Opening Conversations

Chapter 2 of Secrets of Social Media Marketing addresses several aspects of how marketers should approach social media. First, the tools aren't import. Blogs, discussion boards, and the like can have several uses. What is more important is knowing what you hope to achieve.

The chapter goes on to suggest that companies need learn to take themselves less seriously and increase communication with customers. Not engaging in these can seriously injure the company, especially since consumer will continue conversing even if the company doesn't take part. Social media can also empower and increase productivity with employees by allowing them to participate in communication with customers.

Chapter 6 provides examples of how companies have successfully (and unsuccessfully) engaged in communications with customers, and offers strategies on how other companies and businesses can do the same.

On the topic of businesses opening conversation with customers, I was reminded of EA Games opening a discussion board and BioWare opening a blog asking for suggestions on how to make their games better. Consumers were able to post their ideas of what they were looking for in their favorite game franchise (Harry Potter and Dragon Age respectively) and developers of the game would comment on fan suggestions or post their own topics to which fans could respond.

One thing I specifically remember when the fifth Harry Potter video game was being developed, fans expressed their desire to have some aspect of broom flying in the game. The developers commented that they understood the fans' enthusiasm for flying, but they simply didn't believe there was enough time to implement the feature into the game. Fans continued to comment, stating that if there was time, could they please, please implement a flying feature. As the final stages of development loomed closer, developers responded to fans' requests by stating they were trying as hard as they could to squeeze flying in somewhere. And when the game was released, fans were delighted to find out that the developers had found the opportunity. The game overall was received enthusiastically by fans because of how developers listened to and implemented their feedback.

Design to Thrive opens with an overview of what makes up an online community, the difficult goals that can be found within, what makes some thrive when others fail, and the difference between an online community and a social network. An online community consists of people uniting under a common goal while a social network has more focus on the individual user and the relationships they participate in.

One thing this made me think about is that companies have only opened conversation with customers in an online community environment (according to Dr. Howard's definition) and not in the form of a social network. Nikon (as Gillin explained) targeted a specific group on Flickr, which focus on sharing photos they took on their Nikons, to promote their new camera. EA Games and Bioware opened up discussion forms and blogs with the focus on improving their upcoming video games. Other companies open blogs to address customer service issues.

According to Howard's definition, all these companies have opened conversations in an online community environment to solve specific purposes. Is it possible for companies to participate with consumers in a social network environment?  Even on Facebook, individuals cannot "friend" a business or company. Company profiles are set up differently, so that individuals can only "like" their page. There seems to be some kind of preset notion that a company cannot be "friended" or is incapable of forming a relationship with an individual.

And if a company did participate in social networking / relationship building with consumers, what would that look like? On Facebook, company pages are mostly used for promotions, announcing new products or offering coupons. If a company was interested in forming a "relationship," how would the content they posted be different? How would their goals change?