DISQUS

Clemence Ko · 2 months ago

"Those of us who are customer-focused constantly remind marketing and PR teams that social media is not a campaign, it is a relationship." That sentence is very true. Quite a lot of marketing and PR teams till now still treat social media as Campaigns. So much so that some of them even reckon they are just a waste of precious time and recourses. While some say that it is just a passing fad and it only works in western context not Asian context. That is really very saddening.

A very good example for the quote “Conversations don’t mean much without empathy, action, or resolution. In social media, collaboration is king.” would be none other than US President Obama. He really make full use of social media to connect and collaborate with all his supporters. His social media tool kit can be further examined at this link >>> http://bit.ly/V2Tb5 <<<

I too read about an article sometime back that focus on the subject of CRM in the social media age. In the article, it mention that customers in the social media age crave interaction and are willing to build relationships with brands that they love. It's just that lots of company oversees this and misses a huge opportunity to bring their relationship with their customers on a much more personal level.

The book - Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World by Don Tapscott also touches on this social media. It too uses US President Obama election campaign as one of its case studies. Yet another source of thought for readers.

My conclusion is that I totally agree that "In social media, collaboration is king." It's about time that all marketing and PR teams all over the world embrace that and start leveraging on its benefits.

Lindsay Davies · 2 months ago

Social media is seen as an activity, sometimes a campaign. It is often a missed opportunity to create a relationship because of the lack of planning or knowledge on what to expect in the beginning. The 'campaigns' are the sparkle that tend to come first to grab people's attention and gain interest. Absolutely agree that communication is shallow without action and that more companies should use what they can gain from social media monitoring. The activity may start off being owned by marketing or PR but it might end up being turned into a relationship by sales, tech dept or customer service. Marketers and PR's are probably closest to the initial response or buzz that comes from a measured social media campaign. The strategy needs to be in place taking comments to appropriate areas of the business to deal with. Thus creating collaboration, as you say, which helps builds on the relationship overtime.

Thanks for the post, I enjoyed reading it.

cathydunham · 2 months ago

Excellent comment, Lindsay. You clarified how "social actions" can transfer from marketing/PR folks to sales, techs/engineers, CS reps, or even management.... The advantage, as you pointed out, is getting others involved, who can grow those followers/customers into relationships. Cheers to companies who are "actively listening and learning" from their customers.

beckycarroll · 2 months ago

Lindsay, thank you for taking my thoughts forward to the rest of the organization. My background is actually in customer service, and I see taking the activity stemming from social media interactions to all parts of the company, especially R&D and customer service. However, a social media "campaign" will not likely yield the types of feedback an organization can use to really make customer-focused changes. Rather, an ongoing social media strategy that is fully integrated with the entire customer experience, based on customer preferences, would have the most impact and added value for both customer and brand. This could look like a series of marketing campaigns with social media components, customer service personnel responding to concerns via social media, or parts of the R&D team collaborating with customers via a tool such as Dell's IdeaStorm. When any of these types of activities become part of a customer strategy, they then build up the relationship with each interaction and help cement loyalty.

Thanks so much for your comments!

Collaboration King · 2 months ago

"Social media is not a campaign, it is a relationship." "Putting the public back in PR." Have we not taken these mediums to far. Should we instead not be focusing on the fundamentals of collaboration. Perhaps if we could improve the multitude of daily meetings we go to, perhaps if we could enforce the same rigor and innovation to personal collaboration -that social media has undergone so thoroughly, we might not need so many social media and PR tools to succeed!

edward04 · 2 months ago

becky, whilst I agree with much of what you say, none of it is really new, or takes the debate on. it would be great to read fresh insights you have into real time interaction with conversational partners, how they relate to brands, how the interaction and the ability to eg co-create changes the whole added value process and the design and delivery of value. innovation, for example, is totally radicalised by social media and crowd sourcing.

Zachary Adam Cohen · 2 months ago

brian great piece

Create Facebook Application · 2 months ago

I really like the concept that "there is no I in TEAM".

BSH · 1 month ago

The illustration is by Barry Barnes.