I have been so busy working with clients and other things that I almost forgot to tell you about a really good Social Media story that happened in January (I am only one day late).
It all started on January 13 when I was out on Facebook. As a 4-H Alum, I am a “fan of” 4-H. A recent post told me to go “like” Miss Delaware, Kayla Martell as she is a former 4-Her and was a candidate for the Miss America pageant.
Passive Involvement
I thought to myself, “That isn’t hard, I will click over to the link, click “like” and be on my way”. It is a way to invest a little time, root for a 4-Her, but really not put a lot of energy into it. It is passive involvement (my term for the first stage of engagement with social media). So I actually was linked to a page within Facebook, that stressed the urgency of my vote today and told me how to “like” her and “vote” for her–there were 4 choices on how I should vote. 4! I could choose from watching the video on: Facebook, YouTube, The Miss America website and voting on these sites or even sending a text. I decided it was easiest to go to the main Miss America site.
Engagement
After I got to the main page, I found the video of Miss Delaware, watched and “liked” and “voted” for her. Now I am getting more excited and have crossed the line to “true engagement” with social media (phase 2). All I had to do was watch her get her crown. After all, now I have invested time, energy and clicks.
Well, the Miss America pageant was Saturday, January 15 and I didn’t turn on the program, but saw it listed, got excited about switching over to see if she won at the end. I haven’t watched one of these pageants for many years.
Evangelist?
What would have made me cross over to phase 3-evangelist? I think an email or post from the pageant that day a few hours before air time, “reminding me I voted and would want to see the outcome”, would have made me more likely to turn on the program. I did go back to the Facebook page, and saw the following comment from a relative:
Special thanks to all who voted for Kayla. Not only did she win Peoples Choice, but she also made it into Top Ten. We are also proud she placed as first runner up for the Quality of Life community service award.
My vote counted! Even though she didn’t win the crown, I still helped with my vote. And the highest television ratings for a pageant were recorded! I don’t need to tell you how excited fans are when they start voting for their favorites on “Dancing with the Stars” or “American Idol”. The power of a story gets a visitor to step one or two, but the voting leads a person quickly from a “passively involved person” down the social media path of “engagement” to “evangelist”. Those die-hard fans are the best brand evangelists; a marketer’s dream.
Do you have any voting stories that have made you a brand evangelist? I might even check out the Miss America pageant next year…
So true. When I was learning the blogging and Twitter ropes and figuring out how some contests worked, I entered one for a free coffee gift card. It was only for $25, but I went through all your listed stages as did some of my family and friends voting for me to win it. It got to be more about the fun process than the actual coffee card. It was fun to see how many people we could get to engage and vote for me. It was a ton of work, and it took my very excited and “into it” aunt to help me win.
Maybe a new headline could be: Voter Enthusiasm Brings Engagement (and sometimes free gifts)!