What Does ‘Engagement’ Mean, Anyway?

by Charity on December 14, 2009

I just got off the phone with my friend Kim Cory. We were discussing last weeks #AptChat and the term ‘engagement’ as it relates to social media and our personal definitions of the term. But before I get into the various descriptions offered for the meaning of engagement, let’s see what Dictionary.com has to offer us:

en⋅gage: [en-geyj]

1. to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons): He engaged her in conversation.

3. to attract and hold fast: The novel engaged her attention and interest.

4. to attract or please: His good nature engages everyone.

and just for fun:

5. to bring (troops) into conflict; enter into conflict with: Our army engaged the enemy.

#5 happens when opposing views are shared!

Here are a few interesting thoughts on engagement shared during the chat on Friday:

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What is ‘Engagement’ to me?

Those were some interesting thoughts from our #AptChat crew! I really liked Jonathan’s description “to me engagement has the tone of genuine interest in a subject”. When Kim Cory and I were speaking this afternoon, we agreed  that being engaged is about the quality of the conversation. It’s more than how many comments your blog post receives, or how many fans you have on your Facebook page. Engagement demonstrates you have a vested INTEREST in the conversation, you’re INVOLVED in the conversation, and you CARE about what is being said and who is saying it.

We all approach our online relationships differently. For example, my connections online usually begin with a professional outreach and I build on that relationship until it becomes personal. For property managers, I see this happening much the same way. At first you’re just connecting with everyone you can to begin establishing your relationships online, then you feed and water the relationship until it grows personal.

What does ‘Engagement’ mean to you?

Please share your thoughts below. Don’t be afraid to comment; there are no right or wrong answers, it’s all a matter of opinion!

Tagged as: #AptChat, 30Lines, Apartment Chat, Apartment Marketing, Artchickhb, Charity Hisle, CharityHisle, Community Engagement, Conversation, Engagement, Eric Brown, Eric_Urbane, Heather Blume, Jonathan Saar, Lisa Trosien, LisaTrosien, mbrewer, Mike Brewer, Mike Whaling, Multifamily, Online Community, Participation, Property Management, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, TrainingFactor, Twitter

  • http://www.apartmentveteran.com/ Eric Brown

    Hi Charity,
    I think that “Engagement” will be all the talk in 2010 as lots of companies enter the Social media Space,

    But what happens once the Facebook fan page is up, but has few fans, Twitter account is live, but only a handful of followers and a blog with no comments and little interaction? Now what?

    In order for Social Media to have a compound effect it requires engagement, otherwise you have missed the best effects of Social Media Marketing.

  • http://2witterbug.com Charity

    Eric,

    Thanks for commenting! I agree that 2010 will be focused on engaging connections. I am already getting questions from properties asking “What do we do now?”

  • Jennifer Kennedy

    Charity,

    I think “engagement” means both being interesting and interested. You have to be interesting for people to pay attention, and you also have to be interested in the needs with whom you are communicating with. The value you bring to your online community is also important for engagement. In my opinion, value is the most important part of engagement.

  • http://www.familydentalcareparkridge.com ParkRidgeDDS

    Hi Charity,
    This is such a thought provoking subject. And you are right…there are no right or wrong answers…..but it is important to keep what Dictionary.com has to say about the definition of the word engage. The thought that sort of popped into my head as I read your post was that “it takes two to tango”. To make an impact of any kind (on FB, Twitter, Blog, etc) you need at least one other person to engage in conversation or thought or status. To become legitimate it is important for this engagement to be “real”. It is much more compelling to be engaged in a twitter conversation with “real” people than to read robotic automated tweets. In my eyes, the lack of effort to wholly engage creates a lack of credibility. Facebook status statements often turn into soliloquies that fall on deaf ears. It is one of the reasons that I don’t often update my “status” on FB. I am much more apt to ENGAGE in a tweet conversation because there is feedback and a sense of relating. I think I could go on about this compelling subject but I better stop before I lose the potential for engagement here :-) Thanks for an interesting post

  • http://mbrewergroup.com Mike Brewer

    Great post -C

    I read a compelling tweet the other day and I wish I could remember who wrote it. In essence it suggested that before we look at the trends and predictions for 2010 – we should get some of the 2008/9 trends and predictions in play.

