Social Empowerment and Relationships, #RonR... Just about every business owner recognizes the importance of using social media. To that end, they arrange for web sites to be built, have accounts on all the major social networking sites, and regularly post information about what their businesses are offering and doing. While that’s fine, these efforts are still relying mainly on pushing information toward consumers and attempting to treat their responses like data. That’s where things need to change. Whether brands want to admit it or not, consumers already have social empowerment, and they’re using it every day. They do more than read what brands post on their Facebook pages or their Twitter accounts. They also decide whether to comment on those posts or share them in some manner with their friends. In short, the very nature of social gives consumers the power to take the information and use it any way they see fit. For many executives and business owners, this is difficult to face. They’re used to being in control of their information and deciding what is done with it. They’re used to traditional advertising campaigns and using focus groups to develop products—doing things the way they’ve always done them. Digital disruption has thrown a monkey wrench into everything they’re familiar with, and many are unwilling to let go of that control. But you know what? It’s time to stop complaining, to stop being afraid and to learn to make the most of it. There’s no going back to business as usual. Rather than fighting it, innovative companies have seen this coming and are acting on it—shifting their mindset from controlling the conversation to listening and facilitating the new social conversation. It’s a shift every brand will need to learn to make, both internally and externally. Doing so will make it easier to see consumers as people rather than data, to empower your employees and advocates to share your story, and to create a return on relationship that’s greater than anything you’ve ever experienced.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 20:49:17 +0000