Social Media Marketing - Just Listen

• By listening, reading, and participating, brand marketers have an opportunity
to make their brands more approachable and shareable than ever before.
• Most Social Media Marketing initiatives have started with the tools first…
o Brands opt to engage using the most popular tools and networks to attract
relationships instead of going to where their existing or prospective
customers are congregated.
o They didn’t observe or listen prior to jumping in.
• Many have incorrectly viewed the process of social media as “build it and they
will come.” 
• Companies simply create profiles on Facebook and a Blog, accounts on
Twitter, uploaded videos to YouTube and images to flickr, and simply hoped
for a mass wave of friending and interaction.
o We can’t simply walk into a public square or park, plant a sign behind
us with our name, interests and affiliations and expect real people to
come up to us for meaningful and long-term dialog.
o This is the equivalent of setting up camp next to a village because you
have the tools to do so and expecting the village to integrate you into
their society.
• Conversational marketing requires observation, which will dictate your
engagement strategies.
• It starts with a combination of social and traditional tools to discover, listen,
learn, and engage directly with customers.
o It helps us find where the conversations are truly taking place.
o The goal is to help them make decisions and also do things that they
couldn't, or didn’t know how to do, before.
o Build relationships through conversations without objectives.
• It’s about gathering intelligence.
• It removes the tendency to “market at” people and instead naturally shapes a
more honest, meaningful, and informative approach.
• It helps us humanize our story in order to create loyalty and earn customer
business and ultimately their respect