Countless brands stunt their reach on social media, because all they do is broadcast their own content. Check their Facebook page or Twitter stream, and you’ll see their articles, their firm announcements, their promotions, their stuff. “Me, me, me.”
Pushing your own content is a way to get started in social media, but it will only take you so far. You may get a few hundred followers on Facebook or Twitter, but fairly quickly your growth will plateau.
If you want to achieve real impact on social media you have to lead.
My social media philosophy is governed by a mantra, “An audience will plateau, but a community is boundaryless.” Leading and building communities is the secret sauce for really scaling your brand in social media.
Communities vs. Advertising
Broadcasting content is just another form of advertising. Package a message, whether in the form of a video, an article or even a promotion, and push it as far and wide as you can. The challenge with advertising is it’s limited to your resources. To reach and engage large audiences needs ever increasing budgets. That’s why big brands can engage such large audiences. They have the budgets and resources to get a lot of eyeballs to see their stuff.
Social media communities are different. They shift the resource paradigm, and engage very large audiences organically. Communities scale, because they draw together broad groups of people with shared interests, shared experiences or shared values. Their connections create commonality, and this enables communities to engage a lot of people.
And scale is only one benefit. Communities enable two-way communications, which means you don’t have to be responsible for all the content. Actually a majority of the content can be created by the community. Others asking questions, sharing content, participating in conversations and engaging with each other.
Only 1% choose to lead
Each of us has an opportunity to lead and make a significant impact in social media, because the vast majority of brands are simply broadcasting. I spoke about this in a previous post, “Stop Shouting! Listen. Build Your Brand Listening.”
Jakob Nielsen, an internet researcher, discovered only 1% of people are active creators in social media communities. He called this the 90-9-1 Rule.
90% of social media users are “lurkers.” These are the people listening and following the conversations from the sidelines. I find the term lurkers a little derogatory, so let’s just call these people listeners.
9% of social media users are “curators.” The curators are sharing content. They’re the ones retweeting, forwarding and re-posting other’s content. They’re engaged in the communities, but they’re not actively creating new content or ideas.
1% of social media users are “active.” These are the leaders. These are the people asking questions, engaging in dialogue, creating content and taking a proactive stance to move the community forward.
Be the 1%. Lead!
You have an opportunity to be very influential in social media if you choose to lead. People are searching for ways to get involved and participate in social media. They’re looking for leadership. Take on this role.
Brands who choose to lead create a remarkable competitive advantage. Instead of simply broadcasting content and promotions they are purposefully engaging with people. They’re building relationships, and they’re bringing value to others. Communities thrive, because of the relationships. And brands need relationships to become sticky.
Be the 1%. Lead. Take a stance in your community.
April 24th, 2012 
Posted by Jeremy Miller
The Kony 2012 is the fastest spreading viral video of all time. It was published on YouTube on March 5th, and within a week it achieved over 70 million views.
The video is a brilliant piece of marketing. It’s no accident that it has spread like wildfire across the Internet. It’s personal, it’s polarizing and it’s actionable.
1. It’s personal
It’s hard to imagine a 30-minute video being viral, but this one reels you in. It starts with the standard fare of social media and you have a voice. The story starts with, “Right now there are more people on Facebook then there were on the planet 200 years ago.” It builds and a crowd is told, “Who are you to end a war? Who are you not to?” All rather cliché, but then they introduce Jacob.
Jacob changes the dynamic of the video, because he makes it personal. He explains, “My brother tried to escape [the rebels], then they killed him using panga. They cut his neck.” Jacob is very likable, and you feel for him. He explains his situation, his life and what it’s like to live under the tyranny of the rebels. He’d rather die than continue on this world. As he recalls his brother he breaks down sobbing – it’s haunting.
My heart reached out to this young boy. I didn’t understand his situation or the trauma he had gone through, but my moral code screamed against the injustices he had faced. I wanted to help.
The video didn’t focus of the “plight of the people,” or the thousands of people hurt by the rebels. It didn’t show a Western journalist walking through refugee camps. It introduced one boy with one story. And you choose to stick with the video and even get involved, because you want to help Jacob.
