THE OPPORTUNITY OF MICROMEDIA

Jon Acuff is a face-to-face kind of guy.

Nevertheless, he’s built a huge social media platform, including a successful blog and hundreds of thousands of social media followers, and has written several New York Times bestselling books, including his latest, Do Over: Rescue Monday, Reinvent Your Work and Never Get Stuck. He gives speeches on numerous topics, including the power of social media, reminding audiences “communities make the world (and ideas) go round.” But what makes Jon different is that he has a passion for keeping face-to-face contact as an important part of his strategy at a time when so many others are making the shift to virtual communication for the lion’s share of their audience-building work.

When you hear about community building in today’s media environment, most people immediately think of social media, but the reality is that communities are built in a number of different ways. For example, if you ask Jon how he created such a huge online community, he’ll point to the offline, in-person meet-ups he has done throughout his career as a big part of it.

Jon is on the road much of each year speaking in front of thousands of people. But unlike most others, when he goes to a city for a speech, he often sets up a separate, stand-alone meet-up that is free and open to the public. In these sessions, he gives a short presentation, answers questions, and just generally gets to know attendees.

At the end of those talks, Jon opens the floor to the audience, passing the microphone around and urging others to share their “Do Over” stories, which are often inspired by the ideas found in Jon’s most recent bestseller. At a Dallas event we attended, Jon gave the audience a full thirty minutes to talk about whatever they were working on. We heard about an attendee’s new podcast, a blog they just started, a new curriculum they are trying at church, their struggle to lose weight, and more—whatever was important to them at that time. As each person spoke, we saw nods of agreement from the audience, as if others were identifying with the message. Following this thirty-minute audience share, Jon stood and signed more than 150 books, spending more than two hours speaking with each and every fan as the long line made its way to him.

When he left Half Price Books that night, he had inspired a room full of people, who now feel a larger connection to him, with many of them now ready to be fully engaged with his online community—and, just as important, each other.

Jon told us, “I do face-to-face interactions because despite the many wonders of online engagement, there are still tremendous gaps it creates between you and an audience. It’s one thing to have someone retweet you—that’s a very thin connection; it’s another thing to have them come share the same space with you. I think that deepens relationships in a way that online simply can’t.”

Based on loyalty built through the deeper personal connection he fostered that night, those who attended are now more likely to engage with his blog posts or Instagram pictures, sharing them with their micromedia audience and helping Jon’s content to self-propel online.

Although in-person engagement, whether via a speech or a meet-up like this, tends to drive more connection than almost anything else, it’s not the same path for everyone.

So, where should you start?