The Closed Conversation
from Part I - Community Interaction
This article became so long in writing that I have split it in two. Both sections should read reasonably well stand-alone but together they should be stronger. This is Part II.
I have had many business owners approach me with a desire to engage better with their users. I tell them about blogs, forums, social media like Facebook and even building Gallery pages on their own site. Most of them have the same answers.
On Blogs and Forums etc.: No we can't have anyone saying anything bad about us. That won't do at all. We can only say good things about us. Bad things would make people not want our products. Can we have one but keep it closed?
On Gallery pages: How would we know who is doing anything interesting? Why would anyone read that? We haven't got time to build pages about our customers. We need to sell stuff.
It strikes me that the culture of these businesses is wrong.
A conversation only works when it is two-way. If you want to engage with me you need to engage with me. If you pay someone to talk at me (TV, newspaper, salesman, email, web site) then I will not really be engaged. I may buy because it suits me at the time but I am not engaged. There is no emotional two-way. Sure you talked and I gave you cash but there is no depth to that transaction. This is a short term win with with a long term opportunity cost looming.
If you want to engage with people you need two-way. A good salesman should naturally be talking to people in your market and community. A good manager should be gathering this information from salesmen. Marketing should then be synthesising this information in lists of bugs, feature requests, threats and opportunities. In a small business that is both easier and harder.
Easier because you are salesman, manager, marketing and process worker all at once. Inter-department communication should be pretty fast and accurate.
Harder because you have so many tasks to perform in an increasingly short week.
The Internet has given us a new set of tools that allows us to have deeper engagement with customers, fans and our broader community. We can talk to lots of people for minimal cost in both time and dollars. A blog can be set up for free at sites like Wordpress.com, Blogger.com. Similarly forums are free or close enough. Web sites can be free, although generally not advised because of domain names and adverts. There are however free applications for building a decent site. Email marketing applications are also similarly easy and affordable.
Initial set-up may take a bit of time and learning but once set up these tools will only take a few hours a week to maintain. Once established you have the opportunity to engage directly with your community of customers at a level that you would struggled to achieve in the 'real world' for similar dollar and time cost.
So why do businesses avoid doing this? Fear. Big, wide-eyed, howling, drooling, fear! I think we all remember the reporter throwing his shoes at George W Bush. President Bush ducked as the shoes sailed toward him. That is healthy fear. Who can gain anything from a shoe in the face. It is the fact that George continued to duck in the days after that leaves a question (again, this is nothing to do with politics).
What if...?
What if George, President of the U.S.A., had straightened up, tugged his jacket into place, fixed his eyes on the now shoeless reporter and said something like,
"Sir, you obviously have a reason for such a display. I understand that in your culture this is a thing of great dishonour. This should never have happened, but because you feel so strongly then I want to know why you did this. I am going to arrange to have a 1 hour meeting with you to discuss."
The meeting could have happened with a camera crew (and a few invisible minders). The conversation would have made must-see television. I believe that this would have had a massive effect on the way everyone in the world saw both President Bush and the U.S.A. in general. The conversation would have humanised the whole political situation and George in particular. The shoe-tossing reporter would have felt respected and by extension, large parts of the Arab world would have felt included and respected too.
I believe that great good would have come from this and Mr Bush would have finished his presidency looking like a great man. I believe that everyone would admit what a strong person George was to do that. I also think it may have had massive positive effect on international relations.
Now I don't pretend to know the reasons something like this didn't happen but I do believe that fear played a large part. This is the same fear that holds businesses back from engaging with customers. Many will say, talking to a shoe-tosser will encourage shoe tossing, terrorism and the end of our business. I don't believe that it will if you handle it right. Start by understanding why people toss shoes in the first place.
People toss shoes out of frustration at not being listened to. If you are afraid that someone will criticise your product then you are admitting that there is something wrong with it in the first place. Listening to users will help you know what they want to be happy with your product.
Start a community forum and let them toss (metaphorical) shoes at you (good for ratings) and then deal with it with such style and grace that you change your world (even better ratings). If someone slags you off in your blog or forum then deal with them head on - stop, collect yourself, let the anger abate and ask yourself why they went to the trouble of telling you your product sucked. They have a reason. Chances are there are others out there who feel the same and would appreciate your attention to the issue. If you handle yourself with honesty and integrity then trolls and flamers will gain no purchase. Instead, you will rise in estimation every time. You will also find that others in your community will support you. You will soon find your users dealing with trouble makers before you even get there. You now have a tribe on your side (just be sure not to put this tribe off-side by retreating from the conversation). Your business is growing in the best way possible.
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Extra reading: I found this article and it gives a very succinct overview on running a forum or online community http://www.benbarden.com/running-a-successful-online-community
If you want me to work with your business then please visit BRM Web Consulting
