Five Elements of Social Media

8/7/2019 Five Elements of Social Media

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Jay Deragon&David Bullockwith Irene Williams

socialmediaconnection.com


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I am inundated with information on a daily basis. Mind you,most of the information that I collect is that which Ive invited.I set up Google alerts and a Google reader to gather the latestnews on topics of relevance to my business. I follow selectpeople on Twitter and am part of forums and groups onLinkedIn, Facebook and other networks.

Each day, my email folders fill up with Google alerts and newsIve tagged. My Google reader fills constantly with articlesfrom sites Ive found worthy of my attention. My Tweetdeckpings with content from those I follow. I receive emailmessages with feeds from forums and group discussions. Ontop of all that, I get alerts of people wanting to connect,messages from contacts and friends leaving comments.

All of these communications ultimately vie for my attention.I may have invited most of it. Yet as the pings, tweets, alerts,diggs, comments and announcements continue 24/7, its

impossible for me to absorb it all. I have to decide who orwhat to listen to; I can only engage and respond to thosethings or people that know how to get my attention.

As challenging as it is for an individual like me to receive,process and gain value from incoming information, onewonders how people generating content for thousands offollowers, friends, readers and connections can satisfy thedemand for their attention and time. While all this socialmedia stuff has significant potential, businesses andindividuals cannot possible engage everyone in everything.

Our Relationship To Information

Everyone has an affinity to information that is in alignment totheir interests. My interest is focused on learning the impactsocial media on business relationships within specific markets.I consume massive amounts of daily information hoping tosynthesize perspectives, data and research; Im constantlylearning whats going on on the fringes of change.

Not only do I love learning, I love to interpret and share new

information. Im drawn to opportunities for reciprocal sharingof knowledge and exchange of perspectives and ideas. As aresult, Im constantly building online relationships with peopleand organizations to find information that match my interest,desires and planned actions. And because I take action bysharing what Ive learned, people are drawn to connect withme. We all converge at the point of common interests and thedesire for like information, and we take action by respondingto those who capture our attention.

2009 SMCBN All rights reserved.

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Which Comes First, The Relationship or The

Information?

Amidst the proliferation of information we receive daily, weultimately pay attention to the relevant information wereceive from those with whom we have relationships. Werewilling to listen to the people, companies or organizations

that have not only gotten us to take notice but that haveearned our trust through quality of content.In order to provide someone with relevant information, weneed to understand their interests and desires and surmise theactions they may be preparing to take. We build relationshipsby serving peoples interests and desires with the appropriateinformationquality contentthat will enable them to takeaction. Relationships start at the point of sharing informationthats relevant, valuable and of interest to the receiver.Quality information is a gift that is likely to be well received,and thus it sparks an attraction that helps form an affinityaninstinctively positive responseby the receiver toward thesender. Subsequently, the senderan individual, business ororganizationcan create the right audience of receivers.

Earning All As

Therefore, your positive gain in helping people by offeringthem the right information is that you earn their attentionlong enough to create an attraction. The earned attraction

helps to form an affinity to you. If you repeat the process toenough people, you can create an audience. Once you have alarge enough audience, a certain percent of them will want toengage with you, your product or your service, and that is thebeginning of innately valuable action.Serve your audience consistently and reliably, because younever know who in the audience will someday want toexchange value in the form of a transaction. As you know,there are countless others vying for the attention of youraudience members. You must be a constant resource in orderfor relationships to take root and grow into true affinity and

audience loyalty. From that point, you can reasonablyanticipate repeat results.

Its the Five Elements of Social Mediaattention, attraction,affinity, audience and action, and those who earn all As willpass the course with flying colors.

2009 SMCBN All rights reserved.3


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Overcoming Information Overload

In this information age, its no feat to hit the point ofinformation overload. As Ive mentioned, I invite content intomy inbox on a daily basis, through my various social networksand news feeds. Even then, the content providers must earnmy attention to rise to the top of the information heap.Imagine the challenge of those providing content I did notinvite to capture my mind. Good luck!

There is so muchtoo muchcontent fed to us, not only bythose with whom we initiated contact but by the uninvited aswell. The real issue revealed in this information overload isthe necessity for content providers to merit the time and theminds of their potential receivers. What content will grabattention and create attraction?.In my own experience as a recipient of information, thecontent that gets my attention is the content that makes methink. Im drawn to topics that engage my brain, brought tome by people who consistently invite me to think. Conversely,I find reciprocal, positive response when I create content thatdemands receivers to mentally participate in the discussion.

