Listening is only the beginning. Engagement is the beginning of the end of business as usual. Once we hear, truly hear our customers and the people who influence our decisions, effective engagement is inspired by the empathy that develops simply by being human. We start to see things through the eyes of our consumers. We feel their pains, frustrations, and also happiness. We sense what it takes to encourage positive sentiment. Once we put “people” back into the mix, a…
Introducing The Conversation Prism Version 3.0
If a conversation takes place online and you’re not there to hear it, did it really happen? On August 5, 2008 JESS3 and I introduced version 1.0 of The Conversation Prism. Today, I’m proud to announce The Conversation Prism Version 3.0. With the introduction of 3.0, our view of the social media panorama is updated and also reflective of the real world that is embracing and organizing the social Web. One of the aspects that make social media so fascinating…
The Great Brand Dilution
For decades brands basked in the glory of control, control over consumers’ perceptions, impressions and ultimately decisions and ensuing experiences. Or better said, business leaders enjoyed a semblance of control. While businesses concentrated resources on distancing the connections between customers, influencers and representatives, a new democracy was materializing. This movement would inevitably render these faceless actions not only defunct, but also perilous. Fueled by the socialization of media, content and connections served as the foundation for this new democracy and…
The Most Influential Consumers Online are on Twitter
Twitter is a human seismograph and it represents a transformative channel where everyday people possess the ability to affect actions. The cloud of collective consciousness that houses our thoughts, experiences, and conversations is also a data trove for experts to measure and mine serendipitous and organized behavior and events. Twitter is less of a social network in its design and operation and more of a series of interconnected social nicheworks. It brings together disparately connected personalities linked through friendship, admiration,…
The Socialization of Business: Your Dirty Little Secrets are No Longer Secrets
If a conversation takes place online and you’re not there to hear it, did it really happen? Conversations do not fall into a black hole never to be heard again. And, there is no event horizon preventing their escape. The social effect is more powerful than we realize. The truth is that if one voice or a chorus of voices finds the right audience, not only will businesses realize that conversations are taking place, they will find a miraculous cure…
(R)evolution Episode One: Empowering Your Employees and Customers with Josh Bernoff
Welcome to the premier episode of (R)evolution, a new series that connects you to the people, trends, and ideas defining the future of business, marketing, and media. In show number one, Forrester’s Josh Bernoff discusses his new book Empowered, co-authored with Ted Schadler. An old proverb declares, “may you live in interesting times.” Indeed we do. The markets that define the business landscape for brands, organizations, and local businesses are democratizing. At the same time, the dynamics of influence, who…
Social Media: It’s All Part of a Master Plan…or Is It?
Twitter presence…CHECK Facebook Brand Page…CHECK YouTube Channel…CHECK Socialized Business Strategy…TBD While showing up to the party represents a noteworthy effort, a bona fide social media strategy this checklist does not make. Creating presences, listening to conversations tied to keywords and superfluously responding to updates and questions creates a facade of engagement that is at best trivial. And, quite frankly, without a true investment of intention, attention and conviction (I.I.A.C.), we minimize the opportunity before us as well as the thoughts,…
CRM magazine Influential Leaders: The Engager
Reprint of CRM magazine, August 2010 Influential Leaders: The Engager by Joshua Weinberger (@kitson) Brian Solis blogs circles around you. He also posts, updates, and twitters faster than you can, helps develop graphics prettier than yours, and analyzes patterns in public discourse long before you ever see them show up as a Trending Topic. In short? Solis—as principal of consultancy FutureWorks, cofounder of the Social Media Club, speaking-circuit fixture, and best-selling author—is a content and communications machine. But Solis is…
Almost Half of Small Businesses Find Customers in Social Networks
In social media, is there truth to the proverb, “seek and ye shall find?” As our experience in new media matures, learning what it is we wish to seek and also accomplish is at the forefront of rapid evolution. Converting questions into objectives is how we grow and succeed. While the opportunities within social media in general are sweeping, one such possibility that’s largely untapped in business social networking is the ability to find customers and prospects as well as…
Email Marketing Goes Social: Follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook
Email, we love to hate it, yet we hate to love it. For better or for worse, we are tethered to our inbox and continue to send messages and respond to those individuals and organizations to which we’re tied or vested. Over the years, I’ve labeled email as the world’s largest untapped social network and even though many services attempted to socialize the inbox over the years, email, for the large part, remains regressive. For the time being, brands and…
