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Doing Social Media Well – Listening

Listen To Be Heard

We, as a society have been preprogrammed since birth to talk first and listen later. It started in the crib when we cried and got a response from our parents. Some folks haven’t stopped into their 80’s.

Businesses are the same way. And with good reason, before social media there was only push advertising. Businesses cried out to their captive audiences and all who would listen. Television, radio and print all work this way. Public Relations were a lot easier because there was time to formulate and craft nifty responses to all the woes they faced.

PR never faced a response that was so direct and carried the weight that it does with social media. And with everyone listening in now, responses lend themselves to be as straight-shooting as possible, timely, and obviously help address the problem. This all has to come from good listening skills. Can you imagine the outrage the tobacco companies would have faced in the Age of Social Media?

Thinking about this now, blogging about listening is rather odd. There is no direct response, more a delayed reaction which gets muted by time. However, listening is a skill we all should be honing because that’s what actually gets us heard. Sounds bizarre, Listen to be Heard? Yes, Listening allows us to formulate concise and definite responses that are quality in nature and more likely to be heard provided they are timely.

Listening well has the ability to turn a negative experience with a customer into a customer for life. Good, bad, or indifferent, our responses are to the point. And fast.

OK, Mr Smarty, how do I listen better? This is the trick…

Social Media is Simple like our Social Media Isn’t Hard post states.

Follow our guiding principle of Social media, “Helping people is Good Business.” Use your own voice for Social Media of course. Your audience is smart, they can tell.

Don’t push, mention with politeness and provide helpful follow-up feedback like our No Pushing Please in Social Media post states.

Scale your Social Media campaigns so you can keep up with what’s being said. It’s pretty hard to listen if you’re unable to hear or keep up with the conversation.

Always be mindful of your audience. Some are masters and some are newcomers. Take the time to learn who’s who and don’t be afraid to help.

We are constantly trying to become better listeners and sometimes blogging about a topic brings out points we didn’t expect. Such was the case with this Pittsburgh Internet Consulting post. Thank You for reading this. Please sign up to the blog to get our posts delivered by email or RSS. Send us a comment and see how well we do.

Scaling Your Social Media campaigns

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Digg, Reddit; the list goes on and on. Doing Social Media Well requires the right research first. Choosing your social media mix wisely will enable you to budget your social time wisely.

Most small business owners have limited time. It’s a problem that persists in any business of any size. Limited resources and grandiose plans can be fuel for what we call social media burn. Burning all of your energies and receiving modest to no return for your effort. Our advice is to look at scale when choosing social media campaigns to become involved in.

All the social media platforms take time to learn. Some are much more time consuming than others, however. When starting on your social media journey, start small. Sign up for a platform that interests you and try it on. Give yourself a time budget for research, a time budget for development, and a time budget for interaction. At first you may want to forgo interaction and be a lurker. This allows for more development time but you will eventually want to get involved, right?

Take into account the scale of the platform and the time budget. What happens if this becomes very rewarding? Can you scale your social media effort? Given your resources, can you add other platforms to your marketing mix? Just remember that doing social media well requires time, interaction, and a ramp up period. We wish you well.

Have other ideas for scaling social media campaigns? Leave us a comment.

Blackball Online Marketing provides Pittsburgh Internet Consulting services.

For related reading, check out the first post in this series – Identifying Your Social Media Audience

SOCIAL NETWORKS: No Pushing Please

Won’t You Be My Friend – And Please Buy Something

For those taking their goods or services to market it’s a wrap that the traditional ad campaign approach, (pre-Internet) isn’t enough. It just doesn't enjoy the "king of the hill" status it once did. It's simply part of a much bigger pie since the Internet and its extended family - à la Social Networks and Apps have come to play. Traditional advertising maintains its prominence in the delivery of a brand, and probably always will. Besides, TV and movies are top-dog in the chit-chat department around the water cooler, not Websites and Tweets - it's tradition.

But, more and more the traditional ad venues are not the primary source that consumers use when the actual decision to purchase will be made. Digital is becoming the gateway, or the 800 lb. gorilla, when it comes down to sealing the deal - one way or another. In most cases anymore people see an ad, if it peaks enough interest you go check out their Website.  Traditional advertising delivers the brand, with digital the instrument for giving the brand meaning and a reason to maybe buy from that brand. We'll put it this way:  Social Media is where the party is, and, advertising hands out the invitations.

With the current state of the Internet what does all this mean in terms of taking your best shot at marketing success? First, buying your audience only through print, TV, billboards, etc. like in the "old days" is just "so 90s," it’s a hook that just doesn't work like it used to.

People demand the brands they associate with to be "social" now. A brand's "attention" is required, not just a message.

Product and service marketers need to be involved at the deepest of levels now. A relevant community voice needs to be found based on the brand message, with the ad/communication agencies helping that voice to be found and nurtured, and, everybody has to work harder, dig deeper, and give up on that cozy illusion of control.

It goes without saying if you are not interactively present with a relevant voice, and consistently so (and we can't over emphasis "consistently so") you will not be part of a consumer’s decision making at crunch time. You'll simply become "persona non grata" – just another ad pushed out with no voice – lacking any real or perceived substance, rendering any “shaking of the hand” to start a rapport which could lead to a sale nonexistent. And, if you think this kind of thing is to far removed from your direct sales to bother spending time on, it would behoove you to think again - because times they are a changing - and fast.

There's been a duesy of an axis shift; it seems to be going something like this:

- Brand Message gives way to a credible Voice...whatever that "Voice" may be.

- Promotional gives way to being Social and Community oriented.

- Promotion gives way to Attraction...promotion kinda' happens along the way.

- Effective gives way to Relevant, Authentic and Meaningful.

- Behind the Curtain gives way to Transparency.

This Social conversation in no way can be controlled by any brand - it's just to vast and instantaneous, but, if your present and accounted for, you Can control the most important part of the conversation - yours.

It’s an unprecedented time. Digitally consumers are opening their doors to brands 24/7. If this isn’t a brand’s dream I don’t know what is. (But we do have another thing in mind.) Translation: Your customers live Online - give them a reason to invite you in.

Of course all this doesn’t mean diddly if your product or service isn’t on par with what you say it is.

Blackball Online Marketing provides Web Design, Pittsburgh SEO, and Social Media Optimization; we actually think about your clients.

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