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Engagement Strategies Contest

Awesome Engagement Strategies Contest Winners

Posted on January 31, 2013 | In Engagement Strategies Contest

This has been an amazing month for Firepole Marketing, and it’s largely because of how well our finalists and community have done at making the Awesome Engagement Strategies contest such a gigantic success.

I am floored, blown away, honored and thrilled that everyone worked so hard, and did so well.

Not only have we gotten a taste of a huge variety of amazing engagement strategies, but I feel like we’ve really gotten to know many members of this community in whole new ways.

That, for me, is the best prize of all – but I imagine that our long-waiting finalists and their amazing commenters are anxious to hear the final results.

Quickly, let’s review what’s at stake…

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Ready, Set, Go! Contests Are Awesome

Posted on January 29, 2013 | In Engagement Strategies Contest

Over the last month, I’m sure that you’ve been enjoying the posts submitted by our finalists in the Awesome Engagement Strategies contest.

I know that I have, and I’ve got to say that I am simply AMAZED with how well this contest has turned out.

Originally, the plan for this post was to talk about how gamification and incentivization works, but I think that Tea Silvestre covered that pretty well last week. So instead, I want to share with you all, just what a success this has been thanks to our talented finalists, and the support of our amazing, engaged readers.

In brief: contests work. Now for the details… ;-)

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Gamify to Tighten up Relationships and Create a Close-Knit, Highly Engaged Tribe

Posted on January 25, 2013 | In Engagement Strategies Contest

The following post is an entry by one of our spectacular finalists in our Awesome Engagement Strategies Contest. Finalists showcase their ideas, and whoever gets the most traction (i.e. comments and social shares) within five days of publication will be crowned the winner! And commenters can win prizes too, so check out the rules and enjoy the post!

“In everything that must be done, there is an element of fun. Find the fun and snap! The job’s a game.” – Mary Poppins

Your email list is growing slowly but steadily.

And you’ve started to see some regular commenters on your blog. But things have plateaued and you’re stumped for how to move things to the next level.

It’s not your fault. You’ve followed all the A-listers’ advice and poured your heart and soul into your writing. You dutifully spend time on social media and leave thoughtful comments on other blogs.

The problem isn’t you.

It’s the echo-chamber of the online community. So, quit beating your head against your monitor.

Here’s something that worked for me. I think you can take what I’ve done here and adapt it for your own business model…

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Flesh and Blood, Shake Hands with Flesh and Blood

Posted on January 24, 2013 | In Engagement Strategies Contest

The following post is an entry by one of our spectacular finalists in our Awesome Engagement Strategies Contest. Finalists showcase their ideas, and whoever gets the most traction (i.e. comments and social shares) within five days of publication will be crowned the winner! And commenters can win prizes too, so check out the rules and enjoy the post!

Consider a photograph of a person caught in a shark’s mouth in open waters.

Gruesome, yes, but where does your eye go?

Not to the churning water, not even to the shark’s fearsome teeth.

No, most people would fix on the face of the trapped person. Our empathetic nerves would trigger, we’d sense some of the pain, some of the fear, some of the horror. We do that because we are human, and our humanness first reaches out to other humans.

Consider a more benign picture, say one of those great Bierstadt western panorama paintings, which often depict towering cliff-sides falling to a deep river valley, one filled with gigantic trees, with a tiny rider on horseback on the valley floor. Where does your eye rest? Indeed the vast cliffs get attention, as does the rushing river, but the eye-and the heart-go to the rider. What is he doing in that vast space? How does he feel? You wonder this because you project your own self, your own vulnerable sense of place in an open world into the place of that rider.

You do it because you are human-you share the boldness and the foreboding.

Those feelings are threaded inextricably through our nature, from endless iteration from hunter-and-gatherer times, where cooperation proved to be key to move the individual, family and the group forward. And what does this have to do with engagement? Just this: there are a thousand and one SEO tricks, a hundred headline hacks, and ebook giveaways by the gangham. But before all that, before all the strategies and the schemes is a basic: being more human with your audience is more engaging than a bushel of WordPress plug-ins.

Pray tell, how does one be more human with their audience? No rules, but just a few thoughts:

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How Dinner in Chicago Engaged Others, From San Francisco to New York

Posted on January 21, 2013 | In Engagement Strategies Contest

The following post is an entry by one of our spectacular finalists in our Awesome Engagement Strategies Contest. Finalists showcase their ideas, and whoever gets the most traction (i.e. comments and social shares) within five days of publication will be crowned the winner! And commenters can win prizes too, so check out the rules and enjoy the post!

When it comes to engaging your audience with an event, most people have a preference for interacting either face-to-face or virtually. But it’s best not to think “either/or”. Instead think “both/and”.

Several years ago, I interviewed Jeremiah Owyang, a former Forrester analyst for social media. Jeremiah is a master at building community. I’ll never forget when he said, “Effective community building is not done solely online or solely in-person. It requires both.” Jeremiah went on to tell me that when he travels, he makes a point of arranging a meet up and inviting his followers on social media.

