It might seem somewhat strange that in this post I am going to talk about effective social media strategies for Hive given that Hive is already a social media platform, but hear me out.
Effective communications will get people talking about a particular organisation. We all need to be conscious of this on Hive, particularly if we want to grow the user base. When adopting effective communications within a social media context the four pillars of social media strategy become paramount; these four pillars consist of communication, collaboration, education and entertainment (Safko and Brake, 2009). Applying these four important characteristics to Hive are just as important.
Look at those 4 considerations for a moment:
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Education
- Entertainment
These are incredibly important ingredients for the Hive community to observe as a community but equally important for ensuring decent blog posts that have a wide appeal and can attract serious engagement.
Tapping into issues and events via social media platforms that the conventional media are already discussing will help organisations become involved in the conversation and raise the organisations profile. This is applicable to Hive too. So if Hive users are able to blog and create content around media events and talked about subjects already the focus of media attention that will generate a new level of social engagement on Hive.
Furthermore, if Hive manages to raise its profile within the legacy media landscape this not only gives us attention and more users in its own right, it will help to bring an added layer of interaction to the platform. We have seen recent efforts by @lordbutterfly to propose new Hive based films and documentaries, including full features. Some have gained traction but if any of these films can lift off 'into the stratosphere' all it takes is just one film to do amazing things for Hive in itself, and then as a by-product add a new dimension to the Hive experience.
As Safko and Brake emphasise it is about the ways ‘this conversation can be prompted, promoted and monetized’ (Safko and Brake, 2009: 4). However, even if Hive doesn't have a voluminous amount of resources available and budgets are restricted there are still a whole host of different opportunities within the promotional mix that Hive can take advantage of to raise the profile.
So whilst resources are a key consideration having few resources does not prevent us from producing an effective social media approach, which will help to raise our profile and ultimately onboard more users and generate more content activity.
I think that many of the senior Hive witnesses view PR as an afterthought. They are simply not doing enough to take advantage of the opportunities which are available to them within the sphere of PR and the wider promotional mix. The value of communications is being undermined, by many within the decentralised sector and not just on Hive. This needs to be addressed so that we are better placed, in a stronger position and able to move into a more positive direction.
Hive has given us all an incredible opportunity to produce uncensored, unfiltered and genuine user material to effect positive change in the world.
Let's make sure we take full advantage.
Peace and Light,
GoldStreet