Thinking is a powerful action. Anytime you intersectprovocative content with a mind thats open to learning, greatinteraction is bound to happen. Lets face it. Anyone notopen to learning is stuck in what they know, and that stalemindset doesnt lead to very interesting conversations.Thinking people are drawn to thinking people; thats what

makes the information exchange interesting and mutuallybeneficial.

How Does Your Mind Work?

So, how do thinking people think? Our brains are the centerof our thoughts and emotions, both which are largelyinfluenced by our past, present and anticipated experiences.King Solomon once said as a man thinketh, so is he,indicating that that which we think about and believe shapeswho we are and how we view the world we live in and the

people we relate to. Now, through social media, wereenabled not only to be influenced, but to influence others byour virtual experiences and the information we receive andsend to the masses.

Some people and businesses look at all this social media stuffas a fad, no different than traditional marketing andmessaging methods. The problem with that line of thought isthat it disregards the vast differences between traditional and

2009 SMCBN All rights reserved.

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social media. Traditional media has not engaged the masseslike social media has. Social media brings the viewer, thereader, the receiver into relevant conversations about topicsthat interest them. Social media is predicated on interaction, agive and take and take and give between content providerand recipient.

Fundamentally, a conversation is an exchange of informationbetween two or more people. Social technology exponentiallywidens the circle by enabling us to converse, to shareinformation with thousandseven millionsof people.Whether a conversation occurs face to face or network tonetwork, the dialogue is guided by the perception of thoseengaging in the interaction. Some people present theiropinions as absolute truths and are clearly never inclined tochange. Others engage in conversations with the aim oflearning, indicating theyve come to the conversation withoutpreconceived notions and true opennesseven though theyare not devoid of the influence of their own experiences andemotions.

Whether were locked into our opinions or open to new ideasis a matter of how our brains have adopted patterns ofthought, and certainly, the adoption of thought pattern istypically ours to establish trough our choices. If we approachlife with the aim to continuously learn, without immovableadherence to past experiences, then our brains are free toprocess information openly rather than trying to fitinformation into set paradigms of belief.When it comes to technological progression, were all betteroff choosing to be open minded. Before the telephone whowould have believed we could talk to others via a wire?Before broadcast television would we have believed thatpeople from around the world could be seen and heardthrough a box? Before the Internet, who would have believedinformation about anything and everything could be accessedvia a little screen and a few clicks on a keyboard?

Before Web 2.0, who would have believed that individualscould become the media, connect with millions from around

the world and purvey their own ideas and information? Whowould have believed that finding knowledge and people couldbe so easy? Few anticipated any of these changes would orcould happen, yet they have occurred and are here to stayuntil the next technological progression takes place. Yet thereare still some people whove chosen to keep their brains inlock down and have not embraced the reality and importanceof Web 2.0.



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Is Your Mind Open or Closed?

If we close our minds, we expect people to agree with ourviews of the world based on our experiences rather thantheirs. Yet when we open our minds, we accept learning as anongoing process of discovery. We dont have to sacrifice ourown values in this process of learning about othersperspectives. We simply act on our desire to learn aboutourselves and the world that affects us. In an era of significantchange, having an open mind helps us make sense of thechanges around us and allows us to find our place in the ever-altering landscape of our lives.

Personally, I love to learn. I voraciously take in information,and just as beneficially, I am provided with constant feedbackand information from those in my own audience who receivemy information. All that interaction helps me learn more,24/7. I find this to be an exciting journey, and the exchange ofinformation, knowledge and insight is what makes social

media worthy of my time and attention.If your wondering how to get the attention that leads toattraction that ultimately builds an audience, I suggest yousimply make it your goal to share what you are learning.People will consider you worthy of their time and attention ifyou offer fresh knowledge. If youre seeking to establish abrand with your audience, what experiences can you sharethat will help others learn? Perhaps in sharing newexperiences and perspectives, you can personalize your brandand differentiate your products/services by providing people

with a valuable learning experience. And guess what? Thatvaluable learning experience may have nothing to do withyour products and services.You can attract people by helping them learn. If they arelearning from you, they are engaged with you, and they willbe apt to spend not only more time, but more money, withyou down the road. Likewise people are drawn to those wholisten and listen well. Even as youre conveying ideas andinformation, build in substantive ways to receive feedback.Your audience has the most valuable insights youll ever find;talk with them, not to them. Good conversations are neverone-sided.