Taking a page out of Jeremiah’s book, I emailed my list last summer with the following, before traveling to Chicago on business:

Hi <first name>,

What’s better than eating at one of my favorite restaurants in all the world? Meeting up with kindred spirits, to feed body, mind, and soul.

Join me on July 19, in Chicago, for a meetup of remarkable individuals. You’ll meet members of my “brand community” who are smart, accomplished, and interesting.

After years of gathering my “tribe” online with virtual events (e.g., webinars, teleseminars), the in-person event had a special appeal – for me and my audience.

In the process, I learned a lot more than bridging the gap between online and in-person engagement. I became aware of the role of three basic human desires in creating engagement:

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Meetup.com Bridges the Engagement Gap

Posted on January 18, 2013 | In Engagement Strategies Contest

The following post is an entry by one of our spectacular finalists in our Awesome Engagement Strategies Contest. Finalists showcase their ideas, and whoever gets the most traction (i.e. comments and social shares) within five days of publication will be crowned the winner! And commenters can win prizes too, so check out the rules and enjoy the post!

When I saw that Firepole Marketing was having a contest for an Awesome Engagement Strategy, I knew that the work I did this summer was worth sharing.

What do I really do? Good Question!

Before I tell you about my engagement strategy, I’m going to tell you what I do and why I needed an engagement strategy in the first place.

I’m a Communications Advisor, Coach, Facilitator and Instructor who helps individuals and teams understand their workplace communication styles and behaviors. I do this through workshops and team-building sessions that are customized for each of my clients. The work I do helps them have fewer misunderstandings, stronger teamwork and more productivity.

I know that when people understand how and why misunderstandings occur, they can participate in developing strategies, goals and tactics to overcome them and move forward with less stress and more fun.

But… that’s not what I’m known for…

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How to Generate a Stream of 1-on-1 Coaching Clients, for Coaches and Consultants

Posted on January 17, 2013 | In Engagement Strategies Contest

The following post is an entry by one of our spectacular finalists in our Awesome Engagement Strategies Contest. Finalists showcase their ideas, and whoever gets the most traction (i.e. comments and social shares) within five days of publication will be crowned the winner! And commenters can win prizes too, so check out the rules and enjoy the post!

Are you a coach or consultant?

Clients, be they one on one, or as part of a group, are the life blood of your business.

Without clients, you have no business… and boy do we know that feeling. Perhaps you have just enough clients to keep you ticking over. Perhaps you could do with a few more. But without a reliable engagement and conversion strategy, the chances are that instead of every lead turning into some sort of paying customer, you may be stuck in a place where each fumbled lead increases your self-doubt.

(Hey look, we’ve all been there. I *FEEL* your pain.)

Now the thing is it’s not because you’re terrible at what you do. In fact, it’s more likely that you’re outstanding at what you do… but how frustrating is it when you can’t seem to demonstrate that to potential clients who land on your site, or end up in an email conversation with you about their problems – their problems, that on some level they want you to solve, else they wouldn’t be contacting you, right?

Maybe you find these interactions a big drain on your time. Maybe you wish you had better quality leads with people who can afford and want to buy your services. But how on earth do you go about creating that? How do you attract better leads, and then engage them in such a way that you can show case your value, and command the price tag you know you’re worth?

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Engage Readers by Revealing Royal Screw-Ups

Posted on January 16, 2013 | In Engagement Strategies Contest

The following post is an entry by one of our spectacular finalists in our Awesome Engagement Strategies Contest. Finalists showcase their ideas, and whoever gets the most traction (i.e. comments and social shares) within five days of publication will be crowned the winner! And commenters can win prizes too, so check out the rules and enjoy the post!

Do you have a rather lifeless, arms-length relationship with your readers?

Are you afraid to be human, vulnerable, and reveal your weaknesses? Have you felt obliged to focus on your strengths and paint yourself as the perfect go-to expert in your field?

If so, you might be creating a passive, unresponsive community that respects you but doesn’t really trust you.

I was in that exact situation and it was awful.

Let me explain…

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The “Single Video Strategy” for Sparking Massive Engagement

Posted on January 14, 2013 | In Engagement Strategies Contest

The following post is an entry by one of our spectacular finalists in our Awesome Engagement Strategies Contest. Finalists showcase their ideas, and whoever gets the most traction (i.e. comments and social shares) within five days of publication will be crowned the winner! And commenters can win prizes too, so check out the rules and enjoy the post!

Ever wondered what the difference is between sites that engage magically and those that are just meh?

Have you ever wanted to learn the secret to inspiring your visitors to take action instead of just inspiring them to leave?

Like all of us, I’ve tried different ways to encourage my audience to engage – from installing social media buttons on my blog to just asking people to leave comments, but I never truly figured out the secret of inspiring true engagement until the day a friend sent me a video by San Francisco baker Chad Robertson. It was a simple video that didn’t pitch anything at all. But by the end of it something interesting had happened – I’d been transformed into a fan.

