Five things that work in social media: content, ideas that create more content, inviting participation, conversation strategy

1. The five things that work
@edwardboches
edwardboches.com
thenextgreatgeneration.com
mullen.com
Friday, May 7, 2010
This morning I presented at Boston’s Social Media Breakfast 17. The theme was actually
engaging, motivating and mobilizing your community. None of this SoMe tedium about
Twitter and platforms or joining the conversation. More about what you can actually do. I
talked about what works.

2. Great content
Friday, May 7, 2010
Great content works. In SoMe, your product is your content. And it doesn’t have to be
traditional.

3. Friday, May 7, 2010
This video off our security camera -- no doubt you’ve seen by now; it’s all over the web -- let
us say a. we get viral (even though it’s authentic); b. we’re not afraid to have a sense of
humor; c. we give people a glimpse of our culture; d. we share good, fun stuff with our
thousands of followers.

4. Friday, May 7, 2010
The community loves good content.

5. Friday, May 7, 2010
You can call on them to help spread stuff around.

6. Friday, May 7, 2010
And, if you do it right, it goes big time. Ellen deGeneris plays the video on her show.

7. Inventing an experience
Friday, May 7, 2010
Inventing experiences work. It’s a gift to your community, a way for them to participate, and
hopefully appreciation in return.

8. Friday, May 7, 2010
Brandbowl got over 10,000 member of our community to join is in reviewing SB ads live.

9. Friday, May 7, 2010
It also get us lots of press and blog coverage.

10. Friday, May 7, 2010
Mobilized community to share and spread the experience.

11. Friday, May 7, 2010
And extended beyond the site itself.

12. 103,077,298
Friday, May 7, 2010
We measured sentiment, appreciation, fan involvement, participation, and even the old stuff
like impressions. There were a lot of those.

13. Letting people have a voice
Friday, May 7, 2010
Letting people have a voice so they can promote themselves and feel good about you works
well, too.

14. Friday, May 7, 2010
TNGG gives Gen Y a voice, inspires content and participation, offers the gift of community,
and as a result generates learning and expertise for us when it comes to understanding
Millennials and how they engage with brands and content. You gotta give to get.

15. Friday, May 7, 2010
We do the same for clients: crowdsourcing content, working in the vernacular of the
community itself.

16. Friday, May 7, 2010
And it works. This project generated 60 videos and hundreds of thousands of views in just
the first 48 hours.

17. Conceiving ideas that generate content
Friday, May 7, 2010
Why would you ever do anything that didn’t generate more content. You can’t buy share of
voice anymore, so you need to spread your content around.

18. Friday, May 7, 2010
GFF wanted to donate money to feeding America. In old days, would write a check and send
out a press release. Instead, turn it into a community event. It created involvement, good
will, and lots more content.

19. 
Friday, May 7, 2010
Even Diane Sawyer got in on the action. Think you’d get on TV without a community to help
spread the word and demonstrate the excitement of this program?

20. Friday, May 7, 2010
Art of the Trench did the same.

21. Friday, May 7, 2010
Upload, comment, share, distribute. Your community is happy, motivated and you reap the
rewards of involvement, connection, visibility and conversation.

22. Conversation strategy
Friday, May 7, 2010
Learn how to do it. SoMe is not about broadcasting and farting out messages. It’s about
engagement.

23. March 2010
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Friday, May 7, 2010
Offer real value, utility, content, questions, etc. And limit your sales pitch to less than 1/3 of what you
do.

24. The magic formula
Friday, May 7, 2010
There is a magic formula.

25. Friday, May 7, 2010
Break things down into small pieces so people will help. Give community members psychic
reward for participating and helping. Trust the community. Don’t be afraid to ask. Smile or
be optimistic or be passionate. It’s contagious.

26. thank you
Friday, May 7, 2010
And don’t forget to say thank you. Thank you.