Riggs Partners

5 *Rules* for Social Media Engagement

The other day, I promised a strategic partner I’d write a post about the most important lessons we’ve learned in this Wild West world of digital and social media.

Let me say: I’ve never been a fan of “rules” in marketing (other than to give us a really good baseline from which we can divert). I mean, when every brand in the category is doing it one way, isn’t it our job to find another vastly more interesting alternative?

Well, of course. Just ask one of my style icons Andy Spade, who always does things in a most unexpected and delicious way.

But still I promised the post. So here it is.

Navigating the social media landscape: It's wild out there.

Rule #1  Accept that it is the Wild West out there.

We get requests every day for case studies to validate the recommendations we are making to our clients/prospective clients. I’m a big fan of the case study; there’s usually a really interesting story arc and beautiful creative presentation. But in this crazy new world of social media, the only way to have a real impact is to do something that is so custom, so true to the heart of your brand, it has never been done before. You have to blaze a new trail.

Rule #2   Think cross-platform.

Someone told me years ago:  You know you’ve learned a foreign language when you catch yourself thinking in that language. That’s just what you have to do with all the emerging communication channels out there. Don’t start with a traditional media campaign and then try to figure a way to tack some Facebooking and Twittering on to the end of it. Instead, start with a big idea. Then find interesting ways to deploy it seamlessly across traditional and nontraditional media.

Rule #3  Develop the strategy first.

Seriously. Start the old-fashioned way, by determining not only what you are going to do, but why you are doing it, and with whom. Get clear on your objectives.

Rule #4   Be interesting.

Ever been to a cocktail party and gotten cornered by a “talker”?  (Thank you, Tim Burke.) It’s painful, and all you want is escape. That’s how prospects feel when the only topic of conversation you have with them is YOU. Instead, initiate conversations on topics they find interesting and engaging.

Rule #5  Understand the difference between interruption and engagement.

Way back in October of 2009, Alex Bogusky wrote a post I’m getting out of this business again. The entire post is worth a read, but I’ve pulled the section that spoke so loudly to me:

“The market forces created by the rapid demise of mass media and traditional media models have made the real business we’re in clearer than ever. We’re in the business of . . .creating new ideas . . . so compelling and entertaining that the consumer searches them out. . . . Brilliance will be more powerful than ever, and yet everything from above average on down will become invisible. Produce ordinary ideas and nobody will ever see them.”

It’s daunting. It’s also true. And I guess that makes it the most important *rule* of all.