This week, my DishyMix guest blogger is Joseph Carrabis, CRO and Founder of NextStage Evolution. Joseph is a Senior Research Fellow and Advisory Board Member of the Society for New Communications Research and Director, Predictive Analytics and Senior Fellow at the Center for Semantic Excellence as well as a member of Scientists Without Borders.

He has a new blog here. http://think.personallifemedia.com (great url!)  His latest post is Romancing Real Women. Read that next, but read this first:

I am enthralled by the level of insight Joseph brings to understanding the difference between how men and women react to marketing.

This is a multi-part series, so feel free to sign up for my blog RSS feed to make sure you get all this goodness. http://feeds.feedburner.com/DishyMixBlog

Here’s the question from Alex Nesbitt, CEO, Digital Podcast
One of the biggest challenges with social media is getting passive audience to become active contributors. There are different ways of contributing, for example writing, videos, photos, and there are different reasons for contributing, for example the desire to be seen and recognized, or passion for a topic. What are differences in the reasons why and the ways that women vs. men decide to contribute, and overall what approaches would be most effective in motivating each?

Don’t miss Joseph’s previous posts on this question: 

Converting Passive Social Media Prospects to Active Social Media Users

Social Media: Exafference – Passive Participation (the “They’re Giving You Their Time” Part) – and Reafference, or Creating Active Participation

The Quality of Social Media Relationships: What is “Genuine” Communication?

Alex Nesbitt, Part 4…

So, distilling the 20+ pages of notes I made in order to answer Alex’s question, we tie it all together with some simple rules (bet you thought I’d never get here, huh?). These rules work in print, in text, in audio, video, rich media, poor media, social media, your choice…

•    When communicating to your audience and wanting to motivate them you must be motivated yourself
•    When communicating to your audience and wanting them to take action you must be active in the way you want them active
•    Be like Hemingway – keep it simple with as little embellishment as possible
•    Be confident – watch what you write, use as images, use as podcasts, use as video and make sure everything is consistent, not in the large but always in the small
•    Video/Podcasts – let your guests correct themselves, don’t correct them (unless it’s a glaring error)
•    Video/Podcasts – keep self corrections to a minimum (again, unless it’s a glaring error)
•    Video/Podcasts – when you become aware of an error in a previous episode mention it publicly and hopefully before your audience brings it to your attention
•    All forms – show concrete images, use concrete terms, etc., to cause people to take action
•    Direct Address – when asking people to take part make sure they know it’s totally up to them (taking part is their choice)
•    Direct Address – when asking people to take part make sure they know there’s no ongoing commitment on their side, they are under no obligation (this is a biggie as both research and business studies show people are more likely to take part in an endeavor if they believe it to be a one shot deal even though they usually habituate to the activity)

Further suggestions on this subject that are highly specific to social media can be found in my SNCR Awards Gala presentation (and don’t be surprised that the crux of encouraging activity on a social media site should involve common sense and good manners):

•    Give Credit Where It Is Due
•    Admit Your Mistakes
•    Manage the Discussion
•    Be Honest
•    Lead the Discussion
•    Explain Everything

There’s actually a lot more that gets into very specific areas:

•    Keep overt competitiveness to a minimum of at all on female-oriented social media sites
•    Demonstrate reciprocity on male-oriented social media sites
•    Demonstrate the actions you want members to engage in several times in several ways across several elements of the social media site
•    Reward employees for taking part in company social media activities (studies show such employees are usually happier and more productive)
•    There’s a wide variety of social networking factors involved (many of which I’ve documented elsewhere)

Let me know if there’s a serious interest out there and I’ll schedule a series of podcasts or webinars or some such that will cover this material. People who’ve seen my conference presentations know what those can be like.