It’s pretty clear from all the talk over the past few years that the true measure of social media success is engagement with one’s audience. What isn’t nearly as clear is how best to accomplish this. At Sydcam Marketing Communications, we actually think this is an easy question. To us, it’s really all about listening – and talking with your audience!
The Missing Link
One thing we’ve noticed over the years is that many businesses talk the talk about the importance of social media engagement and make claims they actively do this, but few consistently deliver on it in any tangible way.
Sure if you raise a big enough stink online they’re likely to connect with you and attempt to win you back. But say anything positive, even complimentary and they’ll often ignore you like the plague.
Brands getting it Right
This complete disconnect has never sat well with us in business nor in life – the squeaky wheel getting all the oil has never been a logical concept for us. Why don’t we pay more attention instead to the customer, student or employee that gives us the glowing review? Instead we focus on the ones who throw us under the bus for no apparent reason.
I few weeks back, this concern was put to a quick end with an experience I had at a small Irish pub in downtown Toronto, Canada. The Overdraught Irish Pub became our chosen spot for dinner after a Blue Jays game as it was close to the Rogers Centre, plus we had a 2-for-1 coupon!
As I do with most restaurants, I checked in via Foursquare and mentioned online my ever-present hunger and the fact I was looking forward to my meal, curry in this case. This was what then transpired:
OMG peeps, they actually asked me how my meal was!! And even though I complained a tad that the curry was a little spicier than advertised, they had fun with it, made a cross-sell plug AND even said thanks! So how’s that for social media engagement.
The Moral of the Story
It doesn’t take a fancy software package or a penchant for Excel pivot tables to uncover what your clients are all about. You just simply need to strike up a reasonably relevant conversation with them, have a little fun with it and most importantly show you care!
Congratulations to The OverDraught for getting social media right for a change and showing users how it can AND should work so that all can benefit - customers and brands. Now if only they’d just follow me on Twitter (hint, hint!).
