Imagine your a small retail business trying to increase your following on Facebook. You announce to your existing fans that you’re giving away a free designer widget (retail value of $19.95 each) to five new fans sometime next week. Announcements are displayed in your store, through your email marketing and even mentioned when customers check out. The signup time period ends and *poof* you’ve increased your fans and followers by 20% by giving away $100 worth of product. Congratulations.

Another month or two goes by and your social media is still not producing the results you expected. Perhaps you’re even seeing a drop off in numbers? Maybe a 20% increase wasn’t enough. Maybe you think you need another 20% more followers? You decide to have another give-away, except you need to entice those who haven’t signed up yet. This time you’re giving away the Widget Model 100 (retail value $45) to another five lucky winners. Results: the same. Money spent: $225.

The question to be asked is: what’s next? How do you trump a Widget 100? Give away more? How do you keep fans and followers that were attracted to your giveaway? In the end, you’ll likely loose a significant percentage of them over time. Why? They’re likely not engaged with your store. They came for an incentive. They’ll leave once the incentive is gone. Where’s the relationship in that?

These relationships are the real return for social media. By connecting with customers and becoming a resource in the buying cycle, it turns regular customers into real advocates for your brand. By attempting to purchase loyalty with gifts or giveaways leaves little incentive for the relationship to continue.

However, not all incentives are bad. You, being the theoretical retail shop owner, could use promotions to lure new fans or followers. Coupons for percentage off, or other vehicles to bring the customer into a buying position (encouraging them to spend rather than simply receive) will situate your relationship in a better light. Move your ideal follower from freebie contestant to paying customer. Move your social media position from giveaways to engaged conversations.

Trust-based relationships, engaging your interest community, and always being helpful are three key factors to keep in the forefront of your strategy. This will keep the existing brand evangelists interested and will bring new faces to the conversation. You may not have 40% more followers, but the followers you do have will engage, interact and shout praises from the mountaintops. So when you’re thinking of increasing your fan or follower base remember to engage your customers in a fashion where quality will reign over quantity.

Want to discuss this more? Contact Signalfire and we’ll talk about your social media following.

Here are his presentation slides. Have questions or want answers? Click here to reach Matthew and the Signalfire team.

Getting connected with people who share the same ideas or philosophies and getting involved with groups who share similar missions or goals is critical for a brand or business reaching out into the world. Being connected to your brand’s interest community will give you market insight, market foresight, and market nimbleness.

The fast definition of an interest community is a loosely organized or unorganized group of individuals who share an interest in a particular subject, product, or activity in a common medium.

So why would these loosely or unorganized people matter so much to a brand? Because they talk. They share information and share experiences. The research the finest details and they discuss the smallest points. They do this not out of financial reward, but out of passion. They’re sharing their expertise and insight with others who are equally passionate. They spend lunch breaks and late nights hanging out on discussion boards or post reviews to retail outlet sites and without your business even knowing it—they rule your brand.

Who are they? They are everybody. Young and old, rich and poor, and from every race or culture. They are held together by two of the most overlooked threads of commonality—shared interest and shared medium.

The fifty-something African-American executive from Southfield, Michigan and the twenty-something white trades worker from Princeton, New Jersey both have a passion for all things Harley Davidson. They know details about every model that would make an engineer blush. These two very different individuals share the same passion. They share the same medium and they make a great example of an online community bound by interest.

If you are Harley, how would you reach them? What mediums to these two very different individuals share? Think of the shared interest online. Think how they may share their knowledge and thoughts online. Think of how that community of owners band together both online and offline. Finally, you (Harley, in this instance) and brands in general, must come down from the mountain and engage your brand followers—in short, you must join the community.

Chris Brogan from his article Audience or Community explains, “Community happens when people feel they’re among like-minded others and when they feel their contributions matter.”

Joining or engaging is paramount for interest communities. Communities are just that, groups that exist, communicate, and collaborate. To be a part of a community you (as a brand) must do all three.

Exist

A brand must exist to the interest community. Simply put, you must be visible. You must be real to your community. Your fellow-community members should know you’re there, but the reverse is also true. Acknowledge the people who make up the community by responding and connecting wherever possible. These are the people that will turn from simple consumerism or interest into real brand evangelists.

Here’s a great article on improving brand visibility from Social Media Examiner’s Denise Wakeman: click here

Communicate

Using social media as a broadcast-only platform isn’t communication. Communication is a two way street. A wise man once said to me, “you have two ears and one mouth, so listen twice as much as you speak.” While he had intended it for a leadership lesson, it applies to branding equally well. Brands need to listen and participate in conversations online. Not simply about themselves, but about the industry and the everyday lives of the community. Being engaged doesn’t necessarily mean being business only. Communication is personal. Make sure your brand is, too.

Brian Solis has a great article on this: click here.

Collaborate

The colorful Gary Vaynerchuk has repeatedly made the statement, “you gotta get in the trenches, bitches!” This statement can apply for any of these categories about engaging interest communities, but collaboration is an important point. There are many in your brand’s interest community who will have as much, perhaps even more, knowledge and expertise as anyone inside your business. Being open to opinions, experiences or ideas will give you the valuable position of getting feedback quickly and from relevant sources. Imagine the power a software company might wield with a community of developers that are able to spot the tiniest glitch? While “giving away” proprietary information isn’t recommended, communicating and collaborating ideas will give your brand the edge.

Take a look at Gary Vaynerchuk’s January, 2009 video really bringing this thought home: click here.

This concept is not ours, but it is a culmination of numerous influences. Chris Brogan goes into significant depth in his book, Trust Agents. He describes in riveting detail how relationships and trust is built in these interest communities. Brands must be true to their spirit. Brian Solis devotes an entire book, Engage, to interacting with interest communities. And the ever-colorful Gary Vaynerchuk perpetually reminds brands to “get in the trenches” with their consumer base. Don’t forget to pick up his book, Crush It!

Whether getting a new brand off the round or getting an existing brand out into better light, defining and connecting with your surrounding interest community is critical. Before running out and shouting to anyone who’s there, take the time to look, listen, and as Brian Solis puts it, engage. Becoming a part of your own brand’s interest community will be the best connection you can make.