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Engagement is like being on the receiving end of a bullhorn. Barrage of noise. You don't see faces behind the horn. With rise of social tech, people are now talking with each other, communication is no longer just one way. David Carroll – Musician. Saw baggage handlers throwing his guitars. United breaks guitars! No. 4 in search results when you type in United. 5 million views in the past 5 weeks. The Groundswell. People can find each other.
This is about relationships. With each other and with people you are trying to reach. Obama. Used tools to reach people so they felt empowered. He didn't have to give control, he created a movement, a groundswell.
How do you create your groundswell. Short term? Based on transaction? More personal? Or something passionate, intimate. Have a sense of loyalty. You have to strategy! With four goals.
Learn. Through dialog. Quickly and deeply. Learn about what is said, then have dialog. Help them and support them. Blogsearch.google.com. Twitter search! 140 characters? What can you get? What's the power of twitter? Tool that enables you to listen to the groundswell and ultimately to learn. You need to turn your association into a learning association.
Dialog. Conversation – listen first, then engage. Leads into more deeper relationship. No different when you reach out to the groundswell.
Engagement Pyramid. Bottom are the watchers and not actively participating. Sharing is next. They'll share with colleagues and friends. Next are the commenters – blog posts. Producers are people who create content. Top are the curators. They are running these communities, moderating forum, editing wikis. The MOST passionate. The place to start is the BOTTOM.
Red Cross volunteers. They've created dialog with Red Cross. Volunteers say it not only to Red Cross but also seen by all their friends. Friends then say hey I saw your post! Tell me more about it. This si the beginning of your groundswell.
Groundswell. Highly controlled by you or by people who are passionate. Allowing them to help themselves. You need to extend participation from the few at the top to the many at the bottom. Starbucks. Welcome ideas to be posted to their Website – customers can then comment, vote on ideas they like, provide even more feedback to improve the original idea. And then these ideas are owned by starbucks employees and then provide feedback to this community, whether they implement it or not.
Again, need to widen the scope. How do we get started? No money. No time. Have people but they don't know how to do this? Legal or IT won't help us! And those who feel losing control. Now everyone is a spokesperson with this groundswell thing. Yikes!
Start small. And start it now. These people who want to participate in this groundswell don't want to wait. Start looking and see what people are saying. Pick a group. Find these revolutionaries. The change agents. Those passionate about creating relationships.
Second thing – how to measure? What's the ROI? You're thinking the wrong way. Are doing it more effectively through Facebook, Twitter, etc., rather than traditional media? Use the measurements you already have. This does not require new measurements.
Two types of metrics you can apply. Rate org 1-10. Would you tell someone you know . . . 9-10, they are promoter. 3 or less are detractors. Want more promoters. Social media is built for this. Other metric is lifetime value. Value of member? Acquisition costs, retention costs . . . think of referral value. Do they tell other people? They have their networks and can impact network on your behalf!
Control. The hardest thing to do for organizations. Why do you need control in the first place? And what are you control of in the first place? If you want to craft that relationship that is passionate, you have to give up control. You don't know where it'll go and there will be many pitfalls along the way but in the end, it'll be deep and passionate.
Think Walmart. They tried plenty of ideas. Failing plenty of times. But the point is they kept trying. Finally they developed Checkout – blog from their own shoppers. A Hit! Google mantra. Fail fast, fail smart.
How do you give up and control but still remain in command? Every org has a sandbox. Some small some large. Laws of the sandbox need to be defined by you. Then expand the sandbox.
Summary. Focus on the relationships on what you are trying to form NOT the Technology but you have to USE them. And Understand how the people you are trying to reach use them. How can you engage these members without using them yourself.
Start small. Start with learning!
Be ready to relinquish control. You're not in control anyway! Get use to it. |