You neednt look long or hard to determine which industriesand companies are approaching social media with open mindsor closed approaches. Some organizations are creatingconnections and building brands while others are missing outor missing the mark. Where do you fit in this mix? Is yourmind made up or have you hung out the open sign?



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Affinity: Creating Fans for Infinity

Affinity, in terms of sociology, refers to kinship of spiritshared interests and other interpersonal commonalities.Affinity is characterized by high levels of sharing andinteraction, usually in close groups often known as affinitygroups. A group of devoted fans of a certain band or musicartist would be an affinity group. Social affinity is generallydefined as marriage to ideas, ideals and causes shared by acommunity of people and is often cause-related or issue-oriented.

Social affinity is useful in analyzing how individuals respond tothe social issues of most concern to themselves. Social affinityis affected by variables, including factors regarding sociallocation including spatial and temporal distance and proximityThese variables are indicative of the self-interest whichpermeates our culture. Its human nature to always ask whatabout me? in assessing what will gain our attention or

become our affinity.

The social web thrives with millions of people formingaffinities to other people, organizations, brands and ideas.Certainly, the impact self-interest in the development of socialaffinity in the context of social issues, along with our cultureof individualism, is permeating the social web in tandem withthe endless affinities being formed. Ironically, its often in ourself-interests to be part of a group; were innately socialbeings motivated by the need to belong and to be heard,especially amongst those with whom we share common values

and interests.

Albert Einstein once said a human being is part of the wholecalled by us the Universe: a part limited by time and space.Social technology has now reduced the limitations of time andspace. By joining in the online conversations, we are enabledto become part of a larger whole with just the click of amouse, at any time of day or night, at any point on the globe.

People friend people on Facebook, follow people on Twitterand connect with people throughout social networks based onan affinities of interest. Larger groups, or nodes, attractothers with a common affinity given the profile and reach ofthe group in terms of size and audience. The larger acommon group the greater the reach, both by oneindividual and the group as a whole. Being part of a groupcan online can literally interlink people worldwide with a fewstrokes on a keyboard. Thanks to technology, we can all playbigger parts in context of the whole.



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Word of Mouth to Click of Mouse: The New

Brand Affinity

Brands representing everything we consume, from informationto clothing and cars, seek to create an affinity to their marketsof interested consumers. The market is comprised of peoplefitting specific demographics, targeted by information that

created attention, attraction and affinity. In the past, brandsoften pushed tricky informationattention grabbersinattempts to create affinity audiences. The idea was to drawattention, then implement tactics aimed at creating anattraction. From the results of the tactics, brands couldpotentially convert attention, attraction and affinity into anaudience of converted buyers, motivated to take action inresponse to the marketing and communication efforts. Andthen, the brands hoped those converted buyers would spreadthe word, by word of mouth.

Prior to the social web, word of mouth commentary byconsumers was limited by time and space, as Einstein stated.In the old days, consumer influence was contained by thedistance and space between consumers. Now there is nodistance in space or limitations of time given the reach oneindividual has as a result of social technologies. Weve gonefrom word of mouth to click of mouse to express ourimmediate pleasure or disappointment in brands, products orservices.

And just as there is no restraint of time or space, theres alsono limit to the reach of our messages, comments and reports.

Just four years ago, my personal reach was limited to a fewhundred people. As a result of my conversational activity onthe web and presence throughout social platforms, I can nowreach 1st degree connections in excess of 100,000 people andsecond degree connections exceeding 20 million!

The social web has empowered individuals and organizationsto create new affinities, affinities to humans ratherinstitutional commonalities. While people have interest ininstitutions and things, they are far more intrigued by otherpeople with whom they form affinities of trust and shared

values, all exchanged via the social web.And this value exchange is different from what brandshistorically proposed. The value is driven by personal affinityof experience and interest. Trust is established based onpersonal experiences, an exchange of information andobservations of previous interactions, as well as the previoussocial behavior represented in the transparent virtual worldof relationships. These new dynamics are not driven bymarketing or PR tactics from institutions.



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Once we individually and collectively learn how to createattention, attraction and affinity, then we develop a newaudience ready to exchange value. Some of the valueexchanges with an audience create immediate revenueopportunities, yet much of the exchange is about seeding therelationship for future value exchanges.

