Building on from the previous post, after identifying where the main spheres of conversations are relative to the organization, it’s time to step in, listen, and participate. However, one can’t just enter a community out of nowhere and expect to be able to engage people in dialogue.
In this regard, Lorna Li (Aug 2008) uses the term ‘ingratiating oneself,’ while Steve Wilson, senior director of global web communication for McDonald’s Corp - quoted by David Meerman Scott in The New Rules of Marketing and PR, (2007, p.58) - says, “If it [the organization] is going to get credibility and trust, it is necessary to participate in the… community, [but] we can’t just jump into the… [conversational] storm without having built a dialog first.”
I cannot agree more. As so many PR 2.0 practitioners have said, the new PR puts the emphasis right back on relationship-building, and relationships, like Rome, just aren't built overnight!
Four-Step Strategy to get Engaged
In order for organizational ambassadors to be tactically engaged in some of the pre-identified online communities in ongoing dialogues and relationship building (what social networking is all about), I would propose the following
four-pronged approach:
Step 1 - Get In
The four-step model starts off with the identification or the singling out of key communities and influencer groups according to the nature, frequency and location of the conversations. Once these have been identified, it's time to join those applications and communities.
Step 2 - Get to KnowEven after joining a network, it’s easy to want to jump in and start the chatter. It’s probably fine if this is a personal account because the worst that can happen is that you lose a couple of followers. More caution is obviously required if you're doing it as a brand because you stand to discredit yourself as an organization by speaking too hastily. This is similar to a piece of advice I got while attending a public affairs lecture at a public entity recently. There, the speaker said that when handling media interviews, he tends to hold out and listen to all the questions the reporter is asking, even when he thinks he knows the answer to some of them. This practice helps him to better understand the thought process of the reporter and avoid what could be potential loaded questions.
In the same spirit, the ‘Get to Know’ phase of the engagement strategy is really like a focus group in action where you watch the conversations that are going on, feel the pulse of the community and where they stand on particular issues, and channel valuable market research and feedback to relevant departments of the firm to help them develop better services and policies. Think back in terms of the funnel model and how market feedback is used to shape and refine the very strategic narratives and other organizational products and services that are provided to the
community.
Hence, get to know what other people are talking about.
Step 3 - Get Talking
PR 2.0 practitioners will tell us that we should start of our participation on the social media communities NOT by creating content on our own platforms (though there’s nothing to stop us from doing so) but by looking for areas of conversation within those communities – identified through the previous phase – where we can leave our thoughts and comments.
Chris Brogan (Nov 2008), President of New Marketing Labs, says that to grow our presence in the community (and also build an interested following), we need to go to other people’s blogs [and social media platforms] and start getting involved. This is predicated upon knowing what others are saying and where they’re commenting. And the more we make our voice heard in the space where we want to do business, the better we’ll be.
In a similar vein, Breakenridge (Mar 2009) suggests that we ought to be maintaining a list of our favorite bloggers whom we read and comment regularly, and we also need to be sharing interesting posts and other news/information with members or our social networking communities.
It’s actually all about being a useful member of the community instead of trying to market our ideas to them from the get go.
Step 4 - Get KnownThe final phase of the four-step strategy deals with building the brand’s online presence and reputation. I believe this would depend on how much people see us as knowledge or content leaders – whatever our organizations may be. In some organizations, that could be chemical or environmental safety, and in others, it could be tips to build your own greenhouse, for example.
There is no silver bullet to this, and reputation building both online and offline require much time and effort invested into cultivating the right image and perceptions. Think of this as a continuation of the good work from Step 3. Ultimately, it's still a matter of developing credibility via content leadership. The aim, as Solis and Breakenridge (Putting the Public back in Public Relations, 2009, p. 18) put it, is to become a trusted and sought-after knowledge resource for the community.
But apart from just pushing out our own organizational information, we actually need to take full advantage of the constitution of the Web and generate rich media links online. Levick and Smith (STOP THE PRESSES: The Crisis and Litigation PR Desk Reference, 2007, p. 97) say we need to connect the dots by gathering information and links from a variety of [reputable] sources, keep the information current and spread “information packages” with blog excerpts and supportive hyperlinks.
Secondly, build up on the area of blogger relations and develop your own A and B lists of influential bloggers. Get to know them. Understand their worldviews and how they perceive issues. Develop relationships that may eventually transcend into guest-blogging for them, or having them guest-blog for the organization (third-party ink).
However, we must note that developing all the positive relationships with bloggers in the world, though essential, cannot replace thoughtful, genuine and disambiguated content to create chatter on the Web. Good, honest content will influence bloggers to talk about it, which will eventually lead to buzz and traction for the organization and its products on and offline. It’s the age of curiosity or affinity marketing – as blogger and communication practitioner Carrie Wilkerson (@barefoot_exec) puts it during a recent online webinar organized by the Social Media Bootcamp (SMB) by Joel Comm (@joelcomm).
Instead of selling something directly, a great website, a great blog or podcast, an ebook, or the content on your Facebook and Twitter pages [i.e. your overall presence on the Web], actually tell the world indirectly that you or your organization is smart, that you understand the market well, and that you’d be a valuable and trustworthy person to do business with because of the leadership in the marketplace of ideas (Scott, 2007, p.38).