When it comes to incentives, nothing beats winning a $50,000,000 Lotto Max jackpot. When I stumbled across this particular post from Be Remarkable on my Facebook newsfeed I was struck with how simple, yet genius the idea was.  Within seconds of seeing my friend had liked the post, I followed suit and made a comment in the hopes of sharing in the prize.

The concept was simple: purchase a lottery ticket and if it happened to be the winning ticket the money would be shared with fans who engaged with the photo. But most importantly, the call to action was strong and beyond easy for users: just like and comment on the photo and you could share in part of the $50 million jackpot.

Sounds simple, but the results were pretty remarkable. Within a matter of three hours they had well over 6,000 likes, close to 4,000 comments and over 250 shares. Not only is that alone impressive, but what strikes me as the most strategic part of the campaign is how many people it has the potential to reach. I had never heard of Be Remarkable (a community for BC Credit Unions) before an old friend happened to like it and it appeared on my news feed, which I’m sure was the case among many diverse networks of people all across British Columbia and beyond.

It just go to show that overcoming the barrier to engagement on social media really comes down to appealing to consumers’ most basic desires. Generic calls to action may generate responses from a select few active “Creators”, however, in order to foster engagement within the broader community of social media “Spectators”, a good tactic is to ensure posts are simple, but with a clear incentive.

Although I never ended up getting a share in the jackpot, I can’t argue the fact that this was hugely beneficial for BC Credit Unions in terms of awareness and social media buzz. However, if the true aim of social media is to generate genuine engagement and develop meaningful relationships with their community of users, then this just seems like a cheap bribe.

“Never be afraid to put aside a good thing to achieve a great thing.”

After attending a presentation this past week by Alfredo Tan (Direct of Marketing Solutions at Facebook Canada), I left with my mind spinning with ideas, inspiration and a better understanding of the evolution of how we as humans connect online. It was absolutely fascinating to hear directly from an insider from the company at the forefront of digital innovation, and after a couple of days trying to digest it all here are my top 3 takeaways:

1.    Put people at the center

We are now in an era of online authenticity where people are open enough to create genuine identities online. It is these people who are the driving force of what we as marketers do online and therefore they should be at the heart of all of our decisions. Facebook fans are the most valuable customers and the power they now have to influence their friends is astounding.

2.    Tell a story

The web is built around people, and there is nothing that engages people more than compelling stories. This has always been the case in human interaction, and is no different online. Social media platforms simply provide the opportunities for brands to thrive, then it is up to marketers to communicate their stories effectively to captivate their audience.

3.    Move fast and break things

In the world of technology, staying one step ahead of the game is not enough. Facebook has certainly figured out how to be a leader in innovation and one of the key reasons is because of their ability to move quickly and learn quickly. To quote Zuckerberg himself, “if you never break anything, you’re probably not moving fast enough.”

There is so much potential in the digital space, if only we have the courage to put aside a good thing and take the leap of faith to achieve a truly great thing.