Listen. Do You Want To Know A Secret?

For anyone of a certain age (we won’t be any more specific) those words most likely prompt a mind’s earful of a catchy tune as recorded by the Fab Four.  (If “Fab Four” is meaningless to you, skip to paragraph 2.)  The lyrics of the song, simplistic as they might be, belie one of the key -- maybe even THE key criteria to successful relationship: be quiet; listen up; and you are likely to hear something of value.

Makes for a nice song.  But practically speaking, we don’t much care for the discipline that is required to really listen.

Don’t believe this?  Look around, and consider the precipitous decline in the art of conversation.  E-mail, texting, social updates (in as few as 140 characters, to boot) -- all make it infinitely more easy to browse, skim, filter and create shortcuts for messaging.  Key words and optimized phrases have become the shorthand of ideas.  Seems like this used to be thought of as “hearing only what we want to hear.”

And if one is really plugged in, technology will do much of the work for you.

Really listening, it turns out -- the kind of intentional act that puts aside agendas and preconceived notions -- is hard work.  It calls for focus and concentration.  It has one goal: to learn something.

Not to sell, disciple, convert or win.  To learn.  Because learning is the door to opportunity.

(As an aside, if your sales force or customer facing team is having difficulty identifying new productive and profitable opportunities, they may not be listening.)

This is what we tell our children: listen and learn.  It is -- to a lesser degree to be sure, but to a certain degree nonetheless -- the way we behave in the earliest stages of an important personal relationship.  Talking less.  Listening more intentionally.  Looking for insights that combine to form a bridge to relationship.  Alert to the most promising opportunities for connection.

The unfortunate tendency -- in the context of personal and business relationships -- is to far too quickly believe we know enough (if not, all).

And with “research” complete, the focus on listening shifts to a preoccupation with what we now want to say.

We agonize over brochure copy, web content, Twitter posts, and a message strategy for Facebook, Linked In and now Google +.  With so many ways to deliver our message, what we say becomes the focus.  Even in conversation, research points to the fact that often, while feigning listening, we’re really thinking about what we need to say next.

Few are the strategic discussions around the execution of a feedback mechanism.  Fewer still the times that the listening potential of social media or the firm web site appear on a meeting agenda.  These are, after all, messaging tools.  So convinced are we that connecting and communicating with the market is about messaging, that the absence of robust listening tools is scarcely noticed.

And we certainly don’t consider the listening opportunity inherent in social media.  (How many organizations do you know that follow clients or key customers on Twitter -- not to talk to them, but to listen to what they have to say?) 

This is not to diminish the need for or value in quality messaging.  It is, of course, critical.  It is to at least whisper into our collective marketing ears.

Want customers / clients for life?  Listen closely.  Given the time and opportunity, the market will tell you the secrets to their loyalty.

Measure What Really Matters

More than once in recent weeks I’ve participated in (or overheard out of the corner-of-an-ear) discussions on how time-consuming social media has become, what the payoff might be, and when it might be realized. (Don’t act like you haven’t asked some version of the same questions.)
Not only is the issue real; it is legitimate. It isn’t as though any of us has either a shortage of work, or an overabundance of free time on our hands.

Why are we here? What keeps pulling us back? When will the investment pay off? And will we recognize the payoff when it occurs?

If the numbers game doesn’t meet your needs – i.e. the accumulation of followers, friends and fans -- the issue becomes pointed. Get beyond the metrics that are relatively easy to skew in a positive direction, and what is the measure for success? And even when it comes to the numbers aspect of direct marketing, when might it be the best investment to simply buy connections.

So…what about all the time a comprehensive social media strategy requires -- Is it worth it?

Measuring Intangibles

There have been volumes written on the “ROI of social media.” Virtually all discuss the idea that social is an investment in relationships. And relationships are tough to measure. They are dynamic. Some days they are stronger than others. The best weather storms and grow deep over time. And client loyalty initiatives notwithstanding, relationship is an intangible asset.

