The Spirit of Engagement

Social Media & Common Sense

Some things in life happen through the right attitude or spirit. Remember when Jack Skelington used equations to analyze and figure out the Christmas spirit in Nightmare Before Christmas? Pretty silly isn't it? Check out 9:30 in the video clip below.





Likewise, analysis can only get you so far when it comes to social media. Many people really miss the point when it comes to engaging online audiences. It has become needlessly complicated.

Getting people to talk about your brand does not result from sheer technical prowess. And nor should it happen automatically just because you've built an awesome site.

Believe it or not, there are a lot of people out there who seem to believe this. Maybe this is what happens when money and projects are at stake.

The Business of Online Marketing

Professionals in social media have a strong need for measurable parameters to forecast outcomes. This is understandable though.

Business is a serious game. But it doesn't need to be that serious, especially if it makes brands less appealing to audiences. And formalities shouldn't result in rigid overly conventional practices. If they prevent "outside the box" thinking, it's time to restructure outmoded & ridiculously linear ways of doing things.

Providing Experiences

Engaging your audience is about capturing their interest. And just as you can't come up with a formula for capturing Christmas spirit, you can't come up with a formula for online engagement.

Yes you can look at behavioral data to see what types of content get the highest numbers. But anyone can do this. But if you don't care about the quality of your selection, then no one else will either.

Behavioral data can be used as a general gage to see what your audience is interested in. Take this information and add your own personal touch. Then honestly ask yourself if this is interesting to you. And ask others for help as much as you can for their feedback.

If this sounds fluffy, think again. Social media is about sharing and being social.

With methodology aside, the spirit behind online engagement is about providing fresh and exciting experiences to audiences. All of us are inspired to share and talk about web content that is striking to us in some fashion.

So why not provide the same quality to your own content? Why not become focused on providing great experiences for people who come to your site? Either find a way to do it yourself, or get someone to do this for you.


Sound Advice

In my last post, I created a list of Jack Trout quotes. I think a few of them are relevant here.

• Common sense is your guide
• Research can obscure the obvious. A flood of data should never be allowed to wash away your common sense and your own feeling for the market
• When presented with a simple obvious strategy, many clients are not impressed. They are often looking for some clever, not so obvious idea.

I have a feeling I might be referring to this quote list throughout the life of this blog. I don't want to become redundant, but it's really hard not to consider these excerpts from Mr. Trout's book.
You'd be a complete fool to ignore them.