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Social Media Academy’s NCP Model
I follow the Social Media Academy’s NCP model which stands for Network Contribution Participation.
Network provides the reach for your message and connection to people in your social ecosystem.
Its about growing your network by connecting with people in various places.
Contribution is the active engagement and content contribution over such networks. Conversation is the currency in social media.
It can be blogs, articles, pictures, videos or podcasts.
Participation is the positive or negative reflection of the contribution and the actual conversation.
So you have to speak up in new areas, comment on others blogs, and add to the color of the conversation with your very own twist in the fabric.
Networking
You start the process with Networking. I do great at networking and growing my network. At first it was slow on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Now, they each have a mind of their own with an almost organic growth that has taken over.
Since I do a lot of public speaking on social media, this has provided added stimulus to the growth, maybe greater than most users would find. I have not done much with TopLinked or some of the speed networking opportunities yet on LinkedIn, rather I wanted to work hard at this myself and truly know the work involved.
Now I can expand further my network in several new areas such as YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, and Slideshare. These will provide a different type of space and I am looking forward to who I connect with there as well. Some will be professional, but I suspect it will allow me to enter new relationships that aren’t the same as those that connect with me and the written word.
Contribution
The contribution part of the NCP Model is likely the most difficult for many. This means writing, folks. Creating original thoughts and getting them posted in the social space. I wrote community opinion pieces first for my local paper. Then I started with book reviews in a metro business publication, which then transferred to an online forum for greater reach.
I was asked to provide quest posts on several social media blogs. This was the hardest step because I was offering knowledge to my peers. I am not sure anyone is listening to those posts yet, but I find that I do have a unique perspective that provides another facet of conversation in the business community.
Then came my own blog (Network Mindshare). This is hard work – no doubt about it. Being creative in coming up with ideas is not the problem, it’s deciding what to write about the idea!
Last but not least, I also took on the challenge of a social media column in an online newspaper. More deadlines, a different writing style and another shift in the audience. Good for the network.
Participation
Participation in the social web is the final piece of the NCP Model. You just can’t shout out your opinions in a one way megaphone.
You need to actively search out and read others who have shared their opinions on topics that are of interest. Don’t just read these, you must comment. Your thoughts can support, express a contrary point of view, offer explanation, share examples, express frustration, ask further questions, offer solutions or just compliment the post.
The key is engagement and you can’t do that without putting those thoughts in writing.
Thoughts on Blogs
I am trying a technique to make sure that I continue effectively on the participation side of the NCP Model. Each week I have set a goal to comment on at least three different blogs. In order to find the blogs, I have Google Alerts set on keywords that I researched using the Google Keyword Tool. I share comments on these blogs and keep track of them using the Social Relationship Management tool www.xeesm.com/wendysoucie, which lets me search for all references I have made (after using that link) and I will pick out several and post them. I will include them in a new blog category called “Thoughts on Blogs.”
Perhaps you have a blog that I should read and on which I should offer my opinion? Comment here with the link and I will check it out.
