Moving beyond noise & finding results in Social Media
For many brands the idea of social media means setting up a FaceBook or MySpace page, creating a production calendar and posting periodic announcements and calling it social. But thanks to the recent explosion of social media it’s finally starting to become clear that just speaking to an audience doesn’t cut it. The growth of Twitter, chances to FaceBook, everything is pointing towards a need to be active participates, to create dialogue and foster a relationship and not just to drive better results but to be followed at all.
What is social? There are many great definitions of social marketing & media but at the end of the day it simply gets down to interacting with a population through personal relationships. This of course speaks rules out traditional marketing and the one-way communication stream which keeps the customer from responding. With social it’s all about hearing.
Why does social require a dialogue? Simply put it is the dialogue that has given social media the growth and influence we hear about today. Traditional one-way messaging left the consumer in the cold without a voice but with the advent of the internet that all changed. As social has evolved to become a part of our everyday lives the need for a dialogue is simply an evolutionary step.
What happens without a dialogue? Some consumers chose to vent their frustrations while others simply pack up their bags and leave. Those that don’t have a choice tend to be the most vocal and loudest and while this could once be ignored, the advent of so many review, forum and topical discussion sites had made it possible for them to be very loud and very hard to miss. Without a dialogue the customer remains unappreciated and unimportant and ultimately leaves the brand.
What’s changed? Social media has always thrived when brands have gone beyond noise, beyond one way advertising and communicated but until recently those that didn’t could play in the space and ignore the greater demand. However as I mentioned at the start of this post the emergence and boom of Twitter and similar sites has made it nearly impossible to escape having a dialogue.
What Twitter has done so well is allowed us all to ask, ask brands for help, feedback, and ideas. Companies that have got this like Comcast, Jetblue and others are thriving through improved relationships, happier customers, even positive PR. On the other hand those that have tried to “cash in” while ignoring the comments and response have been ignored and unfollowed and those that don’t participate, well they still get talked about they just don’t have the chance to respond.
This change all leads up to one very important need – the need for relevancy. Whether it’s a Tweet (that’s the name for a Twitter post) or a FaceBook status update it enters the customers/prospects/users stream and invades their daily materials. Updates that are only promotional and offer no chance for comment, dialogue or interaction generally get filtered out and ignored and if a brand persists at sending only this type of message out, they are unfollowed.
What is needed instead is updates that the customer/prospect/user can respond to and benefit from. That’s not to say there isn’t room for promotions and generating direct response sales but rather than when a comment is left, when a question is asked, when a complaint is made it has to be acted on. Being a part of social means being open to the dialogue which again, takes place whether it’s wanted or not.
