[MUSIC] So Randy, what's the best way to use what you've just said and then apply it to either group but for a long period of time? >> Well one of the things that surprising in a content strategy course like this. You'd think it was let's develop some content and go for it. And that's actually the wrong way to do it. What you want to do is you really want to first figure out the audience you want to be in. Then the next step you want to do is to understand the influencers and the experts in the community. And what we're going to do is we're going to start following them. After we learn a little bit about what makes that audience tick, whether it's a patient group or a trigger event. Then we'll develop some content, and one of the things we're going to do is we're not just going to develop content but we're going to re-purpose it to maximize our impact within the community. In other words, we may write something, make a blog or write an article or a white paper. But the key is there are other people that'll be looking at it, that are engaged in the community in terms of videos and audio. And so I want to think about how we can maximize impact depending on where they're at in the social pyramid. Then what we're going to do is we're going to market it. And I know marketing might be a bad word but the key is, the audience doesn't know you exist, and so we're going to make them aware of the content that we just made, and then we'll measure it for success. So we're going to go through those steps, starting with engaging the experts. >> Well, I love the steps, and certainly marketing is not good or bad, it's just respecting you audience and telling them something's there. >> Right. >> Okay. So, we've got that. >> Yep. >> What's the first step I now take? >> The first step you want to take is first off, once you've identified the audience you want to engage, go in and look at them and develop what a good friend of mine named Stanford Smith, who has a site call PushingSocial, he's an expert on how to make this happen. He talks about a six month entry plan. I think there's a lot of merit to it. You may not have to do six months. But it's a great idea, what he says is this, find the communities you want to engage, go and find the experts and the influencers and start following them. In other words, find them on Twitter, and follow them, link up with them on LinkedIn, in the US, they may be on Facebook, link up with them there, and the key is just listen and watch what they're doing. Read their articles and just start following them because what you want to do first, is to understand how that audience ticks, what are the things that make it happen? What are they talking about right now? What's important to them? And who are the people that they really look to for expertise? Once you feel comfortable with that, which usually takes a few weeks, then you can start doing the next step, which is re-tweeting them, and so if an expert puts out a great article, re-tweet it which is your way of saying, hey I vote for this, I really like that. And start as you go through, constantly re-tweet the good stuff. That is the way now you're raising your hand in the community saying, hey, I'm different than other people. I'm not just going to absorb content, but I'm starting to give back. And what you're doing is that when you re-tweet the experts that you like to follow or the influencers what you're saying is, I'm going to help you filter through things and find the things that are most important to you. And you know what happens? Every time you re-tweet, people will start to follow you. And you're going to find every time you do just a single re-tweet, you might get two, three or four people. And they'll start getting two, three, or four other people because every time you're re-tweeting, now you're going to a bigger audience. And what you do is, they're looking to you to help filter things through. Then, even before you think about content, if they're talking on forums like Google+ or communities as well as on LinkedIn, and also just independent, private, virtual communities If you're in the community and they have a forum page, or they have a blog, where you can comment, what you want to do is if they ask a question that you know, well feel free to answer it. Or if an expert is answering something and you love their answer, tell them that. Or you might ask a follow up question or anything like that to kind of move it forward. And also as you're beginning to engage with them. If you find an article on a position that an expert has that you really respect, take that and actually communicate that with children, say hey, here's an article you might want to look at. Thought you'd really like it because it kind of parallels your thinking. And what you're doing is you're helping the expert be more of an expert which is really an important part of a community. So I would start with first hear them. And then engage with them by helping support the experts and the influencers in what they're doing. And in doing so you'll see how the community's functioning which is going to be really important when we develop our first piece of content. >> So how do experts respond to. I like what you said, and then I ask you a question back. Or I like what you said, and I say because I stubbed my toe doing that or it was useful here or there. What's the openness to that sort of modest entry into the community. >> Actually, that's great. And the reason that they like that is what you're doing is you're actually putting the spotlight back on them to talk about something they're very expert in. But two things happen. First off, they really like that. The second thing is so they'll remember you. You helped put the spotlight back. And what they want is fame and fortune within the group of being able to be viewed as the expert so you're making them more of an expert, but you're also differentiating yourself from the rest of the community, which means you're moving into influencers status
