According to a PostRank study released recently, the level of engagement experienced by published articles has increased significantly over the past three years.

According to Ilya Grigorik from PostRank, “In absolute terms, when we sample over the top 1000 of the most engaging feeds for the past three years, we see approximately a 30% year over year growth in engagement – sign that more people are participating in the social web

They go on to say that “increasingly, social hubs such as Facebook, Twitter, and Digg are found in the top 3 traffic drivers, and their influence is only likely to increase over time.”

But the report goes further than simply attributing the growth to the increased popularity of the social hubs. The research report maintains that this growth is largely attributable to the “share, and like this” phenomenon, which is sweeping through Facebook, Twitter, and dozens of other social hubs…”

There are a lot of great insights in this report but there are four considerations that are worthy of further discussion – particularly for brands looking for incremental ways to engage with their customers and begin the social media journey.

The first is that it is clearly important that brands take steps to ensure that it is easy for readers to distribute their content. This is a relatively easy process and (with any luck) one that should not require endless meetings, risk assessments, technology reviews or invasive technological surgery. Hopefully. For those sites that carry the standard “bookmark this” links, its probably time to upgrade to a collective solution.

Whilst the PostRank study points to Facebook, Twitter and Digg, there are more than 120 social media and bookmarking websites that may appeal to your readers. For this reason it is worth considering services such as addThis or shareThis. These bookmarking services are easy to build into your page footers and allow readers to share your content across a mind-numbingly broad range of sites. From a purely personal perspective, I like shareThis in particular as it provides some handy reporting functionality and caters for managing multiple websites.

Secondly, content needs to be worthy of extended distribution. It is worth remembering that despite the increased ease with which customers can refer your content to others it still requires some effort. Readers will only do so if they a. feel that the content genuinely helped them, and b. that they likewise feel that it will do so for others.

Don’t forget that distribution is a personal endorsement of sorts and that despite the inherent anonymity of the web, there is often an association with the referrer’s online identity. Readers will not refer content that reflects poorly on them. As such, it pays to identify the intended stand-alone value of your content at the outset and remain focused on delivering tips, hints or information that will have relevance beyond the context of your website.

Thirdly, engagement can take many forms. The easiest is to provide your dynamic and valuable content in a format that allows readers to comment and/or rate your information. The easiest way to do this is via a blog format where much of the required technology is provided for you. Scary? Yes. But it is standing signal that your brand is ready for, and open to customer dialogue.

Finally and not surprisingly, the report identifies Facebook and Twitter as primary environments where brands with limited resources should look to establish a presence. Whilst this comes as no surprise, the report puts some substance behind the buzz surrounding these social hubs.

It is worth noting that the establishment of a brand presence within either of these environments should not be undertaken lightly. A broader digital strategy should underpin this type of activity and take account of the management safe keeping of the long term customer relationships which will result from this type of activity.

With all this in mind, the report supports the view that corporate and individual brands can benefit from ensuring that their content adds real value and that is easy to share and distribute to and within the main social environments.

Yesterday I indulged one of my favourite hobbies – eavesdropping. God I love it! The conversation centred around Twitter and to a lesser degree Facebook. Without doubt it was a marketing discussion.

The important thing about this conversation was that the notion of strategy and relationships didn’t make it into the conversation.

Each of the social media components were referred to as though each was an end unto itself.

It occurred to me that this approach is fairly common – especially with larger brands. I have heard of a number of marketers lately who have been presented with isolated social media campaigns.

I can’t help wondering if some agencies are including Facebook or Twitter activity on media schedules in the same way as they would the trial inclusion of a new magazine – drive the rate down the card to lessen the impact, call in some favours & let’s see how it goes.

Without an underlying relationship management strategy underpinning any social media activity this approach presents some problems. I wonder what happens when the activity finishes?

If social media is intended to establish and nurture genuine relationships then a flighted campaign approach is the social media equivalent of a show romance – intense and focused for a short period of time…and then abruptly no one returns your calls.

Seasoned marketers grasp the implications of this immediately – they understand the brand message it sends if the conversation stops when the media flight ends. They also see that an obligation exists to maintain these relationships once they are initiated.

Here are a few things that you might consider before embarking on a stand-alone social media activity…

• Is there a relationship management strategy that outlines:
• The purpose of social engagement – what value does it add to the consumer and the brand?
• What skills and resources will be required to manage the relationships your create via the various social media initiatives that you undertake? Do you have them?
• Do you have a social engagement policy – who can / will speak on behalf of the brand?
• What is the voice of the brand? I know this sounds like “if your brand were an animal what would it be”, but the real decision is whether our brand “voice” is going to be practical, friendly, formal, casual, etc. Whatever the answer, make sure it is genuine and consistent with the brand.
• How will you respond to negative comments / feedback? Fixing issues publicly and quickly can build a lot of positive equity. Do you have a plan in place to ensure that you can intervene and resolve issues swiftly?
• Does the proposed activity fit into the broader strategy for engagement ?
• Does it fit into the resourcing plan within your strategy?

If our answer to any of the above was “no” then you may be in danger of “show romancing” your customers. This type of isolated activity can create an incorrect (or correct) impression of utility friendship.

Now, you might say that you can over plan these things. Absolutely.

Everything we read tells us that brands need to embrace social media and everyone needs to start somewhere. The case for social media as a means of extending the reach and understanding of a brand and engaging customers in dialogue is a strong one.

With that in mind, first impressions are important. Please…start with a relationship management plan – not a media plan.