That’s the lesson. Focus on the personal and the small. That’s where action takes place. We work on what we understand and relate to versus macro causes greater than ourselves.
2. It’s polarizing
The video doesn’t share all the shades of gray in the conflict in Uganda. It tells you Joseph Kony is the worst. He’s number one on the International Criminal Court’s list of most wanted criminals, because he fights and kills without purpose. “He’s not fighting for any cause, but only to maintain power.”
He recruits child soldiers. Forces them to murder their parents. Mutilates and disfigures children’s faces. He is an evil man. He did this to Jacob.
That’s the power of this video. It tells you one frightening point of view.
The problem is the conflicts in Uganada and surrounding territories are complex. Is Joseph Kony really the worst dictator in Africa? Is Invisible Children’s approach to arming the military really the right way? Is Joseph Kony really only doing this for power? These questions are just the tip of the iceberg of the broader controversies surrounding the cause.
Action requires polarization. You don’t spark people to act with a balanced argument. You have to kick them in the pants, and make them want to fight. Saul Alinsky wrote in Rules of Radicals, “in no war has the enemy or the cause ever been gray.”
3. It’s actionable
The video has two very clear calls to action. First, share the video with the world. Second, get the kit. These actions are simple, clear and easy to do.
The vast majority of people won’t view the whole video, but that’s ok. Just sharing the video “shows your support.” From the very start of the film you are programmed to share the movie. In the first three minutes you see people repeatedly sharing on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. They’re clicking the Share button again-and-again. It sets you up subconsciously to share. You see it. You see others doing it. You’re told to do it. Your mission is to make sure everyone knows about Joseph Kony.
If you have the staying power to watch the full film you are given a second call to action: get involved, and buy a kit. You are invited to www.kony2012.com to get your “Action Kit” with posters, stickers and bracelets. Little trinkets to show your support. But more importantly these trinkets come with a cause. You’ll get to organize and come together with like-minded people on April 20, 2012 to “paint the town” with Kony 2012 posters to make sure the whole world knows about Joseph Kony.
The calls to action are easy. Anyone can do it. The simplicity of these requests accelerates the disbursement of the video, because it lets people believe they are participating and doing something valuable – even if their actions are superficial at best.
March 13th, 2012
Posted by Jeremy Miller
Social media communities may be the “in thing,” but are you really sure you want one for your brand?
It’s easy to see the successes brands like Starbucks and Deloitte are having with social media. Starbucks has over 26 million likes on Facebook, and Deloitte has over 81,000. Executives and marketers see these very active and successful groups and think, “I want that.”
I hear it too. My LinkedIn Group, Sticky Branding, has close to 18,000 members. We launched it in May 2010 with 5 members, my team. Within a year it passed 10,000 members, at 18 months it had 17,000 members, and the group keeps growing week-over-week. People see the success we’re having with our social media group, and want to replicate it.
It’s a natural reaction to want what others have, but before you dive in ask why. Why do you want a social media community? What will it contribute to your brand? What type of return do you want to achieve?
Don’t do it for the sales
If you want a social media community to generate more leads, more sales or more revenue, stop right there. There are far faster and easier ways to increase awareness and generate leads.
Social media communities are perceived as excellent demand creation platforms, but that’s not accurate. Having tens-of-thousands of followers doesn’t mean you can market to them. Actually, it’s unlikely you can get tens-of-thousands of followers if the purpose of your community is to market to them. Customers see right through these groups and move on.
Do it for the relationships
The value of a community is in its people. It’s in the connections, the relationships and the opportunities to learn and share with others. It’s in the opportunities to organize and work with a disparate group of people to do something greater than yourself.
The Occupy Movement is an excellent example of a community organized around a shared belief. Groups of people came together in cities around the world to let politicians and the public at large know things have to change. Most people who participated in these movements didn’t know each other when they started, but they shared a set of values that brought them together.
Communities are drawn together out of shared values, shared experiences or shared interests. They come together to learn, to connect, or to do something impactful.
Do you really want to organize and lead?
The relationships are fun and meaningful, but does the effort of building and scaling a community really make sense for your brand?
The Sticky Branding LinkedIn group had less than 600 members for the first nine months. It was hard work inviting one person at a time to the group, and engaging them in conversation. And the work hasn’t ended. The group requires ongoing moderation to keep it functioning well.
