CHAPTER 5

Engage

Create True Dialogue with, and Between, Your Customers

Do you remember in college when you attended classes held in large lecture halls where professors talked at you for two hours at a time? You also likely had some classes that were a lot smaller and involved a workshop or discussion component. Which type of class did you find more valuable? Which one did you talk about at length, share with friends, and learn from more?

No matter how brilliant the professor of the large lecture was, undoubtedly there were people literally sleeping during the class. And no matter how uninspiring the teacher of the small discussion group was (often, it was a graduate student or teaching assistant in charge), you couldn’t help but learn because you were actively engaged in thinking about, talking about, and discussing the subject matter at hand. In fact, you probably learned as much from fellow students and dialogue with others in your class as you did from those professors or instructors who supposedly “held the knowledge.”

Just as more engaging classes at a university provide more value to students, the companies and organizations that stand out are those that use social media to meaningfully engage customers and foster dialogue, instead of those who rely on simply, and repeatedly, talking at consumers. Companies that can foster communication, not only between organization and consumer but also between consumer and consumer, will reap the greatest benefits of the most connected world we’ve ever had.

TALKING WITH YOUR CHILDREN INSTEAD OF TALKING TO YOUR BABIES

The twenty-first-century model of truly engaging customers publicly is quite different from marketing and communications models of the past.

Let’s say you’re a parent. Think about the way you would talk to your children when they are babies versus when they become older. When you speak to a baby, she can’t talk back, though she can give you nonverbal cues about how she feels. She won’t necessarily understand what you’re saying, so as the great parent you are, you’ll put on a show to elicit a reaction from her. You make funny faces, talk in loud or silly voices, and sing to her until you get a laugh or a smile or some other desired result. This situation is like the television commercial of the past (or even present, perhaps). The goal of the commercial is to grab the viewer’s attention and produce some sort of response, often using humor, outrageousness, surprise, or song.

When a child gets old enough to talk, as any parent knows, dynamics between the parent and child change. The good news, and bad news, is that the child can talk back to you. Now you get instant verbal feedback on everything you verbally express—you know exactly how well your children understand what you’re saying and typically whether they’re going to listen to you or not. Of course, sometimes parents don’t like what their children say, or how they say it, but as the parent, you have to respond. With the ability to understand what your children are trying to express to you comes greater responsibility and accountability for how you will continue to communicate in the future. Now you’re not just talking to your children. You’re engaging with them. You’re in the conversation for the rest or your life—that’s part of your job as a parent.

Consider how this analogy relates to the forms of marketing and advertising that are quickly becoming outdated with the advent of social media. The loudest, costliest advertising formats, such as TV commercials, don’t dominate the conversation anymore because, in fact, they no longer own the conversation. The conversation exists on social networks. By engaging the audience directly, you will find that the smartest, most flexible listeners win over the audience. They help create and develop the conversation; they do not attempt to dictate it. Those companies that talk at their customers are less likely to create followers, while those that engage consumers find they will be part of the conversation for life—and that’s part of the job of a marketer.

GROWING YOUR CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

So what does “being engaged” really mean?

To be engaged means to be genuinely interested in what your customers have to say. You have to want, even crave, feedback of all kinds because you know it gives you important data to build a better organization. Each individual at your company has to provide his or her full attention, mind, and energy with the customer or task at hand while maintaining the mission and core values of the organization. Anyone can send out an e-mail or a Facebook or Twitter message, but it takes commitment and focus to actually connect with people.

You simply can’t “be engaged” on the social Web because it’s “the thing to do” now, or you read about it in a book, or you think it will lead to increased sales. You have to authentically believe that being active in growing your social network will lead to deeper, stronger relationships with your customers. You have to be interested in your consumers and prospects, and the creation of a solid bond with them must be your goal.

When two people make a promise to one another that they are to be married, they are said to be “engaged.” Similarly, when a company chooses to be engaged with its customers, it commits to being truly concerned about what they say, think, and feel. For many organizations, this connection may be a fundamental shift in how they see and value customers. Instead of creating or outsourcing a customer service department, you want to know firsthand what customers think, how they feel, and what they are looking for from you.

Getting Back to Your Core Values

Most companies, at least when they are first formed, have the best of intentions. Many times, entrepreneurs’ original motivation is to create a solution in an attempt to solve a problem. Companies don’t necessarily start off by seeing people as dollar signs or statistics. But as organizations grow, they get harder to manage. It becomes easy to lose the initial mindset of authentically wanting to be there, fully present, for your customers and even easier to drift away from your fundamentals and core values.

What is your organization like now? Are you the kind of company that truly cares about its customers and values feedback? Does the marketing arm of your organization act more like an old professor at a large university lecture or like a young, interested teaching assistant leading a group into discovery and learning together? It may be hard to honestly and accurately assess yourself and your company, but it’s imperative if you plan to survive in the social media age, in which a direct relationship with your customers is becoming the only way to succeed.