    I think it is fair to say that there a tons of people in our space that are in the early stages of using social media as it relates to renting apartments – that is to suggest that things that come common place to this group are natural hiccups to the masses. Things such as setting up profile pages in lieu of fan pages or using either to cast your inventory and move in specials in lieu of inviting feedback, participation, conversations, etc. One must crawl before they walk and walk before they run.

    Engagement is a big word with a very deep meaning. It’s great you provide the definitions above as it speaks right to the point. Everyone of those definitions speaks to a deep seated emotion as driven by an important catalyst and all on the premise of creating emotion. And, don’t miss the relationship piece that is implied.

    My further comments are made in the context of the social media space.

    I would suggest that the core social media group we have come to know here is just now entering what I would consider a space where the use of the word engagement is appropriate. The collaborative nature of brainstorming playing out in real time and over the digital airwaves was a good demonstration of that. The relationships that have developed and the deep emotional movement taking place relative to creating the next event are the beginning signs of real engagement. The key words being relationship(s) and emotion(al). Guess what – that took the better part of eighteen to twenty-four months, give or take, to accomplish.

    To suggest that engagement will be the rage of 2010 is simply putting the cart before the horse or forcing a square peg into a round hole and frankly providing a disservice to the space. I would liken it to trying to teach a good friend about nutrition by shoving a hand full of vitamins down their throat. There is a ton of other work that must take place prior to and in concert with those vitamins prior to seeing any real effect from them.

    We can run out and create cool experiences but if they are awash in broken fundamentals and basics – you are wasting your time. If you have not done the work to foster the relationships ahead of time – you are doing a disservice to your constituents. To get any real sense of the massive effects of engagement you have to provide the forum, invite the feedback, participate, love, care, nurture and then love care and nurture some more.

    All that being said – true engagement in any context is a deep and personal commitment [one that moves people emotionally]. The word itself has been tossed around for the last 18 to 24 months in the social media space and is really not a novel concept. It’s just not reality – not yet. There is a lot of courting that must take place before we get to the deep meaning that moves relationships the true nature of engagement.

    Of course, we can dumb down the meaning and just go for the gusto without the courting. I just think it makes for bad consequence in the long run…

    Just my humble opinion

    M

  • http://2witterbug.com Charity

    @Jennifer – Your comments ring true! Value is a very important part of establishing a relationship between an online community and their audience. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us!

    @ParkRidgeDDS I love how you likened engagement to “it takes two to tango.” For that matter “the more the merrier” applies as well! I agree that many FB status updates are dull and uninspiring. I think the key to ‘engaging’ on FB is knowing your audience and spending the time to establish a relationship. I appreciate your comments!

    And @Mike! Wow! Your comments were inspiring and more thought-provoking than my original post! Thank you for contributing on my blog. :)

    “…you have to provide the forum, invite the feedback, participate, love, care, nurture and then love care and nurture some more.”

    I have been ‘following’ you for about a year and a half, and have learned so much from your insights and experience. Unfortunately, communities are jumping into social media waters without the benefit of our knowledge. While they are providing the forum and participating, they are not inviting feedback, loving, caring or nurturing their online communities. Perhaps by discussing ‘engagement’ and how to accomplish it, we will send them in the right direction?

    Is it possible that 2010 will be when people and businesses start considering ‘engagement’ as a priority, and that these efforts (toward active community rather than broadcasting) will be ‘all the rage’?

    You are absolutely right, it may take a year or more to accomplish the goal but I can already see a hint of change in the way people (and the businesses they work for) are communicating online. Let us all hope they commit to a long-term plan rather than starting the process and quitting before they even understand what the ‘social’ in Social Media means.

  • Ann Padgett

    This reminds me of something Lisa Trosien said during last week’s Grace Hill chat. She said that social media is not free, it takes time. To me this relates directly to engagement because in order to engage with people effectively you have to dedicate the time to doing so. I think that is were a lot of people fall short, including myself. They think if they put themselves (or their businesses) out there, people will come. To a certain extent that is true, however they won’t stay around for long. You have to offer value and be open to interaction with others.

