Some in the web world say, “Content is King” (Greenberg, 2009). Others say, “Conversation is King, content is just something to talk about” (Novak, 2010). Who is right? What we are actually debating here is even clearer than the classic chicken and egg syndrome. You can’t have a conversation without something to talk about. Content comes first, but the real benefit of the content comes from conversation. Without a conversation, content is just broadcasting or advertising (Novak, 2010). You are talking “at” people, not “with” people.
The approach to generating actionable content that people want to talk about is a simple process that most social media experts will agree on. Have something to say. Say it often. Be interesting. (Greenberg, 2009). Without these three things happening, no one will care enough to start a conversation.
So now that you have good content, how do you start a conversation? According to Wendy Lea, CEO of Get Satisfaction, the key to generating conversations is to build relationships on the foundation of trust. Cultivating trust online is tricky and takes work, but is by no means impossible. She offers the following four tips to earn trust:
1. Acknowledge with Empathy
Recognize the type of feeling your customer is having, and respond in an empathetic, emotionally intelligent way. Also, when a customer has a good experience with your brand, amplify it. Thank them and then share their feedback socially.
2. Enable the Right Outcomes
Before they trust you, your customers need to know not just that you’ll hear them, but that when they raise concerns, they’ll see a resolution. That means enabling your customers to express their feedback in the place where it’s most productive for them, whether that’s Twitter, Facebook, product pages on your website, or anywhere else. In other words, your community needs to have multiple front doors under one roof.
3. Educate Through Experience
It’s not your job to tell your customers what the company values are. It’s your job to let them experience those values by bringing them into the fold of your brand’s community. That requires a system for archiving, organizing, and sharing conversations, the rallying point for your community of customers. Meanwhile, you still need to produce and share content.
4. Keep the Momentum Going
Ultimately, real relationships are a two-way street, and your customers know that. Trust is the foundation of a relationship, but to keep that relationship going, you need to prove that you earned it, every day and everywhere.
Wendy Lea’s tips are very helpful in building trust, but I would start building trust by first listening to the customers. Find out what is important to them, where they are having conversations, and who that are conversing with. Secondly, it is important to ask questions and solicit opinions. Jump into existing conversations. You don’t have to wait for them to come to you. Lastly, it is important to remember than not all of your customers are comfortable having a conversation online. This doesn’t mean that they won’t find the conversations valuable, but they just aren’t going to participate no matter how engaging the conversation is.
References
Lea, W. http://mashable.com/2012/05/17/online-trust-customers/
Greenberg, M. (2009, October 20). Content is king of social marketing. MultichannelMerchant.com. Retrieved April 12, 2012 from http://multichannelmerchant.com/social-media/1020-content-social-marketing/
Novak, C. (2010, July 27). Why conversation, not content, is king. SocialMediaToday.com. Retrieved April 12, 2012 from http://socialmediatoday.com/wordspring/152636/why-conversation-not-content-king
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