If your organization looks like the tired old professor, the good news is that you’re certainly not alone. The bad news is that it’s going to take a lot of work and a commitment from senior management for the company to get seriously engaged with its constituents and return to the core values of simply being a business catering to the consumers’ wants, needs, and desires. You can certainly follow the rules to look more engaged, but until you are more engaged, you run the risk of being known as only feigning interest in your consumer base. Authenticity is necessary in creating long-lasting connections through the social Web.

Building Communities Around Trust and Loyalty

When you make the commitment to listen to and engage with your customers and prospects, it fosters a genuine sense of trust and loyalty between you and them, and among them. Think about the university analogy: In a large lecture, how comfortable would you feel disagreeing with the professor in front of the whole class? How would you feel being the second person to speak up, after someone with a dissenting opinion talks? You probably wouldn’t feel very comfortable speaking up at all, and neither would others, which is why day after day in that lecture, the professor talks and the students listen and take notes. This setup doesn’t really facilitate a valuable relationship or learning experience.

However, if in a smaller discussion class the instructor makes it clear on the first day that the atmosphere is one in which all opinions and comments are respected, where dialogue and dissent is welcomed and even encouraged, and where the teacher hopes to demonstrate that she is as interested in what everyone has to say as they are interested in her, then the class will become community based around respect and trust. This teacher, whether she’s a TA, grad student, or full-time professor, is seeking to create a discussion, not just lecture at the audience. Students will feel safe and empowered to speak up. They may also continue the dialogue without the instructor and beyond class time.

That smaller discussion class is building a community with value far beyond what the professor may have provided solely by way of imparting knowledge. If you can similarly build and engage an authentic community in this way, your community will bring your brand value beyond what you may see right now. Engaging your customers or prospects and getting them involved in your brand community will create a sense of trust and loyalty between you and your customers. An authentic, engaged brand community can live anywhere online—on a blog, through Twitter, or on YouTube, for instance. However, most brand communities are on Facebook pages, the predominant social media site. Brand communities are usually started by companies, but when they are run well, they can take off, almost on their own, as more and more customers join the conversation. How well you talk to your fans and stimulate conversation without pushing product will determine how large your community grows and how much they trust and value you.

Customers Solving Customer Service Issues

One example of the benefits of building an engaged community is that customers will help one another out. If you create a place on Facebook or Twitter for people to ask questions, share feedback, and interact with not only you but one another, you will engender trust and loyalty and help the community grow. Customers or prospects will take notice and appreciate when you answer questions on a timely basis and in an authentic way.

If you provide a place for consumers to connect and to gripe, to share information and to learn and to grow, people will realize you are committed to them and the community you are fostering, and they will return that commitment to you. So now when someone unfamiliar with your company comes to the community, a potentially huge new prospect, and posts a question, another member of the community might answer the prospect’s question before you have time to. Or when an unsatisfied customer comes to the Facebook page to complain, the community is likely to rally behind you without your even having to ask. How valuable might each of those things be to the bottom line? An engaged community grows your stakeholders in the company way beyond the staff and shareholders. These stakeholders will show support for you throughout their online social network and beyond. Your company’s reputation and visibility will grow, and in return, your online, and offline, community will flourish.

ENGAGING: EASIER SAID THAN DONE

Despite the vision of an engaged company, it is far easier to discuss than to actually implement. You will find that unless you are the leader of a small business or organization, the commitment to be engaged cannot happen immediately. Senior managers need to invest themselves fully in the change toward greater customer interaction and community building.

Is it devastating to your organization to not be fully engaged with its customers? The answer to that question is probably not, for a while at least. However, in an increasingly transparent and social world, by not being authentically involved and concerned about your consumers, you risk having one horrible customer experience totally erode your reputation, and eventually your bottom line, regardless of the size of your company. If your senior managers aren’t sold on building an engaged community, tell them about “United Breaks Guitars.”

In July 2009, country singer Dave Carroll was on a United Airlines flight when his guitar was broken. Dave put a claim into United, and it not only refused to replace the guitar but also refused to apologize. So, he took to YouTube, quickly making the “United Breaks Guitars” video, criticizing the company for its lack of accountability. It was an instant hit. After one day, the video had more than 100,000 views. A United spokesperson called Carroll up and offered to pay for the guitar, but Dave refused the offer, suggesting the company instead give to a charity in his name. United did not respond publicly on YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter. Within four days of the video being posted online, it had more than 1 million views, and it had received national news coverage. By that time, United Airlines’ stock price had fallen 10 percent, costing stockholders about $180 million in value. Four years later, however, the video had more than 20 million views on YouTube, and United never did address the issue through social media. Its brand’s reputation remains damaged.

Do you think if United Airlines had engendered an engaged community through social media that the devastating fallout would have happened? If lots of United consumers felt loyal to United, they would have stood by the company when an online crisis developed.

There are countless other examples. Search online for “Motrin Moms” or “Comcast Technician Sleeping” for two great ones. There will certainly be more. You can avoid being forced to become engaged by proactively making the commitment to your consumers.

