Facebook Isn’t the Answer

When I praised their social strategy, they paused. Their next response was, “We haven’t focused heavily on Facebook or Twitter yet – but you need to understand why.”  Why would they feel the need to justify this? A company with 50,000 highly engaged fans who tune in weekly for webcasts about a product still in development? Fans who send in unsolicited gifts and product videos? Fans who raised the company $37 Million in 15 months? This company has the best social media strategy I’ve ever seen, and it has nothing to do with Facebook.

Today’s world assumes that social must include a heavy focus on Facebook and Twitter.  Too many marketing conversations start with “Are you on Facebook?” without asking the more important question.  To be blunt, the most important question is “Why should anyone talk about you?”

Screaming Into a Pillow Doesn’t Win Fans

Social media is what others say about you, not what you say about yourself. If there is no compelling reason to talk about you, a heavy focus on Facebook is like screaming into a pillow.  Nobody will hear you. You must give the masses compelling reasons to talk about you.

The company with the 37-million-dollar-fans? They get it. Cloud Imperium[1] (makers of the game Star Citizen) told me that their fans are engaged because they engage with their fans. We’ll get to specifics about that in a minute. But here’s an impressive snapshot of the results of their approach:

• 50,000 actively engaged fans
• $37M raised by fans in 15 months – no traditional funding
• 350,000 active backers
• Multiple independent websites created by fans to track progress of development[2]
• Webcast:  almost 40,000 weekly views and growing
• Fans make videos to contribute to weekly webcast
• 47% of viewers stay tuned in until the end of the webcast – even through the credits
• Fans send gifts to Cloud Imperium

Aiming for The Golden Circle

Yes, it does help that Cloud Imperium is a game company, which tends to have passionate fans.  It further helps the situation that Cloud Imperium is headed by gaming icon Chris Roberts.  But Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle[3] provides more insight to why Cloud Imperium has been so successful.

According to Sinek, people don’t buy WHAT you do.  They buy WHY you do it.  Next in importance is HOW you do it.  Cloud Imperium is making a video game. It’s a crowded field.  They built a large, dedicated following because of WHY they are building Star Citizen and HOW they are building it.  Their fans are engaged and passionate because they are connected at the value level.

The Weekly Webcast: “It’s about the fans – not about us.”

So says writer and producer Michael Morlan. Cloud Imperium’s weekly webcast, “Wingman’s Hanger,” is hosted by president of production Eric “Wingman” Peterson. His authentic and engaging persona drives the webcast. One of Eric’s more sobering statements is “You have to be authentic with the community. They can tell when you are faking it.”  Eric is so authentic that he includes his current weight loss efforts (good & bad) in the weekly webcast.  The community responded by giving Eric a scale with “Wingman” painted on it.  Naturally, a later webcast featured the gift from fans. In fact, anytime fans submit gifts or videos about Star Citizen, it gets air time on the webcast – demonstrating clearly how the game is not about the people developing it, but about the gamers who will play it.

The level of customer engagement Cloud Imperium has built is staggering for any company. It is particularly impressive considering  all of this engagement is for a product that is still under development with a 2-year time horizon.  Cloud Imperium has mastered social media with almost no focus on Facebook or Twitter.

I Want That Level of Engagement!

Granted, unless you are making a video game, it is probably hard to get 40,000 fans tuned in for a weekly webcast. But, as David Swofford (PR) points out, the principles applied at Cloud Imperium can be used in other industries as well.  They are the same principles Apple employs to build a passionate community of fans.

• Directly communicate and engage with your fans regularly – don’t outsource it
• Start by communicating WHY you are doing what you are doing
  • Connect with your customers at the value level first
• Then communicate HOW you uniquely translate those values to products or services
• Lastly, communicate WHAT your product is
  • If your customers believe in your values and how you execute, the sale is mostly done
• Build community – not Facebook “Likes” & “Shares”
• Be authentic

Conclusion

Social media is not about hiring someone to post quizzes and cute things on Facebook.  It is about energizing a community that is eager to talk about your company frequently because they are moved more by your values and how you operate than by the actual product you make.  If you master that engagement, the media platform becomes secondary.  Facebook isn’t the focus.  The community is the focus.  Engage the community frequently and connect at the value level.