Participation Marketing

Today I listened to “Off Target” and read, “Promotion Within Your Community.”  What I found really interesting was in the “Promotion Within Your Community” discussion about Participation is Marketing.  I completely agree (as you have surely noticed from previous blog posts) that marketing has become all about creating relationships with prospective customers.  

The aspect of this that I had not considered before was participation in your community outside of the material that you put out.  So, instead of just being really [inter]active on your own social media pages, you also need to be participating on a variety of other pages related to your industry.  It makes perfect sense- you begin to identify yourself (or your company) as an expert and you put yourself (or your company) in front of a much wider audience than just those who currently follow your pages. 

 

For example, my firm is committed to strong community involvement in Bowling Green, KY where we are based.  One of the largest community organizations with thousands of Facebook Friends and tons of local volunteers/participants is the local Humane Society.  We try to work with the humane society so that not only our own followers see us, but all the thousands of followers of the humane society see our efforts as well. This strategy can work well across a wide range of platforms, opening companies up to audiences that they may never have tapped without a little outside help. 

Another great example of this is an effort by Home Depot to participate across all kinds of media.  The company has set up Home-Depot’s How-To Community connecting DIYers across the web to Home Depot.   PRSquared describes it here.  “And here’s the kicker: those HD Store Associates will not only answer “DIY” questions in the hosted forum, but, with the Customer Service Dept’s ability to monitor for response opportunities across the Web, the in-store professionals will also be empowered to respond to users — while they’re working in the stores! — in the online zones where the questions are being asked, even outside the HD site.”  I think this is an incredible opportunity to connect with consumers who may not have gone straight to Home Depot, and it is an idea that companies across the board can surely find a way to capitalize on.