To apply a standard designed to quantify tangibles when attempting to measure intangibles is to ignore the fact that the two live and operate in opposite sides of the brain. (This is really a topic unto itself, but if you wrestle with this idea, check Chip Conley’s thoughts on measuring what matters, here.)

If we are to accurately measure the value of social media we must rethink the measurement process. Not retool; simply rethink. Align perspective.

In a presentation titled The Power of Vulnerability (click to view), social researcher and storyteller Brene Brown begins with this premise: in the social arena, connection is what matters most. The ability to feel connected is of ultimate importance to human beings.

Now…if you skimmed that last paragraph, take a second to re-read.

For everyone wondering about the social media explosion, or what the return on the time invested might be, the answer lies in the way we think about connecting. As Brown suggests, human beings are prewired to connect, to belong, and to share. Social media is simply an extremely efficient way to make connection possible.

With this in mind, here are four cornerstones of a productive way to connect:

1. Be about building. There are plenty for whom social media is just another numbers game. Gather (and solicit) enough names, create a pitch, and sell widgets. But if you’re here to connect, be about building something to which others are drawn – a discussion, a group, a community.

2. Give unconditionally. Agendas and expectations kill relationships. If you want folks to connect with what you’re building, figure out how to give something of value. This is not to suggest that you shouldn’t ever ask for something or make a “pitch”; it is to say that if the first thing you do with every connection is fire off a Direct Message selling your software, you may not be building lasting relationships.

3. Be personal, real, and appropriately transparent. Brene Brown talks about the critical nature of vulnerability. We won’t presume that social media marketing is the venue for total transparency; but if you hope to build enduring relationships, social calls for language, tone and thesis that resonate. Absent a quality that is unmistakably real, your connections will be nominal. And of little long-term value.

4. Target smart. One of the greatest challenges associated with establishing rewarding connections in social media is defining with whom you wish to connect. There is, unfortunately, no single easy answer for this; however, begin by being selective around subject matter, individuals / groups you admire, and issues around which you have affinity. Social is an enormous pool. Be focused, and you’ll realize valuable connections sooner rather than later.

Ultimately value must be reflected on the bottom-line. But if connections and relationships are valued assets, short-term numbers rarely tell the whole story. Never underestimate the value of intangibles. Measure What Matters.

Enough Talk About Listening!

If you interact with a significant other, a neighbor, team members or co-workers, no one needs to tell you that listening is critical to almost any relationship.

What we must not overlook is the fact that all listening is not equal.  Query your favorite search engine for “types of listening” and you’ll find plenty of content on Discriminating (I-get-to-pick-and-choose), Passive (I’m-not-really-engaged) and a handful of other labels that seem like attempts to quantify the fact that sometimes we listen; often we fake it.

It is not difficult to make a case for Discriminating Listening in selected situations.  After all, it is almost impossible to find a market segment that is not flooded with messages, each making as big a splash as possible in pursuit of mind share.  The art of communication often seems inexorably linked to the metrics of media buys, production costs and decibels.  The result can be deafening.

And with all the talk about the subject, one can’t help wondering whether marketers are listening.

An Opportunity to Reinvent

Few will admit it, but the proof is in the execution of strategies.  Most strategies indicate that messaging is what we value most.

While we focus on the creation and delivery of the message we ignore at least two things central to the most basic communication theory:

Like it or not (and many struggle mightily with this) the basic building block of communication is the dynamism of shared experiences.  Shared experience is the byproduct of interaction, participation, and collaboration.  It does not begin with messaging.

Enter Intentional Listening – listening by design, with purpose, with ears wide open.  This is the opportunity and potential of Social Media.

And though the irony of talking about it this much is not lost, here is fodder for what can hopefully be an on-going discussion around one of the most critical practices if you're venturing into social media.

Five Keys to Intentional Listening

1.     Begin by asking “to whom should we be listening?” as opposed to “what should we be saying?”  Somewhere in the course of the media age we have come to equate the best communication solely with message creation and delivery.  And though this is not to say that the quality of messaging is not critical, it is to suggest that perhaps we have placed the proverbial cart before the horse.  The most successful marketing always begins with target identification and research.

