{"id":41052,"date":"2014-02-22T14:52:17","date_gmt":"2014-02-22T14:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=41052"},"modified":"2014-02-22T15:11:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-22T15:11:00","slug":"people-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/people-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"People Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts Fade: Social Media Numbers Don\u2019t Matter, People Do<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"Untitled-1\"<\/a>Numbers Game<\/strong> \u2013 People use social media to connect with friends, family and people of similar interests while social media experts focus on racking up numbers. Firms are coming to grips with the fact that the customer isn\u2019t just a numbers game but the right contact when folks want information or want to share information.<\/em><\/p>\n

Being a social media guru, expert, ninja, maven, genius used to be a great gig.<\/p>\n

No one had a clue what you did but you were freakin\u2019 awesome.<\/p>\n

Admit it, even you didn\u2019t know!<\/p>\n

It came fast and is dying fast because people are finally figuring out that social media was unleashed on the world for folks \u2013 friends, family, similar mindsets\/hobbies \u2013 to connect with other folks.<\/p>\n

Of course, then the people who came up with the social media ideas decided they wanted to make buckets of money and began offering companies landing\/loading space and the opportunity to sell the information they had gathered on the visitors.<\/p>\n

So the social media expert job was created to develop, nurture, strengthen customer engagements and no one was better at that than a communications pro.<\/p>\n

Engaging<\/strong>
\nI recently saw social media strategy and engagement in a headline so I went to my favorite \u201cwhat\u2019s this mean\u201d location \u2013 Wikipedia:<\/p>\n

en\u2022gage\u2022ment<\/strong> n.<\/em>
\n 1. The act of engaging or the state of being engaged.<\/em>
\n 2. Betrothal.<\/em>
\n 3. Something that serves to engage; a pledge.<\/em>
\n 4. A promise or agreement to be at a particular place at a particular time.<\/em>
\n 5. a. Employment, especially for a specified time.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 b. A specific, often limited, period of employment.<\/em>
\n 6. A hostile encounter; a battle.<\/em><\/p>\n

The definition didn\u2019t help because our social media guru didn\u2019t want to marry, hire or fight with folks.<\/p>\n

So I tried a more complete phrase \u2013 customer engagement:<\/p>\n

Online customer engagement is qualitatively different from offline engagement as the nature of the customer\u2019s interactions with a brand, company and other customers differ on the internet. Discussion forums or blogs, for example, are spaces where people can communicate and socialize in ways that cannot be replicated by any offline interactive medium. Customer Engagement marketing efforts that aim to create, stimulate or influence customer behavior differ from the offline, one-way, marketing communications that marketers are familiar with. Although customer advocacy, for example, has always been a goal for marketers, the rise of online user generated content user can take advocacy to another level.<\/em><\/p>\n

Good but then you have to realize that in today\u2019s flattened organization, the Internet lets folks tap into the company anywhere, with anyone.<\/p>\n

That means social media and customer engagement isn\u2019t one person\u2019s job in the company \u2026 it\u2019s everyone\u2019s job!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Untitled-2\"<\/a>Connectivity<\/strong> \u2013 Social media sites gained their popularity because people wanted to connect with people. Marketing and sales pitches came later. Today, delivering the right information and assistance to develop a relationship is more important than raw numbers.<\/em><\/p>\n

People didn\u2019t rush to Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, you name it because a social media expert was delivering cool information.<\/p>\n

They came to connect with family, new\/old friends, share hobbies\/interests or find a romantic interest.<\/p>\n

Social media is big and getting bigger.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s all about people, individuals!<\/p>\n

If you want to be let in, it has to be more than a social engagement; it has to be a relationship \u2026 a relationship that is right for them!<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-3\"<\/a>No One-Shot Solution<\/strong> \u2013 Social media continues to grow and shift as people expand their interest horizons, relationships. The challenge for people in organizations is to connect with people when and where they want to be contacted, not when the company or guru wants to reach them.<\/em><\/p>\n

Social media has nothing to do with your numbers, mood tracking or site visits\/followers because social media isn\u2019t about company\/brand relationships.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s more than that!<\/p>\n

Flat Organizations<\/strong>
\nIt used to be company activities\/boundaries were defined – HR, finance, engineering, R&D, marketing\/communications and customer service\/support … a bunch of silos each doing their own thing, protecting their own turf.<\/p>\n

