Posts Tagged ‘blogger’

What makes online conversation marketing via blogs, social media, and the like such a success is that it spurs interaction. Interaction can lead to many things, most importantly sales. However, for all the talk of interaction and customers gladly spreading your story for you, there is another side to the coin. While there are the conversationalists out there that will quickly build relationships with your business if you meet their needs and exceed their expectations, there are also a whole lot of listeners out there.

Listeners are quiet folk. They don’t engage nearly as much. If they get on your forums, its probably to find a specific answer to a specific problem. They aren’t commenting on your blog. They aren’t responding to your tweets. Because you don’t see the interaction, it is easy to discount the listeners, or to question if they are even there. But these people are listening. They are being impacted by the content you put out. They are just as loyal as the conversationalists. Sure, they don’t write blog posts recommending your company to everyone in the world, but that’s because they don’t have blogs. They are probably recommending you quietly to a trusted friend who they know will benefit from your business.

The quiet ones can be a hard group to connect with. If you are doing all of the right things online, but not seeing the results spring up like you wish they would, be sure to not throw in the towel too soon. The listeners outnumber the talkers, in my opinion. If you just stop blogging because you aren’t getting comments or seeing sales, you might be leaving some people out in the cold. If you have visitors to your blog, you should keep blogging. If you don’t have visitors, you should invest some time and money in education so you can be a better business blogger, but that is another story.

While you won’t get the kind of gratifying interaction on a regular basis out of the quiet ones that you will get out of the talkers, you will get great value. You get that value by consistently providing value. The listeners are the steady force behind your online efforts. They will subscribe to your newsletter and actually read it. They will attend your webinars. They will buy your products.

Chances are that they will also help you spread the word. The difference is, they won’t do it on their own, at least not on a large scale. That isn’t because they don’t love your product, its because they aren’t talkers. They do not have platforms of their own. But don’t give up on them. Connect with your regular loyal listeners and buyers. Draw them out. You can probably get some pretty amazing testimonials from them. When they send you a referral, it will likely be a dead-on qualified lead. You’ll take one of these a year over countless unqualified visits to your site or hundreds of spam followers on Twitter. The quiet ones make up in value what they don’t deliver in amount of interaction.

You’re job is to not give up on them. Keep writing your blog. Keep posting your best insights on Twitter. Keep talking, and they will keep listening. While your words won’t always trigger a response that you will see, you are planting seeds. And if you ever do find yourself in a conversation with a quiet one, you will be amazed at the depth and value there. Listeners are learners and doers. They have an important place in your online conversation marketing plans. Don’t leave them out by stopping your end of the conversation.

–

Bradford Shimp helps small businesses develop online marketing plans at BroadRiverCreative.com.

I wrote the other day about how much impact customers can have in telling your story. Friend to friend recommendations are the most powerful form of marketing there is. Today, I want to explore a little bit about how to find people who will talk and how to encourage them to do so.

First, for the sake of this post, I want to define what I mean by talker. I am not referring to the person who might tell one friend about your business. A talker is someone who can’t shut up, who has lots of good things to say about you and doesn’t mind saying them. An ideal talker also has an outlet to say these things to many people. A talker may be a blogger, for instance. It doesn’t matter what the outlet is. All that matters is that when this person talks, people listen.

For someone to promote your business on their own time through their own outlet, they need to have had a positive and interesting experience with you. Either they find something special about your product or service, or they had a great experience during the sale process. This is enough to get them talking. But just having them mention your product once is not enough. You want to encourage them to keep talking. Here’s how.

Recognize and Thank

If you are going to encourage talkers, the first thing you need to do is find them. It is important to pay attention to what is being said about your business. Once you hear someone talking up your business, you have found a fan in the making.

When you do discover someone saying positive things about your business, reach out to him or her. Show that you are paying attention. A simple thank you can go a long way.

Open Up

Once you make the connection with a talker, throw open the doors of your business to him or her. There are lots of things that you can do. Invite them to a webinar, invite them to your newsletter, tell them about what’s new before anyone else knows. One thing that can go a long way is this, make it very clear to the talker that they can reach out directly to you at any time. Make yourself available to them.

Being open should be a company policy no matter what. If people are going to become real fans, they are going to want a personal connection. You aren’t a rockstar, you are a small business owner. Always be personal and always be available.

Stay in Touch

Don’t expect people to stay excited about your company on their own. In order to maintain the energy its takes to keep a person talking, you need to feed the fire.

The main way you do this is to keep being an awesome business. Keep your ears open and shape your business so that it continues to please customers.

After ensuring that your business stays on top if its game, you want to make sure you stay active with your talkers. This means being involved with communities that intersect with your business. This may take the form of going to trade shows and conferences, being active on social networks, posting on forums, or any number of things. Contribute in the spaces that are relevant to your business and customers.

Also, create your own community. Once you identify a few fans, get them on a list. Offer things like beta tests, free samples, even get togethers where you share and listen. By continuing the conversation and focusing on building relationships, you can really encourage your talkers to keep talking. Remember, they like to talk in the first place. You just need to be sure to give them lots to talk about.

Be the Model

Another good method of gaining fans and getting people to talk about you is to be the model. Make sure you do your own talking. Talk about the businesses and people that impress you. Connect with them, and build a network.

Doing this will get you out there in the communities that relate to your business. You will become recognized for giving recognition, and for being a business owner that thinks of others first. You will also find outlets for talking that you can later point your talkers too. If you have never given an online review, how can you expect or even show customers how to do it?

By modeling the habit of talking up people and businesses, you set the precedent for your own talkers. The important thing to know is that people talk as part of a community. That is why you need to reach out to people who mention your company. You can build relationships with them and create a community, which when constructed, will begin to grow.

Don’t just be thankful that someone helps spread your story. Interact with that person. Build something with him or her. Take it to the next level by building a community of talkers, of which you are a role model.

photo credit: Spuz

Recommended Reading

I am constantly on the prowl for good business books. Right now, I am reading Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. I love Gary’s take on passion and business. This book will give you a kick in the butt to get up and get moving as you pursue your passions and your business.

If you are interested in Crush It, you can get it through Amazon by clicking here or by visiting your local bookstore.

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

Get Unique Content Weekly with The All Biz Answers Insider Newsletter

–

Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com