Social Media “is not about controlling the message, but enabling relationships.” This was one of the biggest take away from our Skype session with Groundswell’s author, Charlene Li. Charlene was just like her book: accessible, practical and upbeat! The class zeroed in wanting to know how Charlene ‘convinces’ companies to engage in social media. Here’s the full 1-hr session or keep reading for a quick summary.
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Blip.tv video.Charlene advised companies to start with baby steps, the most important one being: LISTEN TO THE GROUNDSWELL. Once you start listening it’s almost impossible for companies not to want to respond. If you customer has questions or problems with your product or service won’t you want to help them? However, she cautions to start small, respond to a few inquires on twitter or blogs, even forums.
When we asked Charlene about the dreaded “measurement” of social media, she surprisingly said: “That’s easy!” It’s all about what the goal is, she cited some old school metrics like Net Promoter, Customer Satisfaction and even call reduction (cost-saving initiative). But she also said the ROI question is usually a defense mechanism, people sound ‘smart’ when they ask for ROI. But the truth is that ROIs have been always hard to measure when it comes to any communication initiative.
We certainly enjoyed the session and Charlene left us with a thought that we can’t deny:
“The groundswell will go on without you”
Click here to see class tweets during the session with Charlene Li.
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jeffhora
In the book I found it enlightening, and not too surprizing, that most companies who wake up to the groundswell want to bypass or at least wildly accelerate the listening to, talking with, energizing and supporting arcs of working with a community and go straight to ENGAGING (i.e.-what can the community make/do for us). It seems to be a common misconception that, even if a community around your product/service already exists, any organization’s budding involvement in the community must be built upon a SOLID basis of trust, and building trust tends to take some time (your mileage may vary on just how long….).
Adriana points out the comments that Charlene made that correspond to ‘old school’ metrics. Working and partnering with people is as old as society, hence those are as applicable as ever. Companies need to take care and not try to short circuit thier own participation in a community, lest they shoot themselves in the foot, figuratively, and end up alienating their own potential partners.
Nov 23rd, 2008
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