    This was a great way to start my day. Thanks!

  • http://www.theapartmentnerd.com Mark Juleen

    I think the problem everyone is having with term “engagement” is that too many are looking for a cookie cutter solution they can buy. Most will attempt to buy it and fail because as Mike says it takes time. The reason it takes time is because everyone needs to find their own niche. There are some commonalities and the tools are the same, but very few will be successful in creating an online magazine with residents blogging. That being said, I think everyone really just needs to invest the time if they want to be successful. Charity, I like what you share from Lisa. Social media is not free it takes time. I’d also like to add that your social media efforts can be bought, but they are more effective if the content is personal from you and your brand or someone embedded in your brand like a customer.

  • http://2witterbug.com Charity

    @Ann Yes, Lisa is one smart lady! Time isn’t free, and without time Social Media efforts will fall flat. The key is finding the time to get it all done! Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting.

    @Mark But doesn’t everyone want something to make life/work easier?!? :) There is never a one-size-fits-all solution for using social media, even across similar business models.

    I absolutely agree that there will be very few online communities with residents blogging. On that note, I believe in going where your audience is, not making them come to you. A blog can be difficult to launch, maintain, and grow; because actually GETTING your audience there is difficult. But, then again, there is more than one reason to have a blog and engagement may not be the priority.

    I do think it is possible to purchase social media efforts (or I wouldn’t be a Sherpa advocate), but there is no substitute for having authentic participation from in-house. By outsourcing the bulky start-up process, maintenance and reporting pieces, perhaps this would allow more time for in-house participation and opportunities for engagement?

    Mark, your comments are always welcome and appreciated!

  • http://noteasytoforget.com James Ball

    Wow, so glad I stopped in today. What to add? For me a simple formula: To FOSTER and ENGAGE = the VALUE I add to this space. I like to be valuable! As already mentioned above, this requires the better part of the dedication and courage I can muster each day…and lots of time.

    Engagement separates valuable social media impact from the fodder and noise. It’s not hard to discern the difference.

    Great topic and comments Charity, everyone!

  • http://2witterbug.com Charity

    @James – You really ARE valuable! Even though I’ve known you for years, I’m just now ‘getting to know’ you because we both use social media tools professionally. It’s amazing how much we all have in common, isn’t it? I’m betting this happens on a regular basis with so many others.

    We all want to be valuable and valued by family, friends, industry peers, and in general. Social media provides us this equal opportunity that we may not have had before to become valued by others. How we use this opportunity is what matters. Thank you friend, for stopping by and adding your comments!

  • http://www.chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan…

    Engagement is doing your best to keep it a two-way street.

  • http://www.theapartmentnerd.com Mark Juleen

    I agree, outsourcing the start-up process is something that people can buy. They do need to understand why to use the tools however. I just suspect that people will fall short as they will have the same mentality buying social media start-up pieces as they do with advertising, and then they will not even engage with the tools themselves because they don’t understand why they should. I’m all for making people’s lives/work easier, but building an engaging online environment is not easy any way you slice it. People will have to come to terms that their online presence has to be as equally important as their offline presence. I don’t believe people recognize the real value yet, and will fall short on engagement as they will try to buy inauthentic representation that won’t work.

    In the end, I also agree with you that having a blog and online representation isn’t necessarily all about engagement. It is challenging to bring people to your space when their attention is already drawn to so many other places. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t build these online assets, but we must be realistic with what we are trying to accomplish and the costs involved. Cheers to a great conversation! Thanks Charity.

  • http://universityvillage.com Kim Cory

    WOW Charity! Look at what our conversation has created. It is amazing reading all of these comments from such informative individuals. Now this is “engagement”. Great post and conversation as Mark stated. Now let’s all work at developing this type of conversation online through our communities!

  • http://2witterbug.com Charity

    Really appreciate you stopping by Kim! Our conversation yesterday inspired me! We are a living example of how meeting online professionally, then meeting in person and becoming friends.

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