Engagement Experiment: #gkfruitcake
Creating a viral phenomenon is no easy task. Engaging/contributing to a social trend is something we do on a daily basis. But creating something from scratch is an entirely different beast. This past December, we attempted just that.
One of the most common rules of engagement is create content that is relevant to your following. Since it was the holiday season, we wanted a subject that was festive and broad but created division.
Fruitcake was an obvious answer.
From the beginning, we created goals. First, generate a discussion within the office allowing Gokartians to interact with their circles via social platforms. Second, engage both Facebook and Twitter followers with different topics at peak trending times for maximum exposure. And finally use recommendations made by followers to create a final product.
As Cindy Au (Community Director of Kickstarter) said, “Think of your community as collaborators - not an audience.” Take a concept and build on it expecting anything could happen.
Any engagement by them led to their larger circles being exposed to #gkfruitcake. With any responses, we made sure any correspondence was done quickly while taking their advice and molding our solution around them.
However having chosen fruitcake as the discussion piece, we broke a cardinal rule of social media interaction: Pick a topic you’re already educated on, and engage experts to learn more.
An article called “21 Rules for Social Media Engagement” spoke true to this. Number 10, “Don’t speak at audiences through canned messages. Introduce value, insight and direction with each engagement.”
Through some corrections, we gathered information received and dove deep into our social media content to pull out the most popular responses.
Whether it was a celebrity chef giving advice on how long to soak it in bourbon or people debating whether it should be a holiday staple, the decision was unanimous on how to innovate fruitcake.
The #gkfruitcake Manhattan. 
In our eyes, #gkfruitcake was a success. We didn’t create something that became a household name or a trend. But we did use our failures to keep shaping something that gave us more exposure in a fun and interesting way.
If we were to try this again, would you want to see anything different? What would you have done?
Why #gkfruitcake?
At GoKart, we have found a seemingly divided opinion about fruitcake. By itself, fruitcake has brought up strong emotions, positive and negative, leading to a debate within the office: ʻIs it possible to create an awesome fruitcake?ʼ
When we completed our personal “innovation audit” of fruitcake, we arrived to a murky conclusion. It depends on what you mean by ‘awesome.’
An awesome piece of decorative art? An awesome weapon of mass destruction? Good for a laugh? Downright delicious?
As a long-time member of Fruitcake Lovers Anonymous, I find fruitcake delicious and deeply personal. Having grown up around the strenuous process of creating cakes that no one eats, the feeling of being judged for my taste is all too familiar around the holidays. But now with multiple social channels at my disposal, Iʼm going public in support of #gkfruitcake.
With such a divided opinion about fruitcake, I do believe a discussion should take place. Because it’s not about what we thought of fruitcake before, it’s what we can build together.
Between now and December 16th, myself and the GoKart team need your help in building an ‘awesome’ fruitcake.
So share your stories, photos, hatred, tasty or ridiculous ingredients to infuse: whatever you think fits.
After all, a fruitcake can include just about anything. And to be innovative we certainly shouldn’t hold back so think outside the box.
Share your thoughts with us on FB or Twitter.
https://twitter.com/#!/GoKartLabs #gkfruitcake.
