engage your market. I'm 19 so I've got plenty of time and why not make NOW my time to rise to the top?

    Thanks for the reminder!

    -Mike S.

  • http://twitter.com/johncass John Cass

    Hi John,

    Imagine you've just attended two political rallies, the candidates both give good speeches, warmly received by the audience and admiring supporters. One of the candidates immediately leaves to head off for the next rally. The other spends some time shaking heads, even starts an impromptu town hall meeting to reach out to audience members.

    Of the two candidates who did a better job of engagement?

    John, you are right good content can engage an audience, FDR comes to mind here, but I think if you are discussing social media, you are only telling half the story if you just focus on content.

    To engage…well you have to engage. You have to spend some time on benefiting the audience, answering comments, reading what other people have to say, and maybe commenting on other people's blog posts. It is through those interactions that I think you will really engage people and the audience reading your posts.

    You cite Robert Scoble in your post, now there's someone who really does a great job engaging his community, using twitter, friendfeed or what other latest and greatest social media technology is available.

    Sorry, John, I really have to disagree with you that engagement is solely about content. I think its really about outreach. Yes, as you suggest you can promote your content, but in the end you have to step down from the podium and shake a few hands to win that election.

  • http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog ducttape

    John – I think you're missing a bit of what I was trying to say – back to your politician example, shaking hands is fine and necessary, but if you were also able to point back to tons of great information about what you are doing or plan to do, you will get much more bang for every hand. That's the point – engagement with content is the killer strategy here.

    The problem is too many people want to skip that content part and go straight to shaking hands. Scoble is nailing engagement because he can point to a long, rich, consistent path of content creation.

  • http://twitter.com/johncass John Cass

    John – oh, I definitely see you point. I think making great content is a great way to engage people, but I do think its one half of the puzzle in building community. I just think that both content and engagement are important. Your article appeared to me, at least, to suggest that just having good content was the best and only way to engage people.

    I think you understand what I am saying here, especially as you just gave another great example by pointing to Scoble. It is just I did not see you emphasize both content and an outreach strategy within your article.

    Content Marketing has become a real buzz word in the community recently, and I think it is easy to confuse people with the idea that just making great content within social media is going to lead to success. While developing great content is important, you have to socialize that content. You gave some good examples in your piece, but personally, I think you really left out how to successfully engage people through dialogue within social media.

    What you described could in some quarters be seen as a way to use social media as yet another content promotional channel. You appeared to be suggesting that you have to make great content and then spread it around as much as possible, without ever having any intention of engaging people with a dialogue in those other places. Basically it’s just getting back to the old advertising or push model. Don’t get me wrong, I think what you suggest is okay, and it will and definitely can work. And I also know you understand the value of outreach. But I've also seen circumstances where companies and marketers have lost opportunities over time by pursuing just a content only model. Without the follow up and engagement through dialogue we are back to the old ways of marketing, but just in a new channel.

    I raise this point not to criticize what you wrote, which was good and valuable content on the topic of creating valuable content! But to provide constructive criticism that you did not emphasize the role of engagement in a good content marketing strategy.

    If you look at GM’s FastLane blog, in the early days, GM did not really answer comments or engage customers. The number of comments and I would think volume of traffic probably declined on the blog over time. Once Christopher Barger joined GM from IBM, he used his knowledge and expertise to make sure GM both kept up the volume of good content, but also engaged people on the blog and in the wider community.

    When I think of blogs I think there are three types of bloggers, a columnist, a host and an engager. The columnist writes great content, but does not engage people in the comment section, the host writes great content and does engage people on the blog, but not beyond, and the engager writes great content, and monitors the community, comments on other blogs, and writes posts that link to other members of the community.

    Writing great content works for all three types of blogger, but the engager in social media will be more successful than the columnist or the host.

    I conducted an interview with Cathy Taylor, formerly of AdFreaks from advertising Age, and someone who initiated the AdFreaks blog project. When we interviewed Cathy in 2006 she explained they started the blog to compete with AdRants, but still to that day, AdRants was more competitive in social media, because the bloggers at AdRants do more outreach than AdFreaks.

    Content is important, but content and engagement is event better!

  • lisathorn

    Love the information. I upload a lot of video of my small business on facebook, youtube and adwido.com. It's a great way to get free business advertising and free link exchange. You'll find the more places you post your content to, the more likely your business is to be found.

  • kimberlymccabe

    If you are blogging for a business it also helps if you have the right CMS in place to help manage the analytics properly. There is a new CMS platform coined OMS for Online Marketing System that does a much better job at allowing you to manage analtyics. but it does a lot more than than. http://www.oshyn.com/BlogRetrieve.aspx?BlogID=4…

    I would love to hear what you think about how CMS can do better at tracking social!

  • kimberlymccabe

    If you are blogging for a business it also helps if you have the right CMS in place to help manage the analytics properly. There is a new CMS platform coined OMS for Online Marketing System that does a much better job at allowing you to manage analtyics. but it does a lot more than than. http://www.oshyn.com/BlogRetrieve.aspx?BlogID=4…

    I would love to hear what you think about how CMS can do better at tracking social!