2.     Take note (scrupulously) of what your target audience cares about.  Review tweet streams, examine past posts, and browse lists of friends and followers.  This “listening” will yield some of the best marketing intelligence available – a glimpse into what your market values and invests in.

It 

3.     Build on shared experiences.  Listen carefully and your market will tell you exactly what it takes to connect.  Build your connection strategy around shared experiences, interests, values and common needs.  (If you are unable to identify this point of connection, return to number 1.)

4.     Remember the arithmetic.  Listen more than you talk…at minimum, two times more.  Practically speaking, retweet more than you tweet your own message, ask questions that promote conversations around what your target market values.  If the only time you seek interaction or feedback is when you want to precipitate action on your behalf, your arithmetic is wrong.  Intentional Listening is about what it takes to build relationship.  It is not about exploiting a podium or pulpit.  In short, give more than you expect to receive.

5.     Help build.  Community is the life-blood of social media.  Help build it and, with deference to the better mousetraps that might come along, your market will beat a path to your door.  Build connections.  Invest more time in a cause, event or idea that is important to your market than you do in asking targets to join your cause, and you’re on the road to relationships based on shared experiences.  And there is dynamism in there.

This is the challenge for social media strategists: do we view this evolving arena as a message delivery media, or do we see it for what it is – a way to invest in Intentional Listening.  The former view squanders the potential, turning social media presence into little more than a firestorm of sound bites.

Practice Intentional Listening and we’re on the road to shared experiences, valued collaboration, relationships that endure – and yes, loyal friends, fans, clients and customers.

At The Heart of Today's Game-Changing Marketing Strategies

Ask a dozen professionals from a variety of endeavors to define marketing and you will likely receive variations on two or three different themes. Retailers, B-to-B enterprises, service providers, Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurial start-ups – and everything in between -- often view, plan and budget for marketing from unique perspectives.

But all of us, unique perspectives notwithstanding, count on our marketing investments to do one thing: contribute to a change – in awareness, in behavior, in loyalty, in habits or routines.

You may not think of or define marketing as an agent of change, but consider it. Regardless of the deliverable, from a single effort to an entire campaign, marketing is designed to instigate some type of change in the status quo. It may be about transforming a target into a client, expanding a customer’s use of your product/service line, creating awareness, or deepening loyalty to a brand. But effective marketing is, at its core, an agent of change.

Enter “Social Media”

I don’t believe any single solution is the holy grail of marketing; but the so-called “social media” options present marketers a new level of access to a critical dynamic of change – the oft overlooked (or ignored) element of dialogue.

Simply put, dialogue is the life-blood of enduring change. One-off decisions and temporary digressions can be precipitated by an event, an incentive or a compelling message. Dynamic campaigns can certainly win customers. But lasting change – the kind that lies at the heart of repeat business and customer loyalty – is the byproduct of feedback, conversations and the dialogue attendant to shared experiences. And “Social” provides a platform for numerous approaches to each of these activities.

We have long recognized the potential impact of “word-of-mouth” marketing. Get satisfied clients/customers talking about their experience with your product or service, and the marketing game changes. No longer is it the voice of the company extolling benefits; customer-originated messages have authenticity. Shared experiences resonate.

Add the element of actual real-time feedback, and you’ve tapped into the real marketing potential of social media; now you’re building relationships. And relationships trump everything. Relationship is the context for turst. Conversations that allow for questions and answers, musings, what-ifs, and even the airing of a problem – this kind of dialogue is the DNA of relationships that grow and thrive.

So when you wonder about the role of social media in a marketing strategy…or how to introduce the idea to leaders in your company…or what the best practices might be with respect to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, remember the seed that eventually gives rise to the most pervasive and enduring change your market will ever know: today’s game-changing marketing plans create shared experiences, encourage on-going dialogue, and build communities with clients and 

The Role of Proactive Listening in Social Media

Here’s the problem: we believe that once we’ve delivered a message -- written it, recorded it, spoken it aloud, hit “SEND” or (truth be told) even outlined it in bullet-form -- that we have Communicated. Put another way (and maybe a bit more to the point), when we think about communicating, we inevitably think about message delivery.

