Digithoughts

So maybe you produce a regular podcast or blog or maybe your site just sells something. You have been reading a lot about creating two-way communication with and amongst your users and are convinced that adding social media functionality to your site is the way to go.

Just because you build it does not mean they will come. At Digitaria, we recently did an analysis of several sites for a client that led to some interesting insights. The analysis helped us realize that to persuade your users to become involved, there needs to be three established "values" on your site: the Rules of Engagement, Culture of Engagement, and Reason for Engagement.

Rules of Engagement:  This is not in reference to the long list of site rules on the types of content you can post, or the "no profanity" rule.... these rules establish what is expected of an engaged guest. Literally, if your community can only thrive if users are posting images and commenting on what they think - let them know that not only is commenting or uploading a photo desired, it is expected.

For instance, here are some rules I created for this blog post:

1. Don’t read this nonsense word for word.
2. If there is something that you think is way off in this post, say so, but be prepared to be made fun of.
3. Nothing is way off in this blog post.

Obviously, "creativity" in communicating these expectations is encouraged, but not required.

Culture of Engagement: Many of these concepts are intrinsically related to solid branding, but that said, I want you to think about the way that you and your friends communicate. Do you have any inside jokes? Are there any subjects that are taboo? Chances are, regardless of how you answered these questions, you have some level of comfort in speaking within your inner circle because there is a clear culture within the group. To create that same level of comfort on your site, here are the elements that will assist in establishing your "online" culture:

1. Establish what you’re about: Check out The Naked Bootleg. They have a clear message on their site in how they are going to communicate with users and how they should communicate back. They are the, “Unabashed, Unbiased, and Uncensored view of College Football.” They then follow through with this “promise” by frequently cursing, being outlandish and making lewd comments within their main content about college football.
2. Find ways to let visitors in on that culture: A great example is at the Face Off Hockey Show. They have a lot of inside terminology that is frequently used on their show that isn’t hockey related. So they created a glossary of those terms that is both amusing, and allows visitors to feel like they are a part of their culture. 
3. Be Consistent: Cultures are not built over night. They require an understanding by the creators of what the culture should be and then needs to be constantly reinforced. Every piece of content that is created should be reviewed to make sure it is in the voice of your culture. 

Reason for Engagement: Engagement requires extra effort on the part of your users. It requires enough passion to move them past apathy and inaction. It boils down to this: is your content worth their time to comment/become engaged with? Reasons it may not be:

1. It's boring.
2. It doesn’t have strong enough opinions.
3. It's too long to read.
4. etc..

We hope this helps shed some light on what it takes to establish an "online" culture. There are many blogs written about how to improve your content. Here is one on Mashable that we like.

Dan Huss Sales Solution Associate

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