Change is Good
Imagination’s SVP of Digital Media, CNET published a transcript of a Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer addressing his “troops,” speaking about the future of the now-dead Microsoft/Yahoo! deal:
First, this from Mr. Ballmer:
“The future of the way people consume information, the way people socialize and connect is going to change a lot more in the next 10 years even than in the last 10.”
And then, this:
“… we need to change the game. We need to change the basic experiences of how people communicate, how people consume information, how people find information, not just in search but in a lot of different areas. … So, we have a strategy and we have ideas in each one of those categories, things that we’re doing, strategies that we’re working on, that we’re excited about.”
The Microsoft/Yahoo! deal didn’t pan out. But the point is this: The way we communicate with customers is changing. Publishers and marketers must change how we do business. And that change involves listening, and learning how and when your customers want to communicate with you.
“And that change involves listening, and learning how and when your customers want to communicate with you.”
I’d like to add that it means listening and learning without an emphasis on the end-goal.
A preoccupation with “how can I make social media work for my brand” can hinder the process of creating shared meaning (a.k.a community in its loosest definition) which, in my humble opinion, retards the process of creating a critical mass.
I’m suggesting a genuine, motive-free period of engagement WITH the audience in order to get to define better communication experiences. Less listening as a path to riches, more listening as a means of evolution.
I think it’s a lot worse than our prognostications warn. ‘Digital’ is a fading term, why? Because the line between online and offline is getting seriously blurred.
Social media is on the outs at as well because it’s becoming redundant. Technology exists for people, and the web is moving entirely socially activated. Let’s talk about this here, what business has NOT seen their fundamental service offering affected by the current landscape, and what customer service experience CAN’T be shared in this way?
Got any ideas? I certainly don’t.
To recount and continue an email thread I started (but failed to complete) w/ Laura C. last week, start here:
http://getsatisfaction.com/homedepot
When you step back and examine the # of postings on GetSatisfaction, who is making them, and what how the brand representations are skewed, a pattern starts to emerge. As Mr. Jobs is well aware, some brands have a unique ability to inspire passionate dedication in their customers, and those same brands can prove capable of genuine Conversation between themselves and their customers. The challenge, I find, is dragging an old-school institution with a carved-in-marble marketing model into the 21st century.
Believe me. It’s hard.
Those of us employed in the task of representing big-biz clients are too-aware of the horror they express when it comes to honest discourse with the public.
An excerpt from our discussion:
“Flip through the participating companies on these boards and a pattern starts to emerge. Timbuk2, a company that only makes “custom” bags, has 1529 topics, while Google has 158 and Dell has 15. Why are the little guys privy to such enthusiasm from their employees and customers? Why would those giants even bother having a presence here when there are 1001 other places where their customers and clients can voice an opinion or get answers? Google, being omnipresent, I can understand. Dell? Too many tried, tested, and highly developed resources are out there already. It’s silly for them to be on this site when their best offerings are elsewhere.
Timbuk2? Twitter? Still young, hip, and naïve enough to be brands that speak to their customer/user’s sense of identity. Their base is passionate, because the brand plays a role in their lives.
In regards to HD’s participation, the fact that the first post was five months ago, and there has been precisely TWO posts in the following five, indicates rather clearly that there’s no way for grown ups to really ‘get’ what the kids are up to these days. No one from HD, or a customer, appears to be using this page for what it was intended. Putting either of my current clients on the block at GetSatisfaction would, by my estimation, yield the same results . . . they are too guarded and old-school to be 100% ‘honest’ with customers and the public.”
Participation in online social media platforms by companies of a certain size and scope is best managed, in my opinion, by dedicated reputation managers. People who understand a brand and its offerings, that can locate and participate in discussions taking place about or related to that brand, and who (most importantly) can craft persuasive arguments that defend or promote a brand without appearing overwhelmingly, um, shilly.
“You have to be willing to change the way you do business, see how your brand is being talked about externally.”
Amen to that Laura
Ian Alexander