Conventional wisdom views “Great Communicators” as those gifted in the art of articulation. When it comes to marketing communication, we seek a wordsmith, an award-winning designer, and those able to grab an audience by the eye and ear, create and produce at the highest level...and deliver the message.

Enter the "Social Media."

View social media marketing tools through conventional eyes -- that is, see them primarily as message delivery vehicles -- and you sacrifice the opportunity to organically add a new dimension to your marketing efforts. Am I the only one who, upon first hearing about Twitter, scoffed -- wondering what value could be contained in 140 character limit for each message? How profound or poetic might one be when brevity is enforced? (My appreciation for Emily Dickinson notwithstanding.)

Clueless. Because I was thinking only in terms of delivering my message.

And while i may be slow, i did eventually come to realize that the real power of social media is that listening is at its core.

In fact, unlock the art of proactive listening in the social media, and you’ll discover a way to connect with your audience that will change your marketing -- both in terms of strategy, and execution.

To that end, here are a three ideas on how to use social media to proactively listen.

1. Master two or three questions. That's all it takes. Pose the right query to followers, fans and even foes, and you tap into the best marketing research available -- insight into what matters most to your clients/customers and targets, directly from them. And never underestimate the potential of a 140 character survey.

2. Build a Feedback mechanism. What this ends up looking like will depend on the tool, but you can bet your unhappy customers will utilize every tool at their disposal (remember the United Breaks Guitars video?). Be proactive and facilitate (encourage) conversations about your product or service -- the good and not so good -- and you'll hear about problems and opportunities in real time. This "conversation-context" is significantly more productive than a complaint box or traditional reactive approach to customer service. (By the way -- defensiveness has no place in a proactive feedback mechansim. Avoid it at all costs.)

3. Spend more time taking content in than you do dispensing your message. There is, no doubt, a more poetic way to articulate that idea; but we'll forgo poetry in favor of connecting. You get the idea. Listen (much) more than you speak. Read more than you write. I've seen varying suggestions as to effective ratios, and don't profess to have a proven formula. I think in terms of no more than 1 in 5 communication efforts revolving around a marketing message. I know a few folks who hit more like 1 in 10 when it comes to Twitter.

Three ideas. I'd appreciate hearing yours.

Imagine a marketing strategy built around on-going proactive listening. No telling how the marketplace might change!

Beyond Connections, to Building Relationships

It is news to no one that when it comes to marketing (especially in the professional services arena) relationships trump everything.

A challenge in the pursuit of this asset is to recognize the difference between connections and relationships. (Or, for that matter, the difference between followers and relationships.)

At the risk of oversimplifying, establishing connections is relatively easy.  Building and nurturing relationships is not.

Networking events can yield scores, even hundreds of business cards.  Devote the time, and it is possible to connect with thousands via social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Add a budget to the equation and it is possible to grow a contact list exponentially.

And while making contact is where it begins, a connection does not constitute a relationship.  Relating with an individual or a company (sorry about this) almost always requires two things – dialogue and shared experience. And this, for many, is where it gets tricky.

If we misunderstand what constitutes dialogue, we’re in for a long, winding, and likely frustrating journey.

We’ve long acknowledged the fact that communication is critical to building and nurturing relationships. The problem -- or at least part of the problem -- comes in the way marketing communication is typically defined. Most of the time we act as though communication is a one-way street. The result is the creation of entire web sites, advertising campaigns, and collateral communication materials that, with varying degrees of effectiveness, begin and end with telling a story.

Even when the story is compelling and well told, there is a problem: the real strength in a relationship is derived more from listening than from the delivery of a message.  In fact, when it comes to nurturing a relationship, Listening may be the single most powerful and most under-utilized communication tool there is.

