Got Fans. Got Followers. What's Next? Participation! Jerry Shereshewsky

Marketing using social media is an incredibly attractive proposition Somehow though the magic of LinkedIn Facebook Twitter and a host of others brands accumulate massive numbers of fans and followers at no or little cost After all how much effort does it take to give a brand a thumbsup The answer is not what it costs but what value the brand gets from the action In other words simply accumulating massive numbers of fans and followers provides zero value What you need is participationParticipation is what happens when a fan or follower becomes engaged and really starts behaving the way all those social media pundits say they can They get really involved they become ambassadors sneezing your promotions offers and news around to their friends Achoo Sounds simple Get the customerprospect 39infected39 with brand enthusiasm and everything takes care of itself Not quiteMost marketers unfamiliar or barely conversant with social media themselves have little or no idea how to actually cause genuine participation After all historically marketers didn39t really want consumers to actually respond to promotions they wanted to make a big splash with the trade and hope that participationredemption was minimal But with social media you turn everything upside down You absolutely want and need as much participation as possibleTo get it you have to not only master the complexities of social media but also know your audience intimately This is the 64000 or million dollar question what can cause the consumer to break out of their ennui and actually do something Of course not all consumers will react identically to the same stimulus This is the hard part Being in active contact via these same media is a great first step This is not something you simply turn on and walk away You have to be in touch with these potential ambassadors all the time And the more 39ambassadorial39 the more nurturance they demand and deserve And then you test You put on your direct marketing hat and look at the impact minor variables offerBut whatever you do ask this question first does this particular promotioneventwhatever encourage participation If not go back and start overJerry Shereshewsky is Chief GrownUp at GrownUpMarketing LLC a consultancy focused on helping companies get known liked and respected in the advertising and marketing business Jerry can be reached at jerrygrownupmarketingcomRead all Jerryamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Rants ampamp Raves from the Heart of AdvertisingCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Got Fans. Got Followers. What's Next? Participation! Jerry Shereshewsky

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