The challenge for organizations is to identify the relevant conversations that are happening in the market; and have those same conversations internally. This requires an apparent culture shift within the organization which will be difficult in some organizations and easier in others. By aligning these conversations, organization can then equip their teams to begin participating in these conversations. Tactically, we can summarize these conversations and email them to senior management and/or add various quotes from these conversations in our email signatures.

I, being the only male in the group, was elected (or forced) to present our findings, so I have no video. Nonetheless, here are the other group presentations:

Yes, consumers want to be heard. They also want the option to NOT be annoyed by marketing. They want the option of not having to put up with marketers exploiting a medium meant for communication and turning it into one more TV commercial. Consumers should not have to spend time and effort to block marketers. Consumers do want a choice – given their druthers, most would choose to have no marketing at all.

He was responding to a comment I made about consumers demanding to be heard online; and even as a marketer, I unequivocally agree with his assessment. In later comments, he said that he was tired of marketers like me just “talking about having conversations with consumers” and that there is way too much “talking about talking” and very little two-way communication. I agree.

A lot of marketers, including myself, talk the talk and rarely walk the walk. I often write about the need for marketers and brands to engage in “real” conversations with “real people” i.e. their customers; and I am sitting back asking myself … what in the heck I am doing to talk to my customers?

It’s one thing to write about conversational marketing (and I know that some of you hate that term); but it’s another thing to actually do it. And, I agree that many marketers still don’t “get it”; and either don’t use social media as a conversational channel or use it to spam the heck out of everyone. But there are some companies that realize the true value of conversations (Intel, Lego, Starbucks, Dell) and they are doing a really good job at it. Why? Well, that leads me to my next point.

Are conversations really the holy grail of social media?

I think I may have been wrong with this one. Anyone can have conversations. Go to a used car lot and you will be bombarded with them the moment you step on the lot.

Maybe it’s the content of the conversation that is the core. Perhaps it needs to be presented with a “real voice” and relevant to the other person. Isn’t that the true nature of human interaction?

Real voice, relevance = valuable conversations = trust = the beginning of a “real” relationship

Reflecting on my own personal experience … when my wife and I first met, our initial conversations didn’t revolve around sports, video games or politics. We talked in depth about our past experiences, lifetime goals and achievements; and relationship expectations. These topics were important and relevant to both of us; especially since we were getting to know each other. And, as the relationship blossomed and now that we are married, we talk about anything and everything. And, our conversations are still relevant because of that relationship; even though my wife doesn’t really like sports, video games and politics.

The point is that marketers need to take off their marketing hats for a second; and presents themselves as real people with real emotions and real perspectives. This level of authenticity will not only help make their jobs easier, but it will also help consumers relate to them more effectively.

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Tags: social media, conversational marketing

- internal challenges of evangelizing social media
- key learnings and best practices of social media campaigns we managed
- using social media for internal communications
- our point of view of social media in general

Please stop by and let me know what you think. Feedback, criticism and praise would be greatly appreciated.

Tags: social media, conversational marketing

“Knowing when to listen is half the battle”

However you arrange the words, it makes complete sense when you apply it to social media. Listening and responding are only half the battle when engaging with consumers online. The other half of the formula is acting. It’s like being in a relationship. If my wife is upset that I leave my dirty socks on the living room floor every night; and I listen to what she is saying but continue to leave my socks there … well, you catch my drift. There will be hell to pay if I don’t “act” on her politely spoken “recommendations”. ; )

Case Study

Here is a real life case study when I launched my first community back in 2004 that illustrates this point effectively. A few jobs ago, I worked as an Interactive Marketing Manager for 8×8. They are a consumer and small business VoIP provider branded Packet8. At that time, the company was growing pretty strong with close to 100K subscribers. The CEO Bryan Martin expressed concern to me that he wanted to launch a blog. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to create a community for our subscribers at the same time. We had three objectives for this community:

1. To provide an infrastructure for our CEO to speak to our users and the media
2. Allow the community members (subscribers) to leverage the communities’ collective knowledge and help each other troubleshoot minor issues. (note: the call center was also based in Santa Clara; and the cost per call was astronomical)
3. Listen and engage with our subscribers, personally. Each 8×8 employee had a profile at that time.

After a few months, the community began to blossom and the conversations began. At first, the conversations revolved around the stock price and how low it was; but then, the community members began to ask simple troubleshooting questions to each other and others responded. I left the company before I was able to quantify whether the call volume decreased in the call center. Nonetheless, there was a ton of chatter about product related requests and recommendations. Most subscribers expressed deep concerns about having an additional RJ11 connection on their BPA (Broadband Phone Adapter) – the device that allowed them to make calls over the internet — in case they wanted to add a second line and/or wanted to connect a fax machine. Not only did we listen, but the Director of Product Marketing added that feature set into the product road map for the next release of the adapter. It was a huge success because we listened and acted. And, while subscriber growth expanded, subscriber turnover decreased.