Time for a pause long enough to re-think that last sentence.

We all know this. We experience it every day with family, friends and in the workplace.

The more time I spend listening to those with whom I most want relationship, the closer I get to something made from fabric that transcends a satisfied customer and approaches a loyal (read “Something that will last”) friend... or even fan.

(And at the risk of pointing out the obvious – what holds true in business and marketing is doubly true with respect to personal relationships.)

For years the sophisticated marketing organization has invested in research and business intelligence in an effort to identify needs, test products and understand what will prompt the market to buy. But a process where a service provider or company makes calculated investnents in dialogue – in listening to the target market’s story -- that has been rare. 

But times, they are changing.

The so-called (and ill-named) social media afford every organization a way to listen to its market. Those still in need of a reason to develop a “social” strategy need look no further.

What should a company or service organization do to develop loyal, lasting relationships? Invest at least as much time listening as you do delivering a message to your market. In fact, ask the right two or three questions, listen closely, and your market will tell you exactly what it takes to move from contact to relationship.

And two things are apt to occur. You’ll likely end up revising the way you tell your story; and you’ll be driven to focus on the second part of the relationship equation – the customer / client experience.  That’s fodder for our next post.

Lennon & McCartney, A Lagniappe, And Social Media Muscle

Some things just deserve a spotlight. A Twitter friend -- @9inchmarketing (John, IRL) – reminded me of this reality a few weeks ago when he introduced me to the Purple Goldfish Project. This is an organized effort to draw attention to the existence of Lagniappes (the practice of giving something extra) in the course of everyday business. Herein is one such tale.

I met Bob Magruder more moons ago than either of us care to admit. Chances are, you know him, too; or you know his voice, at least. For more than three decades he’s been the “voice” of local, regional and national advertising campaigns, as well as the authoritative persuader on promotional, instructional and training videos. You can sample some of his work here.

I was an inexperienced ad guy. He was a pro. From the outset it was clear that Bob employed an approach to his business that set him apart. His “customer is the boss” perspective was surprisingly rare among commercial talent the agency worked with.  And he always showed up prepared, wanting to give more than was expected to make every project better; but that is not the story.

Bob’s lagniappe is found in the significant something extra he did – and continues to do for colleagues, apprentices and out-right competitors.

Yes…even competitors. For years I watched as one of the busiest and most talented guys in the highly competitive and often cut throat “voice acting” business would invest in teaching aspiring talent how to take work away from him!

To be fair, he did sell his instruction from time to time; but, for years I’ve watched him give time and often even foot the bill to help scores of folks trying to make it in the business.

Now, this isn't a conventional lagniappe.  I don't remember ever hearing him talk about why he did this. For that matter, he never talked about doing it at all. When he reads this he’ll wonder what the fuss is about, becasue this was not a strategy or tactical approach. It is born of who he really is, and what he believes in: give clients more than is expected; and give back to an industry that supports you.

In recent months, while reading, thinking, and writing about the growing impact of social media, I’ve been reminded of Bob’s style. He would talk with anyone, share ideas, wonder about trends, and always welcome a conversation. But it never felt like strategizing. It was, in my view at least, the natural response of a guy that enjoyed conversation and collaboration, was always willing to listen, and from whom you would always get more than you paid for.

A Lennon-McCartney tune on the “Let It Be” album captures what Bob taught me (and hundreds of others). It is what the Purple Goldfish Project is all about. It is social media’s hidden muscle. “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”

Magruder reminds me that nothing is more powerful than sharing with someone. This is the heart and soul of social media.

The Discipline of Listening vs. The Art of Messaging

Listening doesn't come easy.

For anyone (or any business) with a point of view, an opinion, a measure of conviction, and the means to disseminate a message listening is rarely what first comes to mind when addressing the communication process.

Client feedback initiatives and market research notwithstanding, from the instant an infant realizes what it takes to relieve the pains of hunger, our practical view of communication focuses on creating and delivering a message.  We are conditioned to view charisma, wordsmithing and creative genius as the components of great communication.  Result?  We equate message delivery with communication.

