What is an engagement calendar? Piecing things together.





Part 2 is about mapping your engagement ideas against the engagement calendar. Well, at least in theory.

Spike engagement ideas are the big bangs, the buzz-generating-PR-type of stunts. This is where you can gain the most by mapping against your engagement calendar. You can release a piece of cool content, but wouldn’t it be better if you release the right content at the right time. Hello, synergy! These spikes should be planned around events.

Spikes should contribute to your overall engaged consumer base. Eventually you would want to build a community of highly engaged consumers. Not all of those exposed to your big bang will turn into fans, but some will. Make sure you have the mechanism to capture and continue to engage them once you get their attention.

Well, this is where deep engagement platforms come in. They should be based on passion points, not so much based on seasonality or events. For example, if you are a sports drink company, you may want to create some cool viral content or launch a competition around major sport events. These are spikes – one off activities. At the same time, you may also want to set up a platform to educate consumers about nutrition and healthy lifestyle. This, on the other hand, is continuous.

Deep engagement consists of two important platforms:

1.    Continuous conversation platforms

These are the usual suspects - your online social media presence. This is where you run your day to day communications, do reactive marketing, help spread cool content generated by fans, etc.e

2.    Continuous engagement platforms

As described before, these are more product centric and community based platforms. These should be built around passion points, and enable consumers to build an on going community around the product.

Now you only need to map out all the relevant events, and plan value adding conversations and content around them. One cool thing about having an engagement calendar is that it helps you identify gaps in content. You already know the next Olympics is in 2012. How about planning cool activities around that time for your sports drink brand?

Once you flesh out the calendar, ask yourself how your brand and product can enhance those events/experiences? Then plan your conversations down to the copy! Oh, don’t forget reactive marketing is equally important!

What is an engagement calendar?

One of my projects is to plan a consumer engagement calendar. I’m a strong advocate of responsive, instantaneous and relevant two way communication with our consumers. Therefore, I was a bit concerned when I was asked to build a structure for our conversations over the course of a calendar year? Is that necessary or are we over thinking?

Plan for the predictable

As much as I’d like to just throw myself into interacting with consumers, I come to realize a smart marketer should indeed have a plan in mind to maximize engagement. Lots of our conversational subjects evolve around current events. Many current events cannot be predicted, but a lot of them can. For example, music and movie awards like the Golden Globe, sports events like World Cup, festivals like Fashion Week, religious holidays like Christmas, cultural events like Chinese New Year, etc. These are all emotional opportunities for companies to start relevant conversations to build and deepen relationships. We can plan this! We can create experiences for consumers!

An engagement calendar is one that maps all events to relevant brand related subjects. And all social media channels should sync with it. Of course, you may want to adapt the message slightly to fit with specific channels. For example you should not have the exact same status update on FB and Twitter. So what are brand related subjects? Think about how your products can enhance the experience for a particular event? If you are a wine maker, you may want to plan for relevant conversations around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and any other festive events. Beer companies are good at this. Recall how many beer ads you’ve seen during SuperBowl? It’s important to remember that all rules of engagement still apply. No conversation should be forced. It’s not about broadcasting. It’s about enhancing and adding value to consumers. Only start a conversation when you can add value, and have it with people who care.

Manage the unpredictable

Having that said, the calendar should not be a rigid one. Companies need to react to current events fast. How about sharing your point of view about the Haiti earthquake? What is your company stance on global warming? No one likes to talk to a boring person. Interesting people always have a point of view. Not everyone agrees with your viewpoints, but hey, that’s who you are. Who likes an eager pleaser?! Therefore, it’s useful to develop a clear personality for your company, and have clear idea what your company represents. Know what subjects you should react to and what not. Develop a clear set of rules of engagement. You may find it uncomfortable to present strong opinions, but that makes you stand out.