There are also some other great examples of more well-known brands that are using conversations to innovate on future products and designs. I often talk about Dell IdeaStorm; where they ask users to “post a new idea, promote interesting ideas, discuss with Dell and other users, and see what they are planning to develop.” The keyword here is Dell. They are actually participating in the discussions.

Starbucks is following the same model “share, vote, discuss and see” and inspire their community with the following message:

Help shape the future of Starbucks—with your ideas
You know better than anyone else what you want from Starbucks. So tell us. What’s your Starbucks Idea? Revolutionary or simple—we want to hear it. Share your ideas, tell us what you think of other people’s ideas and join the discussion. We’re here, and we’re ready to make ideas happen. Let’s get started.

And, lastly Lego (yes the toys we all played with as kids) did something interesting a few years ago. The company called up a bunch of Lego geeks and asked if they wanted to help with the development of a new product. The end result was Lego Mindstorm; a very cool line of Legos combining programmable bricks with electrical motors, sensors, Lego bricks, and Lego Technic pieces (such as gears and axles). They have also built a pretty awesome community as well.

It’s great to see that companies are beginning to build communities and interact with their users/consumers. What’s even better is that they are now using this feedback to help influence future product designs, service offerings and value props.

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Tags: social media, conversational marketing

In Bob’s post, he talks about being “in” the conversation versus “at” the conversation. Clearly, being “in” the conversation means participating in online discussions; and “at” the conversation could mean buying a banner ad on Techcrunch or Facebook, for example. As someone who is passionate about social media and is responsible for driving conversations about Intel, I believe both approaches are important … as long as the end result is centered around the latter, conversations.

One way to think about it is the following:

Strategy = participate/facilitate conversations and community building
Tactical = buy a banner add on Techcrunch driving traffic to those conversations.

Thoughts?

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Tags: social media, conversational marketing

I got a call this morning from the Geek Squad and they told me that they couldn’t retrieve my data; and that they could send my laptop to their offices in Kentucky and use advance data retrieval techniques but it would cost me anywhere between $400 – $1600. Ugh.

So I posted my no-so-rant on Twitter.

A few hours later, I get an email from Robert Stephens, the Founder and Chief Inspector of the Geek Squad. He asked me what my issues were and that he would look into it. Let’s see if he lives up to his promise of personally resolving the complaints of those who read the The Consumerist(lol, not really a consumerist reader though).

Nonetheless, this is a great illustration of how a company can use social media to track conversations and (hopefully) take action. We will soon find out if the Geek Squad is going to create a loyal customer, with lots and lots of friends, family and acquaintances. ; )

UPDATE (6:30 PM): Got another email from Robert. He did follow up with the local technician at Best Buy and confirmed that my issue could not be resolved at that facility. While I am a little disappointed that I don’t have my data; I take my hat off to Robert and team. This is exactly what conversational marketing is all about! Good job Geek Squad.

UPDATE (4/14):I took my hard drive to the Bay Area Computer Man; and they retrieved my data in less than one day and only $250 later. These guys are awesome and I would recommend them to anyone who has computer woes.  Maybe they should have a presence on Twitter, yah think?

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Tags: social media, conversational marketing, the geek squad, twitter, Robert Stephens, Bay Area Computer man

Why? Well…usually in the form of linkbait, most savvy SEO practitioners have found that achieving front page placement on Digg equates to high visibility, traffic and links. Here is a quick and basic formula:

(Digg front page = high visibility = many links = higher rankings = even more traffic)

But as a marketer, what else can Digg do other than drive short term traffic to a site coupled with a few hundred links? Is it really worth the effort and can a positive ROI be extracted from the amount of time invested? Is there a transparency and authenticity issue when building a sense of community for the sole purpose of getting others to digg your story? This is a clear example of Digg-Enomics; where there is an over abundance of supply (content) with no real demand.

Could it be an ego thing? Bragging rights of achieving front page placement?

Marketers are aware that conversion rates from Digg are minimal. And, despite the many efforts to camouflage marketing messages in content, Digg users are sharp and notice the little details. All it takes is one person to notice it, comment on it and then bury it. I even know of one of the top SEO agencies that was banned from submitting content to Digg; and it wasn’t even their fault.

