The Power of Participation Creation

Challenge: To build meaningful business relationships

Content creation for custom media is all about building relationships. While many key figures and companies are more accessible than ever through social media channels, it is increasingly difficult to build real relationships. There is too much white noise and shallow interaction online.

Even if you are creating quality content, it does not always guarantee high-level engagement in the densely crowded online environment. You have to find new ways to get people’s attention and to interact with them meaningfully.

Solution: Invite participation in the creation of content

One great way to build relationships is not by knocking on doors but, rather, by opening your own. Reach out to the people you want to build relationships with and involve them in the creation of content that speaks to them and to their audience.

There are three main ways that we’ve done this at Tippingpoint Labs.

1) Inbound

Inbound relationships are generated when you create content about a partner or potential customer.

We have been publishing new media life cycle analyses and life cycle updates to gain insight into some of the channels we want to learn more about and possibly participate in. Our content about Magento, 12seconds.tv, Docstoc, Zoho, and even GetSatisfaction have led to both formal and informal relationships with these companies.

2) Outbound

Outbound relationships are generated when you reach out to credible, intelligent people to include in your content through interviews and guest appearances. People love to be part of good content creation, and an invitation to participate is a great way to open the door to a longer-term relationship.

Our weekly podcast series, The Tipping Point, has been one of our most successful relationship builders. Our segments have built relationships with industry people that we respect, including Ajit Dsa (Schmownce, Bandize), Bernie Borges (author of Marketing 2.0), Gabriel Weinberg (Duck Duck Go), and Anand Rajaraman (Kosmix).

David Meerman Scott recently participated in our video series called “60 Seconds With.” This has been one of our most popular video segments to date.

3) By request

When you build a relationship with your audience through content, you build credibility. This credibility can lead other publishers to request your original content — publishers who think your perspective will be valuable to their audience.

Our content editorial calendar, or content engine, has set the stage for long-term relationship building. We are being approached by more and more people to create unique content.

We have become a source of credible, reliable, valuable insight. As a result, other content creators, portals and even large websites have solicited our contributions.

Just recently, Andrew Davis was asked to write an article for SparkSheet, an online magazine all about social media marketing and content marketing strategies. Additionally, Scott Loring and James Cosco have both been published on The Editorial Advantage.

Benefit: Relationships continue to aggregate reach

Through participation creation, we have laid the groundwork for even more relationships by multiplying the effectiveness of our content. These relationships have sparked dialogue with other experts — fueling us with insight for our future editorial calendar.

By being open and collaborative, we have gained momentum and increased our digital influence.

About the author

Josh Cole - Josh Cole was born to create content -- from his pioneering works in anarchoustic and hobophonic sounds & web content to writing across a wide variety of media. Joining the team in Spring 2009, he has been instrumental in crafting and producing oodles of content for Breville, Putnam Investments, and Tippingpoint Labs. He rides a near mint 1964 Raleigh Colt to work. He still remembers which accessories go with each G.I. Joe action figure. He writes with the kung-fu action grip. Josh is in charge of content for a variety of clients. His favorite Tippingpoint Labs value is: "There is a content solution to every business challenge."