And not just any fan – the best kind of fan.

The kind who bought his product and who shared his video with my friends on Facebook. And all without having heard of him before that day.

Keep reading and I’ll show you Chad’s video, plus I’ll dissect what he did in detail. And for bonus points I’ll even lay out a complete engagement strategy for doing the same thing for your website and business.

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3 Live Video Broadcasting Formats That Will Captivate Customers and Make You More Money in 2013

Posted on January 11, 2013 | In Engagement Strategies Contest

The following post is an entry by one of our spectacular finalists in our Awesome Engagement Strategies Contest. Finalists showcase their ideas, and whoever gets the most traction (i.e. comments and social shares) within five days of publication will be crowned the winner! And commenters can win prizes too, so check out the rules and enjoy the post!

So it’s 2013.

My plan for engagement is to incorporate “Live-streaming” video into my content strategy, like, A LOT.

Bandwidth is cheap. 62% of american adults have access to high-speed internet.

Webcams are cheap. Decent audio, also cheap.

The argument for broadcasting video live from my webcam is fairly simple. To grow my own reach and deepen my engagement, I could either

A.) Spend 20 hours researching a blog’s audience, pitching the publisher, then take another 15 hours to write a guest post, hoping it’ll get some comments. or…

B.) Spend the same time researching the audience and working with that blogger to do something live for an hour, offering viewers one on one, real time interaction.

With option B.) I’m still doing research and preparation, but the content creation lasts as long as you’re broadcasting.

Also, viewers don’t “scan” a live stream. There’s no “skipping to the good parts” they’re either there, or they’re not.

All of this makes for a more captive audience that chooses to participate. That captivation is even stronger when there’s a structure what’s being presented.

If for no other reason, we’re all wishing for moments like this (watch Jimmy Fallon)

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

This year, I’m incorporating Live Streaming to deepen engagement, provide loads more value, and open up additional revenue streams.

Here are three ways I plan on doing it…

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Mastering Success on Facebook by Becoming a Welcomed Guest

Posted on January 10, 2013 | In Engagement Strategies Contest

The following post is an entry by one of our spectacular finalists in our Awesome Engagement Strategies Contest. Finalists showcase their ideas, and whoever gets the most traction (i.e. comments and social shares) within five days of publication will be crowned the winner! And commenters can win prizes too, so check out the rules and enjoy the post!

Want to grow your Facebook fan page fast, and receive your daily portions of ego-massage while you are still a newbie?

Here’s how I did it…

Last spring, my friend and I created our first Business Page on Facebook. We were really excited.

But then the question came up – how could we grow it FAST and without investing a lot of money in it?

It was a new venture… no website/service available, just a rough idea to test the market, so we decided to start all activities inside Facebook.

Of course, we followed all the basic recommendations:

  • invite all your friends, so that gave us ~100 fans,
  • made advertising campaign, $10 investment resulted with 100 extra fans,
  • tagged our friends and celebrities on pictures – didn’t work with me so well. A warning to keep in mind: You can make people you tagged really irritated. For example, an Indian artisan tagged me on the picture of his new basket. “Where is the connection?” I wondered, “I don’t like this basket, I don’t want my friends to see it…” It was okay, when he did it once. But when it happened 3-4 times, I cancelled his subscription. Overall  results from  this tactics were rather poor.
  • “Pay” with a Like. For example, there are special forums in LinkedIn Groups to promote your page. You have a list of participants who will like you after you Liked them. This one is also not my favorite – very time consuming, and people can be offended if you forgot to like them back.

Weeks passed… my friend became busy, so I stayed mostly all alone with our page, keeping updated it daily. Though my dream – to open my account in the morning and see hundreds of new Likes, Fans and comments – remained just a dream. Instead of hundreds of Likes, I was getting 1-2 per day.

But one day the miracle finally happened!!!!!!

It was amazing and inspiring, especially since at first, I didn’t know where all those visitors came from…

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I’m Selling My Chops, But Giving My Gravy Away

Posted on January 8, 2013 | In Engagement Strategies Contest

The following post is an entry by one of our spectacular finalists in our Awesome Engagement Strategies Contest. Finalists showcase their ideas, and whoever gets the most traction (i.e. comments and social shares) within five days of publication will be crowned the winner! And commenters can win prizes too, so check out the rules and enjoy the post!

When I began writing, I shared the common delusion that one day I might be rich and famous.

I still may be someday, but that is no longer a consideration for why I write. I am not as concerned about selling books as I am being read. I would much rather sell 10 books to people who read and share them than 100 that sit in a shelf picking up dust, nothing but literary furniture.

I’ve read much about freebies, and I used to think it pointless, even counter-productive. How will I become rich and famous giving away books?

I see things differently now, and I think, better. I have a novel scheduled for launch next year, and I’m trying a couple of things marketing-wise that strategically places some tasty giveaways.

The great thing is these ideas should work for any book, fiction or non-fiction…

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