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Motivate People to Join, Share, Take Part, Connect, and Engage in Order to Survive the Participation Age

Reality has been altered in a large part because of the connected devices we use to interact with the world – and it should be the most crucial aspect of a company’s sales and marketing plan to tap into and understand the science behind this new age – the Participation Age.

In her new book, Marketing in the Participation Age: A Guide to Motivating People to Join, Share, Take Part, Connect, and Engage Daina Middleton explains how, according to Intrinsic Motivation Theory, people are motivated to seek challenges, to discover new perspectives, and in doing so, the activity itself stimulates their desire to actualize their individual human potential.   

She wields this theory in her book as a means of engagement: if a person is intrinsically motivated, he or she will choose to actively participate with your brand and find the experience rewarding. This theory has been applied to psychology and education.  It has never been applied to marketing because it has not been relevant to do so…until now. 

“Today,  the Participation Age is more fragmented, personal, and connected than we could ever have imagined – and it’s always on and happening in real time. The Participation Age is about people who actively manage life by using technology tools available at their fingertips,” says Middleton. “Understanding customers in the form of simple demographics is no longer enough in a world where it’s also no longer enough to simply broadcast a message and hope that people will receive it. Competitive companies understand that they must motivate customers to act on their behalf to be successful in the Participation Age.”

Marketing in the Participation Age will help companies edge out their competitors, and conscientiously plan their programs to activate a set of motivational elements that work together to inspire people to join, share, take part, connect, and engage. The key to customer participation is to activate all three elements of the framework. Middleton can discuss these elements, which include:

  1. Discover:  The human desire to continually learn, and the satisfaction of becoming competent at something.  In what ways are you inviting Participants to learn more about your product/brand? 
  2. Empower:  Inviting someone to have a meaningful contribution to the brand and/or product.  Do you invite Participants to connect with the brand: provide feedback, offer tips and suggestions, and help to create the product itself?
  3. Connect:  Humans love to interact with others in meaningful ways.  Brands often only think of creating environments that allow Participants to connect with the brand, but do you build environments that foster relationships with others who may share the same interest?

Participants thrive on continually learning, feeling empowered, and providing input to the products and services they use. Marketing in the Participation Age shows businesses, entrepreneurs and leaders how to nurture these intrinsic desires to motivate participation and develop meaningful customer relationships that yield greater revenues.