ENGAGEMENT FOR NONPROFITS AND GOVERNMENTS

As valuable as customer engagement is for companies, it is crucial for nonprofits and governments. Social media is tailor-made for such organizations, and the success of a nonprofit in fulfilling its mission, or a government organization in launching an initiative, is entirely dependent on an engaged constituent base. Nonprofits and governments in the past had to create movements offline, without the luxury of a built-in online community of people ready to support one another and fulfill the mission. Now, a strong nonprofit or local government can build an engaged community using Facebook or Twitter, and it can raise money or effect positive change in faster, more efficient ways than ever before. How can your company replicate this effect? How can your company grow a movement online?

New York State Takes Control

The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) is a government agency serving the people of New York State, one of the most populated states in the world. The NYSDOH runs many public health initiatives funded by the government, including the Take Control! program, designed to provide New York State teens and young adults with information and local resources to promote positive sexual health. This program is unique because it’s about teens connecting with other people like them in a nonjudgmental way. They can get information and have their questions answered without feeling like they’re being lectured by adults. So it would make sense that when it came time to build out a marketing strategy for this initiative, the tried-and-true television advertisements, radio spots, subway posters, and online banner ads simply couldn’t be at the core of the marketing strategy. That’s not where or how teens talk to other teens, so the NYSDOH took to social media where these digital natives spend a lot of their time.

The original objective of the NYSDOH’s 2012 launch of the Take Control! Facebook page was to increase awareness of the program, drive traffic to the informational website, and provide teens with content they could relate to and learn from. The DOH agency built the page for the program at Facebook.com/TakeControl, and its staff members worked to create and share daily content, listen to and respond to all questions and posts from New York teens, and build a highly engaged community. Suddenly, humorous content that looked like the images their friends regularly shared—but with a safe sex–healthy relationship spin to it—was getting tens of thousands of comments, likes, and shares. Most parents can’t get an answer to “How was your day?” from their teens, and these teens were talking about their sexual choices.

But far more important than the conversations and engagement with the program, the Facebook page evolved into a community in which teens could talk to other teens. If a piece of content was posted that didn’t resonate with the community, the members let the DOH know. When a question was posed, the community members weren’t answering a state government organization. They were answering each other and having conversations with each other. Once a teen spoke up about something, more soon followed. The page became an online forum, a place where friends hung out after school, and the “cool” spot to access funny images about being a teen (and about sex!). Teens began to ask important questions, learn where to get condoms and where to get tested for STDs; and they felt comfortable letting 30,000 of their peers know they were virgins. They received support and guidance not just from the DOH but from each other. What started as a marketing hunch (teens are spending a lot of time on Facebook, so let’s build there!) accomplished a seemingly impossible feat—teens voluntarily joined a group and started talking about safe sex. In a time when bullying is running rampant, there is support, humor, education, and acceptance taking place.

Stride Rite Creates an Engaged Mommy Movement

Starting a movement is easier for a cause, a mission-related nonprofit group, or a government organization than it is for a business, but you should never underestimate the potential of any passionate community united around beliefs, commonalities, or shared interests. One such group online is moms, who, in general, love to share with one another.

Stride Rite is a leading shoe brand that makes and distributes footwear for babies and children across the United States. The company sells its shoes through retail locations as well as online, but in 2009 it decided it wanted to build a more engaged community on Facebook.

Stride Rite knew it already had a strong brand that many people were familiar with and loved. The bond between the brand and its customers was good, but in order to build an engaged community, Stride Rite had to leverage stronger bonds: those between mother and baby and between fellow moms. This required an initial shift in strategic thinking from the company, as it would have to make the community a lot less about its shoes and more about the kids wearing the shoes, and their moms, than they had ever originally planned.

The online conversation started strong in late 2009, and frankly, it hasn’t slowed down at the time of this writing. More than 210,000 fans have joined the community at Facebook.com/striderite, the vast majority of whom are young moms. If you visit the page on any given day, you’ll see customers talking with each other and with the brand—usually not even about shoes but about their kids and babies. Thousands of moms have posted pictures and videos of their babies’ first steps, and Stride Rite always responds to comments, questions, and shared items. Moms also help each other out with lots of baby- and child-rearing questions that have nothing to do with walking or feet, and the company welcomes that dialogue too. Moms feel empowered, engaged, and proud to be part of the Stride Rite community. In turn, the company provides opportunities to buy Stride Rite’s shoes. Online sales have increased steadily, week after week, since the program launched.

By putting an engaged community ahead of sales, Stride Rite was able to generate better long-term sales, along with 210,000 brand advocates.

THE PROCESS OF GETTING ENGAGED HAS TO START WITH ONE ACTION

Whether your organization is already deeply engaged with its customers or is far from it, the process of becoming further involved starts with one person, and one action. Just because you’re not able to turn your company upside down doesn’t mean you can’t take positive steps toward using social media to foster better dialogue between your brand and your customers and between your customers themselves. Now stop stalling, go buy that ring, and get engaged.