Listen. Learn. Respond.
PR Week recently asked a small group of marketers and public relations practitioners if brands can interact on social networks without appearing overly intrusive. Lots of good responses in the article, definitely worth reading.
I was included in the mix and my response that made it into PR Week was edited slightly. Below is my unedited response.
QUESTION:
Can brands interact on social networks without appearing overly intrusive?
MY ANSWER:
Listen. Learn. Respond. That’s the best recipe for a brand to participate in conversations happening online without being viewed as an uninvited guest.
Listening is easy because the conversation is already happening online. Search any social networking site and you’ll see first-hand who is talking about your brand as well as the tone of their comments. Search Twitter and you’ll see people talking about established brands like Whole Foods Market and emerging brands like Paciugo Gelato. If a brand has any charisma, someone somewhere is talking about it.
Learning is more difficult. If a brand lacks confidence in its products/services, then it will not want to listen to negative feedback from customers. Brands need to realize that inside any negative comment is a kernel of truth. Instead of ignoring the negative comment, a brand needs to learn from it. On Twitter, Whole Foods learns everyday which stores are delivering great customer service and which stores aren’t. Paciugo learns which gelato flavors are connecting with customers and which ones aren’t. Social networking sites offer brands an invaluable opportunity to learn from a real-time feedback channel.
Responding is a requirement for brands to be viewed as an invited guest on social networking sites. Just like in the offline real world, customers want their opinions to be heard online. By directly responding to customer comments through blog comments and tweets, brands can foster deeper relationships with customers. Almost all of Whole Foods tweets on Twitter are responses to something others have said. Because Whole Foods spends more of its time responding to others and not marketing at others on Twitter, they have earned over 1-million followers.
By joining the online conversation through listening, learning, and responding, brands can use social media as another channel to provide customer service. Social networking sites offer brands an intimately public way to turn detractors into supporters and supporters into evangelists.
