To thrive in social, mobile and new media in general, we need much more than content producers, we need a new breed of designers that grasp the elements of online sharing and have mastered the A.R.T. of social media to trigger desirable (and social) actions, reactions and transactions. A new genre of social producers are taking aim at developing content strategies that are not only consumable, they’re shareable, actionable and act as catalysts or sparks for relevant conversations. These social producers are in fact masters of their domains and understand the culture and the laws of information commerce within each.
The difference between Social Producers and traditional content creators is that they begin with the social outcomes they wish to see and reverse engineer content strategies to enliven them. They understand the relationship between cause and effect and they bake-in conversation starters related to an integrated and business-focused strategy and design specific shareable elements as KPIs to measure progress and results.
Social producers think about the overall experience and the effect where a social object is at the center of the dialog and interaction they envision…within each network. The overall story and outcome defines the nature of the social object. And the desired outcomes combined with the social effect they aim to trigger is then evaluated network by network.
Social producers also borrow a page from the book of transmedia producers. They look at the landscape of social media to evaluate relevant and productive channels and networks available for social storytelling. Whether you love or hate the term transmedia, the point is that an object is only as relevant as its medium and the people who connect with its message and purpose. Multiple objects can tell one story or various facets of the story and they can do so within specific media. For example, a social producer will ask, “this social object may be culturally relevant and compelling for Twitter and Facebook, but will this work equally in Pinterest or in the blogosphere?” Often, social producers will then repackage the social object to tell the same story but in the context of discrete networks to align with how people discover, share and interact within each unique culture.
Beyond shareability, the social producers also think about resonance. Conversations on social networks move quickly. What was trending an hour ago gives way to the next social object that captures everyone’s attention until that too is replaced by the next shiny object and so on. Resonance is a technique that allows a social object to enjoy a greater lifespan and continue to swim upstream while other content strategies wash away in real-time. As an example, I can’t help but think of Back to the Future III. Marty McFly is desperately pushing for the steam train to hit 88 mph to jump back into Delorean and head back to the future. But, regular wood only helped the train reach a speed that wasn’t even close. To help, Doc engineered a special form of Presto Logs to throw into the fire at different intervals to help the fire burn hotter and as such, push the train to go faster stage by stage. And that’s the idea of resonance. Social producers design elements into social object so that they can continually rise or align with conversations as they shift over time.
If social media is about creating and sharing experiences through conversations and content, start first with the experiences and conversations you wish to rouse. As you think about your content strategy for social networks, do so from the perspective of a social producer. While the social effect is certainly a goal, the social effect is also the result of social design. In the end, people are going to talk, so give them something to talk about!
