Listen & respond
I recently gave a chat to a consumer product company about web stuff. It was supposed to be about internet trends, but it was really turned into 'social media'.
I've written previously about using social media for personal explotation, etc. And since then I've thought alot about how a company could use.
I'm sure Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc is a confusing place for most "brands". How does your brand participate in a place that was built for individuals? No one really wants links to press releases. Some people might want to know about a sale. I doubt people really want to know what your CEO is doing for his birthday.
I think the opportunity is to listen and respond to customers. It's not really to 'participate in the conversation', it's to react to what people think and say about your brand.
1 . Monitor 'live search'.
Google was built to give you the 'best' webpages for your search. It wasn't intended to give you the most recent results.
But there are tools that you can use to do a "live search": a search about what people are saying about you or your company/brand right now, instantly.
I use Twitter search and Google Blog search. Here's a twitter search for Briggs and Stratton:
I think it's really important to monitor your brand. Feed.Us is small so doesn't show up. But big brands, like AT&T or even Windex get mentioned a lot. It's like a consumer 1-800 hotline, but it's free.
2. It's important to listen. But it's also important to respond.
You shouldn't just listen. You should respond. For two reasons:
If someone articulates a negative result with your product, it's really nice to reach out and try to correct the issue.
Why else? Because these days, everyone has an audience. It might be 10 followers on Twitter or 15 friends on Facebook... but everyone has an audience. If someone loves your product enough to mention it, send them a thank you note. If they had a problem, it's really a nice opportunity to correct the issue. Send them a product sample or a coupon. Sending an @reply on Twitter is simple and not invasive.
Google Blog Search works well too. Since Feed.Us is small and isn't mentioned much (yet) on Twitter or blogs, I sometimes respond to people when they post about related products or related problems they have with CMS software. I use the comments on their blog, if enabled.
3. Learn and then reach out to folks who don't Twitter/Blog, etc.
The feedback you get from watching "live search" can allow you to build a response. If someone is blogging or twittering a problem they have with your product, you can bet that folks are searching Google for the answer to that problem.
I use Twitter Search to help me create Google Ads for Feed.Us. Example: I know a specific issue that a lot of new Drupal users have when they create a site for the first time. I use that info to target an ad in Google Adwords that lets them have a free trial with Feed.Us. On the landing page of said ad, I offer to help them personally - which appeals directly to the issue they have with Drupal. So far it's been really successful.
4. Video:
Based on what you learn, you can also build small, quick "help" websites that feature usability videos. For Feed.Us - I make 2 minute "screencapture" videos that shows how our software works.
For physical products, you can do this as well. I think that "real" videos with "real" employees using "real" products can be an amazing sales/marketing tool.
For example, you're annoyed with the Toyota alarm beep beep when you lock the doors. It's not the easiest change. What if Toyota realized how annoyed people were with the feature? They could make a video and a website that showed exactly how to turn the feature off. Throw it up on Youtube for Google optimization and take some $.05 per click Adwords ads.
Summary:
I think that listening and responding is really the way that brands can get involved with social media. And it's a great path to make new customers and lasting customer relationships.
Advertisement: How can Feed.Us help? We think fits very well in the above 'social media' scenario. Feed.Us has a couple of things going for it: (A) We enable you to build & launch websites very quickly. (B) Feed.Us is great at handling content across multiple sites. (C) Feed.Us is built to manage embedded video from Youtube viddler, etc. and we will be working on a dedicated version of Feed.Us some time in 2009 for embedded video. Talk to us! rick at feed.us.
