In a recent blog post, Brooke Ballard addresses the key to successfully engaging content: conversation. Saying “Hello” to your consumers is the best way to start a relationship with them. There are too many companies barking at their audiences that they’ve forgotten how to relate on a personal level. But people are people, and they’re more drawn to real connections with brands than they are to overt sales tactics.
Ballard emphasizes that in order to break the ice, businesses need to listen and respond to the community; they need to talk with (not at) their consumers. Though that sounds fairly easy, opening a conversation with your audience can be further simplified into 9 steps, as outlined by David Maister:
1. Create subcommunities: private discussions and forums can foster conversation that is both business-to-community and human-to-human.
2. Adopt Facebook’s “Like”-button philosophy: make your content interactive, so offering opinions & ranking preferences becomes easy and approachable for your audience.
3. Behind your brand is you, and a person is much more personable than a brand. So communicate to your community through a blog to add a layer of human character to your brand.
4. Tell a story.
5. Walk a mile in your consumers’ shoes: make sure you’re fully understanding how you look from their side of the pond.
6. If you want answers, make sure your content asks questions.
7. If you want your content to appear as a whiteboard open to discussion, make sure your content appears as a whiteboard open to discussion.
8. Create a better flow of communication: have your senior managers talk to senior client managers.
9. Approach feedback in a new, discursive way: gather psychographics from a small, hand-picked crowd that you trust.
If you’re more of a visual learner, crack open the Roojoom below to learn how some brands have already started the conversation.
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If you’re more of a discussion-based learner, Sign Up For Our Free Webinar, where Brooke Ballard will talk with you to change the way you approach Social Media Marketing.
Featured Image: B Squared Media
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