Passion, participation, pictures and the popularity of celebrities like Betty White: those are among the key elements for creating a strong fan base on social platforms, according to a panel of digital media executives at Digital Hollywood’s Media Summit in New York on Wednesday.

Community building is high on the list of crucial social media strategies, but it still eludes many brands. During social media’s early stages, some enterprising fans even established brands’ social media presence before the companies themselves got around to it. After playing catch-up, more organizations now are embracing their social communities.

The media and entertainment brands represented on the panel, including WhoSay Media (celebrity publishing platform), DailyCandy (city guides discovery site), Wikia (Wikipedia’s sister site) and Crown Media Family Networks (Hallmark Channel), may have an edge, since they represent hot celebrity assets and focus on fun topics. Still, their tips for creating effective social communities apply across categories:

1. Pictures: “A few pics a week is the secret sauce for having a vibrant community. Our talent wants to be on Instagram”, said WhoSay Media’s VP of talent, Harvey Schwartz. For example, their client Danny DeVito posted amusing shots of his troll feet while sports stars Christiano Ronaldo and Mariano Rivera posed with each other and a certain Mick Jagger shared a photo taken while recording last summer in a Paris studio.

DailyCandy also uses Instagram, sending behind-the-scenes takes during photo shoots. Pinterest is their other favored visual platform. As editor Ashley Parrish said, “Pinterest is about finding hidden gems, since our readers are treasure hunters.”

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Emmy-winning business journalist Betsy Stark is joining Ogilvy Public Relations as MD of content and media strategy, a new position at the firm. In this role, Stark will provide clients with counsel on media strategy (including social media) and help produce original content. Stark, who’s also a Peabody award winner, was previously an ABC News reporter, making appearances on shows including GMA and World News. She also covered the Obama inauguration and other current events issues during her 12 years there. She has been working with Ogilvy for the past year on a consultant basis.

Disney‘s president of movie marketing, MT Carney, has left the company after just 20 months. She worked on films including The Help and Cars 2. Immediately prior to her departure, the New York Times published a lengthy article about Carney’s struggles to overcome her “outsider” position in a role the paper calls “Hollywood’s most influential marketing position.” Prior to joining Disney, Carney was founder of the New York advertising firm, Naked NY.

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