The 5 Levels of Social Media Usage

Johnny Chan of eBoost Consulting talked recently about the 5 levels on the social media participation ladder.  Every marketer needs to think about these 5 levels in relation to your own audience.  Where is most of your audience on the online participation scale?   Your job is to move your audience up the ladder of participation.   
 

I thought this was a great way to think about online engagement.  It should help you focus on adding new elements to achieve specific objectives.

5 Levels of the Online Participation Ladder

Creators:  write articles and post them, upload audio files, publish blogs, web publishers

Critics:  edit Wiki articles, post ratings and reviews, comment on blogs and in forums

Collectors:  vote for sites, use RSS feeds, add tags

Joiners:  become members of online communities

Spectators:  read blogs, listen to podcasts, read reviews and forum posts

 

Where is most of your audience among these 5 levels?   The idea is to try to move your audience up the Participation Ladder. 

If your audience includes mostly Spectators (they just consume media, but don't interact by posting comments), try to get them more engaged. Encourage them to "vote" in online surveys.  Include a link within an email message to an online survey. 

Ask engaging questions in your blog to encourage interaction.  

The San Diego iMarketers started an online discussion area on their web site.  To encourage participation, iMarketers sent a series of emails listing questions that had been asked on the online forum.   Recipients of the email messages may click to read what others answered in response to the questions, and they might be encouraged to share their own insights while there -- or even ask a new question.

Marketers have been asking how to measure online engagement.  The 5 Levels of Social Media Participation is one tool to help.

 

 

 

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