How to create excitement and buzz in your online campaigns, presented at Premier's Digital Conference 2015. A bit of Malcolm Gladwell, Cialdini's Influence, followed by a run through of #40acts, our Lent generosity project that grew from 500 - 75,000 followers over 5 campaigns.

2. Create a Buzz
Daniel Jones, Stewardship

3. Excitement
“When a person is excited, their emotions become more
powerful and can affect their decision-making abilities.
Excited people are more likely to make a decision -- any
decision (even a bad one).“

4. Ingredients for excitement
• Anticipation / Teasers / Memory
• Emotional charges / surprise
• Sensory overload
• Lightsabres

6. The Tipping Point
“…that magic moment when
an idea, trend, or social
behaviour crosses a threshold,
tips, and spreads like wildfire.”

7. 1. The Law of the Few
A few highly infectious people
become viral beacons for a
product or idea - they own it
for themselves and spread the
word.

8. 2. Stickiness
Take up of an idea or product
becomes an epidemic when it
is naturally infectious or
‘sticky’.

9. 3. The Power of Context
Ideas and products that fit the
context into which they are
launched spread fast and wide.

10. Influence: Robert Cialdini
1. Reciprocation - the power of gift
2. Scarcity - the power of missing out
3. Social Proof - the power of the herd
4. Consistency - the power of ‘yes’
5. Liking - the power of favouritism
6. Authority - the power of experts

11. More reading
• Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
• Influence - Robert Cialdini
• Drive - Dan Pink
• Webs of Influence - Nathalie Nahai
• Hooked - Nir Eyal

12. Case Study: 40acts.org.uk

14. 2011

15. 2012

16. 2013

17. 2014

18. 2015

19. 0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Email sign ups
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

20. Tipping Points from 40acts
1. The law of the few
– Stewardship team were the first ‘few’
– Identified and engaged with superfans early
– Connected with influencers in our spheres

21. Tipping Points from 40acts
2. Stickiness Factor
– Visual design iterated many times
– Regular audience feedback shapes campaign each year
– Powerful in-house copywriting resources
– 40 days builds a habit

22. Tipping Points from 40acts
3. Power of Context
– Generosity becoming trendy
– Capitalised on emerging trend for social media challenges
– Reignited interest in Lent festival

23. Influence in 40acts
Reciprocation - the power of gift
– Free sign up, no strings attached
– Prize giveaways (early days)
– Create a buzz by giving people a buzz
– The gift of Christian community

24. Influence in 40acts
Scarcity - the power of missing out
– Time pressures on sign up
– Daily content - sign up or miss out
– Teaser promotions - don’t miss new content
– Deadlines for feedback / surveys

25. Influence in 40acts
Social Proof - the power of the herd
– Sign up counter on website
– Using in built power of social media
– Feeding user-generated content back in
– PR based around number of sign ups

26. Influence in 40acts
Consistency - the power of ‘yes’
– Alignment of Christian values
– Opting in to an aspirational lifestyle
– Opt-in commitment by email sign-up

27. Influence in 40acts
Liking - the power of favouritism
– Youthful and energetic team in front of camera
– 40 contributors improves odds of a match
– Building community of like-minded followers
– Community focussed on generosity is (on the
whole) positive & naturally attractive

28. Influence in 40acts
Authority - the power of experts
– 75% contributors usually experts in their field
– Endorsements from church leaders
– Effective PR
– Quality website
– Awards

29. Final reflections
1. Know your audience - is there a match?
2. Get ready to hustle hard (online & offline)
3. Get your story straight - be consistent
4. Dazzle - do the best with what you have to stand out
5. Stay agile - respond & react to feedback
6. Let followers excite followers

30. www.stewardship.org.uk
www.facebook.com/stewardship
@stewardshipnews @dmjonesoir

31. Extra reading
• Buzzing Communities - Rich Millington
• Tribes & Permission Marketing - Seth Godin
• Enchantment - Guy Kawasaki
• How to get people to do stuff - Susan Weinshenk
• Watertight Marketing - Bryony Thomas