The Internet and social media (often called Web 2.0) crushed all of that.<\/p>\n

Actually, customer support teams took to social media before there was a social media ninja title because consumers were using it to ask questions, complain.<\/p>\n

They determined since customers aren\u2019t the lifeblood of the business but are the business it was where they needed to be to build a strong customer base that would hopefully buy more products or at least become advocates for the company\/brands\/products.<\/p>\n

Marketing\/communications folks discovered that after digging through enough Big Data they could rifle shot customers and people who should be customers.<\/p>\n

Sales teams discovered social selling \u2013 sales intelligence, lead generation, networking \u2026 selling stuff.<\/p>\n

R&D, engineering, logistics tapped into new and better ideas someone actually wanted and then streamlined the supply chain.<\/p>\n

HR found it was a great way to find people for all of the departments with social media skills and really check all their good\/bad traits.<\/p>\n

Management finally realized that having a social media expert who the day tweeting, posting, sending is well \u2026 a waste!<\/p>\n

Everyone\u2019s Job<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s a waste especially when everyone in the organization (to a greater or lesser degree) is focused on the customers and giving them the information they want at any given time.
\nIn the acronym world, it\u2019s called JIT (just in time) delivery:<\/p>\n

– News
\n– Answers
\n– Information
\n– Coupons\/deals
\n– Entertainment<\/p>\n

That\u2019s probably why Salesforce\u2019s Dreamforce just keeps getting bigger and bigger because it focuses on the customer, not the \u201cexpert\u201d and shows how companies can more efficiently, more effectively deliver what every customer wants\/expects \u2026 people who listen.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-4\"<\/a>Consumer Ecosystem<\/strong> \u2013 There\u2019s a growing awareness that social media offers an excellent opportunity for people inside and outside the organization to connect with others in meaningful, profitable ways for everyone concerned.<\/em><\/p>\n

A true customer-engagement ecosystem captures the customer information once and shares it across the organization so he\/she doesn\u2019t have to repeat him\/herself again \u2026 and again \u2026 and again.<\/p>\n

Internally, it reduces gaps, rework, turf wars.<\/p>\n

Externally, it recognizes the happy customer and solves or defuses the issues for the \u201cothers.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Corporate Executive Board (CEB):<\/p>\n

– Only 23 percent of consumers said they had a \u201crelationship\u201d with a brand
\n– Less than 15 percent said that increased interaction didn\u2019t drive sales, often just the opposite
\n– Only 30 percent of customer requests\/feedback received a response \u2013 average time 26 hours
\n– 25 percent of company Facebook pages don\u2019t allow interaction
\n– 64 percent felt the relationship led to information bombardment, reducing stickiness<\/p>\n

The social media \u201cjob\u201d faded because today, it\u2019s all about the customer:<\/p>\n

– When he\/she voices a compliment, thank them \u2026 quickly
\n– When someone has an issue or is disgruntled, address it \u2026 more quickly
\n– People become irritated (61 percent) when they had to repeat their information\/issue again and again<\/p>\n

Whole Team<\/strong>
\nOnce the domain of digital gurus, it\u2019s now everyone’s responsibility and companies want\/need socially savvy people \u2026 everywhere! People who know how to:<\/p>\n

– Listen
\n– Say thank you
\n– Say I\u2019m wrong
\n– Say I\u2019m sorry<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-5\"<\/a>Best Post<\/strong> \u2013 Before people respond, promote, post on social media, the most effective part of communications is to listen. The hardest part \u2013 and most effective \u2013 is to say we hear you, we thank you, we\u2019re sorry.<\/em><\/p>\n

How did the social media maven job disappear?<\/p>\n

The Web forced the demise.<\/p>\n

According to a Harvard University neuroscience study, about 40 percent of everyday speech, communications is about telling others what we feel, what we think.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s true of everyone!<\/p>\n

So the social media genius (job) died because it wasn\u2019t about him\/her.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-6\"<\/a>It wasn\u2019t about the Likes, followers \u2026 it was about the customer.<\/p>\n

# # #<\/span><\/p>\n

G.A. \u201cAndy\u201d Marken<\/h1>\n

President<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marken Communications, Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andy@markencom.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experts Fade: Social Media Numbers Don\u2019t Matter, People Do Numbers Game \u2013 People use social media to connect with friends, family and people of similar interests while social media experts focus on racking up...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2055,"featured_media":41047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533],"tags":[5491,6673,3943],"class_list":["post-41052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","tag-customer-engagement","tag-listen","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2055"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41052\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}