We didn’t create the group as a lead generation platform. We didn’t think that was a worthwhile use of our time, or an authentic reason for engaging others in a social media setting. Rather we wanted to connect with like-minded people with a shared interest in creating remarkable, sticky brands. And that’s the value. The group grows, because the topic and the shared ideas resonate. We learn from smart people, get ideas and have opportunities to network and meet people we otherwise would never encounter.
In return we have seen opportunities come from the group, but the real value has been to participate in a community greater than ourselves.
What do you think?
What experiences have you had from social media communities? What value do they bring to brands?
January 12th, 2012
Posted by Jeremy Miller
“Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead.” – Seth Godin, Tribes
Brand communities are very powerful, but they don’t form and grow on their own. They need leadership.
Along the social media highway you will find countless abandoned and dying groups. They were started with good intentions, but after a few months they floundered. The missing ingredient is a commitment to leadership.
Leaders Are Generous
Many brands create communities out of ego gratification. They create and nurture their community to fulfill their own needs, which is usually “buy my stuff.” But communities don’t work that way.
Communities aren’t about you; they’re about everyone else.
Leaders who are generous and committed to the development of their communities succeed most often. Their groups thrives because they’re authentic. And their members engage, participate and follow, because they see and respect the leaders’ actions.
Communities are built on shared experiences and shared responsibility. Leaders set the tone and the culture for everyone to be engaged and successful.
Leaders show up and empower their members
People don’t come together and form into a vibrant community in a vacuum. They require leadership to bring them together, and give them purpose.
In my post, Communities Make Brands Sticky, I talked about my experiences with Element CrossFit’s community. One of the lessons Alex Cibiri, the owner of Element CrossFit, shared with me is leaders have to show up.
Alex explained, “In the early days the community is you. You are the one people are connecting with. You are the one people are engaging with.” When they were building the community, Alex made a point of showing up and participating in as many of the group activities as he could.
By participating and supporting his members, Alex validated his community. He was the glue that brought people from different backgrounds and experiences together.
Showing up and participating is hard work. You may have other priorities, but the group needs that support to thrive.
Invest in people
We can dissect communities six ways from Sunday, but really they boil down to people and relationships.
Communities are drawn together through a shared experience, a shared interest or a shared value, but they are held together by leaders. It’s the leaders that keep the communities going and growing.
If you’re serious about community
If you’re interested in developing your community, Seth Godin’s book Tribes offers great insights. It’s filled with great wisdom and anecdotes on the power of community, and what they take to lead.
October 19th, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Miller
Relationships are the secret-sauce of a sticky brand. We fall in and out of love with products, but human relationships are far more lasting. It’s people that make brands stick.
When you buy a new car, you love it. It’s fun to drive, and fun to show off. It’s your shiny new object – at least for a little while. After a few months the new car luster fades, and it’s just a car.
It’s hard to maintain a relationship with a shiny new object, because when the shiny and new wears off you’re just left with an object. That’s the struggle for most brands. They’re constantly struggling to release something new and exciting to bring their customers back. It’s a vicious cycle.
Communities break the shiny object syndrome. They add human relationships, which are far more sustainable and protectable than adding features and benefits.
Communities keep you engaged
I experienced the power of community first-hand when I joined Element CrossFit last summer. CrossFit is a fitness program that incorporates dynamic, full-body workouts. It has become very popular in recent years with CrossFit gyms popping up everywhere.
Prior to joining Element CrossFit, I had never maintained a fitness program beyond 60 days. I’d join a gym, learn their equipment and use the facilities. All would be going well for a few weeks, and then I’d get derailed.
I used to think falling out of fitness was my fault, because I wasn’t disciplined enough. But that wasn’t it. I was bored. When the shininess of the gym wore off there was nothing left to sustain me.
Element CrossFit has been a completely different experience. For the first time in my life I have been working out three to four times a week for over a year, and I’m loving it. I’m not bored, I’m not tired of it, and I’m not using willpower to maintain my routine. The difference has been their community.