In my opinion, Digg is just another customer touch point in the long list of social/traditional media outlets. It’s a potential distribution channel for content to reach a target consumer group just like paid/natural search, display advertising, traditional media, community related marketing, etc. If you are tying to reach main stream consumers (stay-at-home moms, baby boomers, college students), Digg is obviously not the place you should be spending all your time and effort.

Here’s an analogy.

Digg is a one night stand. You submit your content, get it on the home page and reap the rewards of a ton of traffic, links and more traffic. Then you wake up, reality kicks in, the fun is over and perhaps you sneak out the back door before she wakes up.

My point is simply that the core of Social Media is embedded in the conversations between marketers and consumers, whether it happens on-domain or off-domain. It’s about cultivating long-term relationships and empowering brand ambassadors of your product. It’s a multi-directional conversation, with no room for marketing messages. It’s about acknowledging, listening and creating a sense of community.

Direct marketing is important. Don’t get me wrong. But, perhaps social media in general is not the best channel for customer acquisition. Unless, of course you are a new Web 2.0 start up with an innovative technology.

There is so much more to social media than discussed in this post. Look out for additional posts on this topic real soon! If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to my RSS feed and recieve all future posts delivered straight to your inbox.

Tags: social media, conversational marketing, digg, banned

One of the key takeaways was what many refer to as conversational marketing. Here is Brian’s take from the eBook (page 6):

However, marketing needs to be clarified as I am not referring to the traditional marketing that typically “speaks” at people through “messages.” In Social Media, this is about dialog, two way discussions that bring people together in order to discover and share information.

I wholeheartedly agree that participation through two-way conversations is a form of marketing; and I would argue that it’s probably one of the most effective methods of marketing today. As Brian suggests, consumers don’t want marketed to anymore. They are sick and tired of us (yeah, me too) shoving our marketing messages down their throats. It’s about conversations; and not necessarily about conversions anymore; my direct marketing friends would scarcely disagree with me!

It’s more than just conversations though. It’s about action (or lack therof) from these conversations. A great example of this is what Dell is doing with IdeaStorm. They are having real-life, genuine conversations with their customers; and more importantly, they are listening and acting!

Technorati Tags: social media, conversational marketing, brian solis

The other article I read was written by Chris Boggs called Is Social Media Marketing Finally Coming of Age? It was a great read as well. The topic of Digg and links also came up; and he also touched a little on social communities, bookmarking, etc.

I do understand the importance of SEO. After all, I have been an SEO practitioner for about ten years or so. It was my first love. I also understand the importance of making it convenient for users to add content/web page/video to their favorite social bookmarking site; and of course the ever-so-important concept of social media optimization which is essential in an integrated social media marketing campaign.

But what I find interesting is that not once were conversations referred to in the articles. In fact, I read many blogs that revolve around social media and rarely do they ever talk about engagement with users, conversations and user feedback. I believe that the true core to social media are conversations. Now, please don’t get me wrong. There are several social media distribution channels like Digg and StumbleUpon that can drive a lot of traffic to your (or a clients) web site; but what are marketers doing once they get there? Is it a one time transaction (conversion) or a long term-profitable-relationship (conversation)?

Last I heard, consumers don’t appreciate being marketing to anymore. They prefer to have a conversation; a two way conversation, indeed. Bill cited a great case study from Charlene Li (Forrester Research) Facebook marketing requires communicating, not advertising that touches on this exact subject.

The reality is that social media means a lot of different things to a lot of different people; and it’s my guess that there will always be disagreements on its definition. In my opinion and however it’s defined, I believe that the true essence of social media revolves around conversations.

Technorati Tags: social media, conversational marketing

To me, this is a clear representation of how social media differs from that of traditional media; direct marketing, advertising, public relations and its overall impact on branding.

As I mentioned many times before, consumers are tired of being marketed to. They are fed up with the millions and millions of marketing messages that are thrown in their faces and computer monitors everyday. And, even when these messages are coming from a third party (Cnet, Techrunch, NYTimes), there is still no guarantee as to the authenticity of the message.

And…as I continue to repeat myself again and again, consumers are talking.They are having conversations online and offline about brands. They are sharing their experiences with each other; and they are either praising your brand or tearing it a apart like a pit bull. And, it’s almost a guarantee that if it’s the latter, they are telling more than one person about it. This is the kind of viral marketing that you don’t really want to be viral.

We all know that social media is new and changing everyday; but one thing is for certain. There are conversations going on right now about your product, service, brand, your CEO or whoever. Are you listening? Are you going to join the conversation? Because if you do, it’s quite possible that great things may lie ahead!

Image Disclosure: The first image was recreated from here; which originated from here. I created the second one.

Technorati Tags: social media, conversational marketing