Building affinity relationships takes time. However, the socialweb continues to collapse time and space. If you want alasting, valuable relationship, strive to build a human ratherthan an institutional affinity.

...In Front of a Live Virtual Audience!...

Nearly everyone is chasing, participating in or presenting to anaudience. An audience may range in size from a couple ofpeople to millions, and you may call them followers,connections or friends within your preferred social

networks. But unless your a monk under a vow of silence,youre engaging with and as part of audiences everyday.

Having an audience fulfills many different purposes.Historically, businesses and organizations have chasedaudiences to attract them to propositions aimed at gaining orcreating economic traction. There are numerous media andcommunication studies regarding the term audience, modelsfor reaching audience and its role in all kinds of mediatedcommunication. These studies are ongoing and evolving,especially with the mass adoption of social media. Thedynamics of audiences are changing in every wayimaginable, from the methods of attracting and creating anaffinity with them to their purposes and impact on commerceand culture.

The high adoption rate of convergent technology amongst themasses has changed the way media is accessed, and the worldslargest companies and broadcasters are continually looking atand reviewing the way that they use these mediums to feedever-hungry audiences the diet of information andcommunications they desire.

News items are always in demand from audiences all over theworld, and the appetite for current event reporting will nevercease. News items that were once only broadcast throughscheduled programs on television and radio stations are nowreported immediately and updated constantly through thetechnologies available. People (audiences) are also not onlythe receivers of news, but they have, through the use ofconvergent technologies, become news machines themselves.Anyone in an audience has the ability and the forum to be a



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journalist. Its not uncommon for people on the street towitness a newsworthy event unfolding before their very eyes,document that event with their mobile devices and almostinstantaneously upload their accounts to the Internet to sharewith the wide world. This ability is truly empowering,enabling all of us to broadcast stories that might otherwise besuppressed to a global audience.

Is The Audience Dynamic Changing?

Audiences will always seek (if not demand) the best possibleexperience when using the media to acquire information orentertainment. The human brain feeds off total experience,a compilation of sensory inputs, emotional connections and ahost of intellectual and value-oriented mores that need to besatisfied. This demand for experiential excellence coupledwith the expansive glut of media sources online is forcing themedia and entertainment industries to push boundaries to tomerit and keep audience attention.

However, there is a new industry emerging, it is the industry ofconversations initiated and ignited by people, who wereonce only members of audiences, then spread to theirconnections, the new audience.

In todays world, we have the greatest selection ofcommunication channels than at any other time in history. Itsnever been easier for the individual to create and reach anaudience. Major media, both print and broadcast, are tryingto figure out how to capture these new channels ofcommunication, but the new audience is rejectinginstitutional media, its content and attempts to pull peopleinto their audiences.

The new audience pays attention to individuals who attractthem to content and conversations that are centric to anaffinity of information. The new audience trusts theirconnections and followers more than they do the traditionalmedia regardless of the medium used. The new audience isactually the same audience from the past, but nowempowered to create their own connections and content,

shared with people they relate to personally, notinstitutionally.

This new dynamic is disrupting not only media industries butall business that have followed the stayed and staleinstitutional methods of creating audiences. Unless businesseslearn the new way, they may likely lose their current audiencesto the influence of the new audience. Or maybe they alreadyhave.



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The New Version of Conversion

Every business and brand markets with the aim of converting apercentage of the audience into customers. To find whatreally inspires that transformation, marketers, and those whostudy marketing, have delved into research and testing ontopics such as audience conversion, conversion optimization,audience screening, all while assessing these factors incorrelation to the tactics and tricks of conversion.

The science of conversion changes over time, just as themarket dynamics reflect changes in consumer behavior. Withthese changes come new models of conversion.

Wikipedia defines the conversion model as a market researchtool that measures attitudinal loyalty, typically referred to ascommitment in advertising material. It is generally used tomeasure commitment to brands, but can also be used tomeasure most forms of relationships.

The Conversion Model was initially developed to understandreligious conversion by Jan Hofmeyr, who was a lecturer inreligious studies at the University of Cape Town. The firstcommercial study conducted using the Conversion Model wasin 1989 in South Africa; it was first introduced in the UnitedStates in 1990. Much of the model was developed aroundbuilding loyalty.

