Seth Godin has another book out, Tribes. The guy must never sleep. His basic premise is that participation is all well and good and it can be a real force, but without leaders, it melts into nothingness. People have good ideas and get participation, but they can't maintain it and build it without the guidance of passionate individuals who can lead and direct.
Think about this in the context of idealized social media communication.
1. How do you create a big idea that engages people to rally around it?
2. How do recruit followers to join it?
3. How do you keep it going for the long-term not just 6 weeks?
4. How do you build a story that keeps evolving and growing?
5. What is it you do to keep getting people engaged?
6. Who are your leaders?
7. What's in it for them?
8. How do you work with them?
Most of the time agencies seem to be thinking of translating an existing ad campaign into a social media phenomenon.
Can we make a funny viral and get it spread?
Is there a derivative Facebook application that we can build from the campaign?
So far, none of these things seem to be working.
This is because all the thinking is from the creative idea outwards, it's all about throwing stuff around with very little about understanding what could be valuable, last a long time and be useful to people.
It's ego out.
If you need ideas that can last and can spread, you need to collaborate and get input, you can't fly solo. You need to find, engage and collaborate with leaders who can help you build your tribe.
Ed Cotton
