The context of your social platform determines why & how you behave
The reason why people behave differently based on their social environment and how you can capture that behavior to drive engagement for your brand!
It’s college football season and your team is having a great year. You’re a casual fan and someone who loves the game because of how sport brings people together. On the other hand, you have a couple of co-workers who bleed their school colors and care about the team on an entirely new level.
Those co-workers may likely fit this mold: Monday through Friday, they’re in the office wearing a suit or button up and dressed to the nine. They’re always punctual, on time and articulate when it comes to discussion and collaboration. There’s a couple of items of school memorabilia on their desk, but nothing out of the ordinary. All seems regular? Fast forward to Saturday..
Tailgating starts sharp at 7:00 am for a 3:30 pm kick off. By 7:15 am their body is entirely covered in paint and it’s almost impossible to recognize, or picture them in a sport coat. It’s 10:00 am now and they’ve won more games of beer pong than you did throughout your entire college career. Frankly, it’s just impressive.
It’s a seemingly overnight transformation into a ‘Tailgating Animal’
Where does this come from? Who is that guy? And how did he drink all of that beer so fast?
All valid questions. The answer stems from the context of the environment and the drastic behavioral change is enticed and welcome based on this new space. So what makes the transition from the office to the pre-game parking lot different than social media?
Nothing.
The same behavior is true on social media. In the digital space, people are starting to distance their work behavior from their behavior outside of work. This separation isn’t a bad thing for brands, but rather an opportunity. A real chance to tap into the massive amount of excitement and engagement that fans have for their clubs or team.
Social media is evolving the same way that major networks and macro media has evolved. This direction leads to a level of focus around the experience and content that tailors to individual interests.
Lady Gaga’s fan base, The Little Monsters, are a great example of this behavior shift.
On macro-social platforms, your experience with content and audiences range from your friends and family (to sometimes) people you’ve never met before, but saw once at a party and somehow are connected on Facebook. Right? It’s unlikely that you’re going to show your passion and love for Lady Gaga and connect with other fans in a space that isn’t truly focused on the subject matter at hand. If you started creating daily Gaga content to an audience of parents, family and friends, they might tune you out and give you a few funny looks..
If your audience changes, so does your behavior.
All of a sudden, the reservation in behavior changes when you join the Little Monsters Community and see tons and tons of content from other Gaga fans. Before having a chance to digest the entire experience, this place already feels like home and you want to share the love with the community instantly.
The experience of where a user is in social media relative to the platform, can drastically shift their behavior, just like it does in real life.
Brands have an opportunity to leverage the excitement and passion around their interest by creating a place for fans to show their true colors. Building a home that breeds engagement is an opportunity to focus an audience and give them a sense of connectedness that they cannot get anywhere else. Social communities thrive when audiences have a space to build strong connections and organic relationships; sport groups and brands have the chance to lay the foundation and give their community a dedicated space.
People crave the ability to directly connect with others that share the same love and passion for the same thing. At Honeycommb, we believe in creating spaces to connect people with the things that they care most about.
Connecting, Your People.