Element CrossFit is a minimalist gym with free weights, chin-up bars, medicine balls and space to do various routines. Compare that to the 140,000 square-foot gym Life Time Fitness is building a few kilometers away. Can you imagine how much equipment it will take to fill 140,000 square feet?
But Element CrossFit has something very powerful: a community. The community has been a real sticking factor in my experience. It’s the people I see week after week, and the support and camaraderie I gain that keeps me coming back.
Products and services can’t share emotions. They can’t connect with you as a human being. Only people can do that.
Communities create loyalty
An engaged brand community keeps customers coming back for more. Just look at the commitment of Harley-Davidson owners. Other motorcycle brands may have more advanced technology and features, but Harley owners couldn’t imagine riding anything else.
Communities increase customer loyalty. Alex Cibiri, the owner of Element CrossFit, explains, “The community shifts the customer relationship. Our members feel a part of the gym, and take ownership and pride in it. You will hear people describe it as ‘my gym,’ and truly mean it.” He goes on to say, “The more members feel a part of a community, the more they invest in it.”
From a business context, the community increases Element CrossFit’s customer retention and participation rates. Alex explains, “Many people belong to gyms, but rarely go. The gym may claim to have a high retention rate, but their participation levels are terrible. Element CrossFit is very different. We have high retention and high participation. Very few of our members pay their dues and don’t show up.”
The stickiest brands have communities
Look at brands you admire, and you will likely spot a community. Harley-Davidson, LEGO, Wikipedia, Apple and WordPress all have dynamic user communities. Some communities are organized and sponsored by the brands, like the Harley Owners Group (HOG). And some are left to their own devices, like Apple’s user communities.
Regardless of how the community forms, it can be a great asset to a brand. When people organize in a community it adds a relationship dimension that greatly enriches the brand. It adds human bonds, experiences and camaraderie that no product or service can achieve on their own.
October 13th, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Miller
Remember those awkward middle school dances? The ones where everyone stood around waiting for something to happen. Small groups of teenagers shuffling awkwardly around the gymnasium, socializing, and waiting for the party to get started.
You can hear a few people griping. The jocks are saying, “These dances are so lame.” And a few others are complaining it’s the DJ’s fault, because the music is “too slow.” But really these gripes are all superficial. Everyone is just biding time waiting for a leader to emerge.
And then one arrives. No one special. Just a girl you know who can’t stand the waiting any longer. She walks out into the middle of the gym, and starts grooving away. She waves to her friends, and they break out into broad smiles and run onto the dance floor. Then a few more join in, and by the end of the song almost everyone is on the dance floor. The party has started.
Social media communities are very much like awkward school dances. They all start with good intentions, but until a leader gets the party started everyone stands around waiting for something happen.
3 steps to get your social media community dancing
First things first, get the party started. Who are you going to invite? Social media communities really don’t get moving until they reach a critical mass of membership.
A social media community needs at least a 1,000 people to become a party. Typically only 1% of your community will be vocal and participatory. The rest of your members are standing around watching, and being entertained by everyone else’s conversations.
To get your party going: invite, invite, invite. Work your butt off to break through the 1,000-member mark. Once you cross this threshold you’ll find the next thousand comes quickly.
When people arrive, what will they talk about? Social media communities rely on conversation. Just like the school dance, nobody likes to dance alone. It’s a lot easier to dance if there are already a bunch people on the dance floor.
While you’re building critical mass in your social media community, you’re going to have to create the dance floor. Seed the group with conversations, and recruit people to participate. You have to give newcomers the impression that your community is a happening place – even if that means carrying on conversations in the community with your staff, vendors and other associates.
Regardless of how much work it takes to spark and sustain conversations in the early days, it’s essential. The conversations that you seed in the group will set the tone and culture for the community once it takes off.
Who is going to do what? You can create a party on your own, but it’s a lot more fun to do it with a group.
A community is about people. It’s not about you; it’s about everyone else. So get people involved. You will need moderators to keep the conversations going in your social media community; connectors with wide social networks to invite people to the party; and creators and curators to share interesting and valuable content with the group to help bring value to all members.
Communities thrive on collaboration. The more you can make yours a party, the more successful it will be.
September 22nd, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Miller
Subscribe to Sticky Branding's Email Newsletter
