I talk about this all the time but I’ve been thinking about it more and more as I deal daily with the creation of a new web site, a new blog launch and various endeavors into the eco-friendly realm.
Conversational marketing - marketers determining where they can add value to the online conversations either by jumping into a conversation with both feet or creating a whole new conversation from scratch. The idea is to influence customer action by being authentic and transparent and giving your two-cents in environments where your potential customers chat, visit and participate in online – ie social media.
Participation is easy. The hard part comes when the outcome isn’t what you expected.
So…my first piece of advice is to be prepared to finish the conversation you start. If you begin a marketing initiative, be prepared to allow customers, clients, lurkers, anyone really to have their say and be ready to let the conversation flow…even if the outcome isn’t where you’d like it to be.
But how do you know where to focus your conversational marketing efforts? I mean, what's step one?
heard it put this way…"look for circles."
Imagine your brand’s marketing message is a circle and then imagine the community conversation is another circle. Then, look for the places where the two overlap – that’s where you jump in. So, let’s say, for example, the community is Riverwired (a notably green-centric community) and your brand is represented there with an online presence. You can now begin to look for the areas where the conversation and your brand are overlapping.
BUT you need to remember a couple of things.
- If your product stinks or your business isn’t fully set up, don’t even bother – they’ll remember your failures, not your successes. So be sure you have all your ducks in a row before you begin participating.
- Speak honestly and treat each and every person as a peer on the same level as yourself.
- Look for invitations, don’t jump in without permission.
That should get you off to a good start. Go on and get some conversations started and get busy looking for those circles.
