The rise of social networks, blogging and collaborative online communities has created fantastic opportunities for businesses to change the way they listen to, talk to and discuss with individual customers and involve them in helping shape their products and services.
As with anything in the internet age a lot of time and effort can be wasted by running to jump on the latest bandwagon … only to discover that by the time you’ve settled into your seat the world has jumped on to another one.
The secret is to stand back and work out the really clever things your business could be doing in this “social media” world as it exists today, knowing it will change radically tomorrow, but being bold about the first steps you’re taking.
The big mistake is to listen to agencies who come along with their painting-by-number list of the social media must-haves they can manage for you: lovely channels, feeds or groups on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Bebo. Too often they help you knock up some beautifully-crafted pages on each of the big social media sites then leave them sitting there alongside a growing list of abusive and irrelevant comments, all going unanswered. It makes money for the agencies – but it underestimates the real significance of what’s going on in this space.
Our approach is to work with clients on an ongoing basis on initiatives that use social media in a way that’s much more relevant, impactful, constantly changing, and core to their current activities.
Some current favourites (they’ll change!):
BLOGGING
We’re big fans of a blog style of communication to create a more human, conversational way of interacting with your customers.
Asda went so far as to ditch their entire corporate website to adopt a more conversational way of engaging with customers in the Your Asda site we manage for them – and launching a blog called Aisle Spy, where a group of Asda colleagues “lift the lid” on the Asda business in posts using photos and videos recorded on Flip camcorders.
We help our clients set up blog sites and give their staff the tools to create compelling video-based blog posts – and we provide our own blogging support teams to cover live events.
Asda’s chief executive Andy Bond is a big believer in the use of raw, honest, straight-to-camera blog-style video to open up the business and give a greater insight into the people within the business. We followed Andy on his epic 1200-mile charity cycle ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats to help create his Pedal Power blog.
TWITTER, FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE…
We help clients manage their presence on the big social networking services. The key is not just to concentrate on what WE the brand/business want to say on Twitter or YouTube but to be out there checking what everyone else is saying about us, about other related things, and joining in the discussion. And then, yes, also throwing in new stuff of our own.
For major consumer brands Twitter – and the next big thing that will surely come after it – heralds a step change in understanding your customers. For the first time you can see in real-time what people are saying about you to their friends and acquaintances. People share and open themselves up in previously inconceivable ways on social networking sites. And if you watch kids using Club Penguin and other virtual worlds you’ll get a glimpse of how that trend is going to snowball in the future. It’s a powerful vision of the future, and an exciting one.
So – in the here and now – when we help a client set up and manage a Twitter feed we don’t start by talking about micro-blogging corporate messages; we work out how their customers and stakeholders are already using Twitter and talking about them, and how we can fit into those conversations.
Here’s another example of a use of social media that we think really hits the nail on the head. It’s another Asda example – this time on You Tube. [link to Asda Fulwood story]
Posted by
Mark
on
13 October 2009, 14:48
