In the race to social media influence, brands, professionals, and organisations have been tripping over themselves to 'get social'. It is now fairly uncommon to find a brand that does not have at least one social media profile or what I like to call branded social space.
The trouble with some branded social spaces is that, in many cases, they are branded spaces. The social is missing. The motivation has been to collect fans and followers, which have resulted in many branded social spaces not actually providing any entertainment or value.
Back in the day, before social media was the social media we see today, virtual communities facilitated the two-way interaction. As far back as the 1980's researchers have studies online virtual communities. There were brand communities, consumption communities, communities to help solve problems, special interest communities, the list goes on...
The communities were run by the community members and grew from their participation. You see the parallel to social media? It is said that a community is as only as good as its members and it only takes one motivated person to maintain a community.
To me, social media or branded social spaces are the next evolution of the virtual community. Today's technology allows for a more complex and engaging community to be developed but it seems that many could learn lessons from the early virtual communities.
To develop an effective social media strategy, it would be recommended to think about the reason for doing so. In other words, why do you need branded social spaces?
The Reason for Community
During my PhD research I have interviewed many organisations as to why they began to pursue a social media strategy, the reasons for their media choice, and the content shared on branded social spaces. The most common reason was to keep up with competitors and before we get charged to create profiles. Media choices were also based on the emerging competitor 'norm', and the content shared was almost unknown. No one could categorically tell me about the content that was shared on their branded social spaces. The content couldn't be categorised and the engagement pattern fluctuated between we have a profile but don't use it to we share special offers and we use it for promotion. So we don't really have community on these branded social spaces.
To build a successful strategy I would recommend considering:
Outlining the five attributes of online communities, (1) Purpose, (2) Platform, (3) Place, (4) Population, and (5) Profit Model (Porter, 2004) in relation to your brand.
Purpose
Think about the specific focus of communication and interaction among the community members. This is easy if you are a brand, the shared focus is the brand. Member participation starts with this shared purpose and leads to a sense of community through interaction and engagement. It is also worth considering if the gap between the brand and consumer is going to be reduced, maintained or extended through social media. Do you want those consumers who are motivated to 'friend' you online to know more about the brand, the inside, or do you want to reinforce the luxury status of the brand? Think about the purpose.
Platform and Place
Think about the types of interaction between the brand and community members, and vice versa and also between community members themselves. Remember social media is about two-way communication and building relationships. Empower your brand advocates to communicate with each other and build stronger brand equity from this. By considering the types of interactions you will be able to build an understanding of the specific location of the community. There are different types of social media. The most popular branded social spaces I see are from Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. Each media provides a different means to engage and share content, where some can be easily interlinked, and the shelf life of content differs. Obviously there are other social media out there, you need to consider which is best for your needs.
Do you need to be active on them all? You need to ask yourself if you have the time and resources, if you really need to be there and the types of community and value you will create. Don't go for the machine gun approach where you rush to do them all. Have you heard stories about people applying for every job, in many industries, with no fixed goal apart for getting 'any job'? That approach generally doesn't work. You need to be passionate about the job, see where you fit into an organisation and where you want to go. It's the same with social media, the machine gun approach is not going to get you where you want to be! It will also deplete you of your time and resources. Think about your overall aim and strategically place the branded social spaces where they need to be.
Population
The people who interact in the branded social space. Community interactions can be defined in more detail based on membership size (small groups or networks) and the level of social tie (strong versus weak). In branded social spaces, on let's say, Facebook, the social tie is likely to be weak but you can build tie strength through interaction. You will also get brand advocates who may begin to lead discussions and engagement. You also need to think about empowering your employees, are they part of your community?
Profit Model
Think about the commercial success of online communities which are supported through vibrant interactions among community members. The road between online friends, to consumer, to repeat consumer to long term brand advocate must be considered. How will you and your community interactions support the journey from friend to advocate?
But that's not the whole story.
Think about the consumer motivations, after all it is the consumers that are to be engaged.
Consumer Motivations
Virtual communities can satisfy four types of consumer need (1) interests, (2) relationship building, (3) transactions, and (4) fantasies (Hagel and Armstrong, 1997). Communities can be commercially orientated and consumers will engage in community membership. Thinking about a branded social space, the consumer is interested in the brand, they are making steps to building a relationship with the brand, are open to the idea of sharing transactions, and may desire the brand to fulfil their fantasies. By not engaging or only sharing promotional information you are not meeting the consumers' needs.
The key drivers for community use are social interaction and information exchange (Kozinets, 1999). Social exchange may be entertainment, asking questions or finding others with similar interests. How does or how will your branded social spaces or community support these uses? Information exchange, do you respond? Also, can the consumer find the information they may want about the brand? Are your branded social spaces up to date? Can you give titbits of information on current events from your brand or the industry in which you are in to keep the community well informed?
If a consumer friends you online, they are already interested in you. To maintain their interest you must meet the needs of community membership but great communities will also have those members who could keep the community running if you were not there.
This is the first of a four part blog about the benefit of thinking like community to develop your social media strategy. Firstly, this blog has explored the reason for community. In the next series of blogs the motivated community member, community spirit, and how to create value in your content will be explored to better equip you in developing social media strategy.
