Social Media Pyramid & Virtual Communities

You might not realize it but there are different levels of engagement in Social Media sites. In this blog post, I am going to explain the areas that have the highest levels of engagement, and when users interact in them.

When I say engagement, I’m not talking about statistics such as likes, impressions, reach, etc. I am speaking of focused discussion. Where do you see the most focused discussion occurring on social media? If you’re thinking of a particular social platform (Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, etc.)  you are wrong. Social Media is a lot bigger than the mainstream platforms. Social media and social interaction occur everywhere, and the level of focus varies based on the type of site.

Have you ever opened a news article and read the comments at the bottom of the page? Well, that’s social media as well it’s just the type of site is different. Below is the Social Pyramid, organized from lowest focus to most focused discussions and engagement. The image is courtesy of Randy Hlavac’s book “Social IMC”.

Yup, the most focused discussion occurs in virtual communities. Makes sense right? In social networks, there are a lot of transactional conversations but with virtual communities, members have to stay on topic. There are two types of virtual communities: 1) Passion Virtual Communities and 2) Trigger-Event Virtual Communities. I’ll explain the differences, and why they may be important to your business.

Passion virtual communities consist of stable members that keep the discussion current. The members want to hear the newest information from their influencers and engage in discussions to express their opinions. A page that I visit that is a passion virtual community is the Toronto Raptors RealGM website. This community discusses all Raptors-related topics such as trades, rumours, drafts, and member interaction with players. The discussion is member driven.

Trigger event virtual communities consist of members going through a life event. In these groups, members join to learn how to handle their life event and eventually leave once they have overcome or passed the event. Examples of trigger event communities are New mothers, Tonsils removal, new home ownership, etc. Using the first example, you’ll notice that an individual is a new mother for a small period of time. Once a member has absorbed all the information they find useful related to the trigger event, they’ll leave. These types of communities don’t care for information from members like passion communities, they only care to read and learn from experts.

So how can these help your business?

Well, if you were the owner of a passion virtual community, provided great value in this community and it was related to your business the members would definitely try your product or service before trying others. Trigger event communities are a little trickier, once you have become a recognized expert on a topic (via a passion community); you can take your knowledge and increase your reach via trigger event communities.

For passion virtual communities, let’s use an example of a musician. If you were a musician and created a passion community specific to an instrument; you would first have to provide tremendous value for free. That could be lessons, troubleshooting, information on the best brands, etc. If your virtual community advertises your brand or is sponsored by your brand, the members would be more likely to purchase your product before trying elsewhere. By creating a passion community, you can create your brand and role as an influencer within the industry.

Here are some tips on starting your own passion virtual community:

·      Make it easy – Signing up or enrolling should not be a twenty question survey, make it quick and simple.

·      Keep them engaged – Research trending topics within the passion community and create threads for your members to stay engaged.

·      Promote – Once your community starts to pick up traction, promote it by leveraging Facebook ads and google ad words.