Loyalty vs. Commitment

Loyalty. Though loyalty is a noun, it is best expressed as averb, when those who are loyal take action based on theirdevotion. In the world of marketing, loyalty is an importantfactor that leads to the likelihood of repurchase. Loyalty leadsto a fundamental response based on repetition, custom andfamiliarity.

Commitment, on the other hand, is about how people feel; itrefers to the likelihood of repurchase based emotion,stemming from whats in the customers mind at the point ofdecision. Commitment can be impulsive or nurtured over timeand when consumers act on it, commitment is an amazing

force in the marketplace.

Just because a person is loyal buying the brand again andagain does not mean that they are committed, and viceversa. There are many nuances to the loyalty vs. commitmentdiscussion, but it all comes down to the habits, hearts andminds of the audiences, who ultimately wield buying power.



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Are The Models Changing?

Notice two things mentioned about the conversion model.

1. initially developed to understand religious conversion

2.used to measure commitment to brands but can beused to measure most forms of relationships

Notice the first point reference is to religious conversion. Mostreligious conversions are driven by an awakening of the mindand soul. People find often religion as a result of lifesexperiences and from relationships, whether with people orpeoples definition and experience with their God.Its certainly interesting to think that marketing models aimedat conversion of an audience to revenue is reflective of the

same attributes of religious conversion.One might ask why?An observation could be that religious conversion is a process

of awakening the mind and soul of people with the aim ofinfluencing them to adopt a different philosophy andsubsequently motivation for a change in behavior. When youinterpret the similarity in those terms, can you see theapplications to marketing?

Now to the second point. The conversion model is used tomeasure commitment to brands but can be used to measuremost forms of relationships. Conversion influences, not unlikereligious influences, have always been driven by personal

relationships. The problems with past methods is they havebeen weak at establishing real, rather than institutional,relationships with and between people. Much of the emphasison relationships has been driven by marketing messages andhyped campaigns created to trick and trap audiences intomaking purchases. That is not a sustainable relationshipmodel. Rather, it is a short term, results-focused model thatmany, if not most, corporations, governments and institutionshave adopted, if not attempted to employ, over the years.

The social web thrives because people create attention,

attraction, affinity and an audience by relating to otherpeople rather than relating to or with corporations,governments and institutions. People convert other people tomake transactions when trust, integrity and relationships arebuilt by an exchange of value in many different forms. It takestime to build those kind of relationships, but the root systemsfor them run deep, and loyalty is merely a fruit that comes as aresult. Most worthwhile endeavors take time to come tofruition.



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The New Rules of Engagement

Past tactics may have worked to a degree, but in the end,audiences were left disappointed, disconnected anddisenchanted. There was overpromising and underdelivering.We learned to block telemarketing calls, disregard TV ads andtune out on messages we didnt invite in. Beyond the saleshype, there was no commitment, and eventually even theloyalty faded. The old days and the old tricks of the trade arejust thatold. This is an entirely new day, and brands thatembrace that fact are poised for immense and lasting success.

Weve reviewed four of the five elements of social mediaattention, attraction, affinity, audiencerather closely, andnow its time to round out the discussion with the allimportant last A: action.

An action is brought on as a result of previous stimuli. Ourmind and emotions are designed to react, or take action,based on prompts. When given a question, most people aregive an answer. Likewise, one conversation usually leads toanother. Over time, we learn from patterns of behavior whatthe expected responses are to others actions. When we dontlike our own or others actions, we either avoid thosesituations or try to change the anticipated outcomes.

You Must Get All As to Make the Grade!

Consumers, empowered by the social web, are no longer

prone to predictable reactions to old school marketing hype orcalls to action. The growth of social media demonstrates thepower of action in the form of conversations. Millions arewatching these conversations and the subsequent actions areengaging in the technology and the conversations.. Nowonder most people trust the opinions or recommendations ofpeople over brand messages.Most brands have tried everything to get us to engage withthe anticipated action being a transaction, a sale. Now thebrands must learn to effectively change their own actions by

understanding the four elements previously discussed if theywant to create an environment that cultivates actions in theform of valuable transactions.

Dont believe me? Look at Zappos. That innovative companycreates transactional action not from selling shoes but fromdelivering outstanding service. In other words, they getattention, attraction, affinity and audience by offering greatservice. The natural action from those whom engage withZappos is ultimately to take action by making a transaction.


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Five Elements of Social Media