The trouble with some branded social spaces is that, in many cases, they are branded spaces. The social is missing. The motivation has been to collect fans and followers, which have resulted in many branded social spaces not actually providing any entertainment or value.
Back in the day, before social media was the social media we see today, virtual communities facilitated the two-way interaction. As far back as the 1980's researchers have studies online virtual communities. There were brand communities, consumption communities, communities to help solve problems, special interest communities, the list goes on...
The communities were run by the community members and grew from their participation. You see the parallel to social media? It is said that a community is as only as good as its members and it only takes one motivated person to maintain a community.
To me, social media or branded social spaces are the next evolution of the virtual community. Today's technology allows for a more complex and engaging community to be developed but it seems that many could learn lessons from the early virtual communities.
To develop an effective social media strategy, it would be recommended to think about the reason for doing so. In other words, why do you need branded social spaces?
The Reason for Community
During my PhD research I have interviewed many organisations as to why they began to pursue a social media strategy, the reasons for their media choice, and the content shared on branded social spaces. The most common reason was to keep up with competitors and before we get charged to create profiles. Media choices were also based on the emerging competitor 'norm', and the content shared was almost unknown. No one could categorically tell me about the content that was shared on their branded social spaces. The content couldn't be categorised and the engagement pattern fluctuated between we have a profile but don't use it to we share special offers and we use it for promotion. So we don't really have community on these branded social spaces.
To build a successful strategy I would recommend considering:
Outlining the five attributes of online communities, (1) Purpose, (2) Platform, (3) Place, (4) Population, and (5) Profit Model (Porter, 2004) in relation to your brand.
Purpose
Think about the specific focus of communication and interaction among the community members. This is easy if you are a brand, the shared focus is the brand. Member participation starts with this shared purpose and leads to a sense of community through interaction and engagement. It is also worth considering if the gap between the brand and consumer is going to be reduced, maintained or extended through social media. Do you want those consumers who are motivated to 'friend' you online to know more about the brand, the inside, or do you want to reinforce the luxury status of the brand? Think about the purpose.
Platform and Place
Think about the types of interaction between the brand and community members, and vice versa and also between community members themselves. Remember social media is about two-way communication and building relationships. Empower your brand advocates to communicate with each other and build stronger brand equity from this. By considering the types of interactions you will be able to build an understanding of the specific location of the community. There are different types of social media. The most popular branded social spaces I see are from Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. Each media provides a different means to engage and share content, where some can be easily interlinked, and the shelf life of content differs. Obviously there are other social media out there, you need to consider which is best for your needs.
Do you need to be active on them all? You need to ask yourself if you have the time and resources, if you really need to be there and the types of community and value you will create. Don't go for the machine gun approach where you rush to do them all. Have you heard stories about people applying for every job, in many industries, with no fixed goal apart for getting 'any job'? That approach generally doesn't work. You need to be passionate about the job, see where you fit into an organisation and where you want to go. It's the same with social media, the machine gun approach is not going to get you where you want to be! It will also deplete you of your time and resources. Think about your overall aim and strategically place the branded social spaces where they need to be.
Population
The people who interact in the branded social space. Community interactions can be defined in more detail based on membership size (small groups or networks) and the level of social tie (strong versus weak). In branded social spaces, on let's say, Facebook, the social tie is likely to be weak but you can build tie strength through interaction. You will also get brand advocates who may begin to lead discussions and engagement. You also need to think about empowering your employees, are they part of your community?
Profit Model
Think about the commercial success of online communities which are supported through vibrant interactions among community members. The road between online friends, to consumer, to repeat consumer to long term brand advocate must be considered. How will you and your community interactions support the journey from friend to advocate?
But that's not the whole story.
Think about the consumer motivations, after all it is the consumers that are to be engaged.
Consumer Motivations
Virtual communities can satisfy four types of consumer need (1) interests, (2) relationship building, (3) transactions, and (4) fantasies (Hagel and Armstrong, 1997). Communities can be commercially orientated and consumers will engage in community membership. Thinking about a branded social space, the consumer is interested in the brand, they are making steps to building a relationship with the brand, are open to the idea of sharing transactions, and may desire the brand to fulfil their fantasies. By not engaging or only sharing promotional information you are not meeting the consumers' needs.
The key drivers for community use are social interaction and information exchange (Kozinets, 1999). Social exchange may be entertainment, asking questions or finding others with similar interests. How does or how will your branded social spaces or community support these uses? Information exchange, do you respond? Also, can the consumer find the information they may want about the brand? Are your branded social spaces up to date? Can you give titbits of information on current events from your brand or the industry in which you are in to keep the community well informed?
If a consumer friends you online, they are already interested in you. To maintain their interest you must meet the needs of community membership but great communities will also have those members who could keep the community running if you were not there.
This is the first of a four part blog about the benefit of thinking like community to develop your social media strategy. Firstly, this blog has explored the reason for community. In the next series of blogs the motivated community member, community spirit, and how to create value in your content will be explored to better equip you in developing social media strategy.