In a post on Tuesday, in response to one from Mark Schaefer, I postulated that social media and networks were helping us to deal with the seismic shift that is occurring as a result of the de-institutionalization that were are experiencing. Stories too, I think, are going to help us through this transition.
As I think about that transition, talk with people when I’m about, and read what others have to say, I see more and more places where story and social media are intersecting.
If you talk with any social media strategist, be they part of a Marketing and/or PR agency, or working on their own as a consultant, the first thing you are likely to hear as they advise you, is that you need to “listen”. They will point out that there is a conversation going on that you are likely not a part of yet and that it is in your best interest to open your ears to what’s being said, about you, your company, your employees, your products and services. Only after tapping into this conversation and listening for a while will they advise you to begin to act.
The action they propose will most often involve what I’ll call a gentle interaction, a getting to know people who are your customers or who you hope will be. You’ll be advised to start building a relationship with those people. Get to know their needs and their wants. Start to let them get to know you. All of this will probably occur via one of the social media platforms, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. It could also be occurring on a platform that you sponsor internally.
I think you will find that this ability to listen that you are developing will also serve you very well as you work on your stories and your storytelling. Good stories, of course, are the result of good storytelling, and my experience has been that good storytellers are good listeners. They exhibit a curiosity that is satisfied only when they are listening. In that listening, they find out more about people and in so doing, they discover more stories to tell.
Do you see how the same thing can hold true for your use of social media as well? Those listening skills that you are working on developing will help you to understand more about your customers, your employees and your markets. In understanding those things you will be better able to direct your product or service development to deliver the kinds of things you have heard your customers ask for. Your marketing, pr and sales efforts will also be more targeted as a result of those new listening skills. And hopefully, your stories and your storytelling, also improving as you listen more and more, will be able to add support for those efforts.
Good social media skills have a foundation in good listening skills. Good storytelling does too. What do you think? Are you listening more than you did in the past? Is it helping you to better understand your customer base and your market segment?
