Making Engagement Work – Update from 91st Social Media Breakfast

We all have been there, running campaigns, driving conversations on our Social Platforms (for work or personal). From quirky status updates, contests, goodies, free cash to friendly favors. Driving engagement on social media is an ongoing challenge. This is what we set to discuss at the 91st Social Media Breakfast. Our focus was to understand and demystify engagement and move beyond the social desperation of ‘like me’, ‘please like me’ and ‘please please please’ to a scenario where engagement is built into the plan, and is not a plan in itself.

Fickle Society We Live In

I heard at a conference recently that we live in a ‘Fickle Society’, a society which keeps changing, changing loyalties and interests. That dreaded ‘unlike’ option on a facebook page, that ‘unfollow’ button on Twitter, something marketers secretly want banned. The rise and success of ‘Viral’ as a concept, that every campaign wants to go viral desperately, every video wants to be a Kolaveri Di.

So What Makes Engagement Work?

In my experience, I have observed a number of viral videos and campaigns and below the layers of popular culture I find the feelings which bring people together, and the collective force of a large group of people can be called – virality. If you notice a trend in Oscar winning movies in the last few years, it has been the story of the underdog, something every human would cheer for. People around the world laugh the same way, cry the same way, there is no language in laughter. Any campaign which resonates with the underlying human feelings which connect and bind people together has a higher probability of success. Example: Feelings of patriotism, cheering for the underdog, celebrating love, paying it forward, non violence, social cause, innocense of children or seniors, creative problem solving, human rights win, standing up to a bully, element of surprise, anger at injustice and more..

Simarprit Singh shared an interesting perspective about what went behind promoting Kolaveri Di, the viral video which you, your friends and their friends keep playing. The simple concept of selecting the right platforms and seeding the video worked well for them.Read more from interview with the head of the Agency which executed this campaign.

Ravi Mathur made a interesting point about how IPL (Indian Premier League) came into being. Connecting the dots of Bollywood and Cricket, coupled with the short format and well suited evening time for the game, hit the sweet spot with the audience. IPL is not a social case study by any means, but an excellent example of an exercise in engagement for an entire country.

The quick breakdown shared by Mani Singh stood out as pointers for us. There is so much chaos on the web today, millions of posts, videos and articles are competing for our attention. The simple strategy to make your stuff stand out is to stick to the simple C & D rule.  The 3C’s are Creativity, Consistency and Cool. Consistency in creativity is essential to increase your chances of hitting that bulls eye. Have you read about  ‘The 10,000 Hours Rule’ from Outliers (book), which explains the success of Beatles, Bill Gates and more.  The D’s – Define, Deliver and Derive. Its a cycle, first define the idea, the objective, Deliver is for execution (execution is the most important of all steps), Derive (to make sense of the data and arrive at conclusions), Back to Define from the learnings of Derive. Its an effecient cycle and keeps the business healthy, I think this deserves a Meetup of its own 🙂

Join us for the next Social Media Breakfast, Check out our Meetup Page or Join the Facebook Group to stay updated.