Listening is...well, just silence.  Golden, perhaps.  But certainly not communicating.

(We could spend a couple of paragraphs discussing how this view has worked out thus far, but let's get to the good part.)

Here's the proposition: communication is one of those counter-intuitive disciplines that works exactly opposite of the way we think; it begins when we learn how to listen.

And the discipline of listening is what gives shape to the creative art of messaging.

Discipline and Art are not at odds when it comes to communication; rather, they are two essential halves that create the whole.  For marketing professionals, this gives rise to a two-fold go-forward challenge:

• Beef up the portfolio of proactive listening tools (Social Media affords great possibilities here); and,
• Practice resisting the temptation to go straight to messaging.

Thoughts?

Social Media: The Fabric of Community

Time to acknowledge the obvious: few things have had as much impact on the fabric of marketing as has the emergence of "Social Media."  In his book - The Chaos Scenario (see video above) - author, AdAge columnist and NPR commentator Bob Garfield goes as far as heralding the end of mass marketing as we know it.

Overstatement?  We are, afterall, hinting at a significant change for some communication innovations that have helped shape our marketing world.  Print, radio, moving pictures, television -- cable news, for crying out loud.

While many organizations (and marketers, for that matter) wrestle with the function and role of Social Media, and more still will debate some or all of Garfield's conclusions, few will argue that things are changing.  Fast.  So, for strategists, marketers and C-suite corporate leaders, here's an abbreviated take on what is changing, and at least part of why Social Media seems to be growing exponentially at the heart of the change.

We've gone from "the audience is listening" (with apologies to the THX audio folks) to the audience is in control.  (The cynic might say the inmates are running the asylum.)  That's it.  In increasing numbers, the targets are taking control of marketing -- distribution, creative, messaging -- all of it, without even the slightest respect for where marketing resources have been invested or the precise wording of the official company tagline.

Garfield calls this "Listenomics."  No longer is the distribution of a video marketing message, for example, limited to those able to invest huge sums in costly video production and television ad time.  Today a customer or client -- satisfied or unsatisfied -- has access to global distribution channels.  And in case there are questions about the viability of Social Media's channels, just ask United Airlines what precipitated more quantifiable response; their own media campaign or the now infamous "United Breaks Guitars" video produced by a very unhappy customer, and distributed via YouTube.  (Video below.)

Put another way, with the emergence of Social Media, word-of-mouth marketing is all grown up.  We have always understood its potential.  In most professional service circles referrals were the only form of business development (though rarely referenced as "marketing") until the 90's.  Even in the midst of mass media's hayday, a cornerstone of brand development has always been the voice of the customer, client or target -- even though almost always the voice of a paid actor.

Social Media is about the fabric of community -- the dynamism of dialogue.  It is the authentic voice of the marketplace.  Strategic planning sessions and budget meetings are producing questions about how to address its role, and how to think about resources and ROI.  We'll leave thoughts on those questions for another post.  But for today the question for marketers and company/corporate leaders is not whether Social Media is relevant; rather, it is whether we can break from messages that insist our targets listen to us, engage in a dialogue, listen to the marketplace, and enjoy the benefits of the most effective form of marketing any of us has ever seen -- word-of-mouth, all grown up.

Conversations, Relationships & Renaming Social Media

There are, no doubt, a few good reasons for some business endeavors -- in particular, professional service enterprises -- to have concerns over the use of social media.  For example, lawyers, doctors and accountants cannot be perceived to be offering legal, medical or tax advice in any media marketing context -- social or otherwise.

I believe every concern I've heard can be addressed; but I'll also cop to believing the benefits of conversations with clients and targets far outweigh concerns -- provided, of course, ethical and regulatory issues are appropriately addressed.

Smoke screens notwithstanding, it is that "conversation" idea that may be the real road block.  Many company leaders -- from the C-Suite to the board room -- don't know what to do with so-called social media because it allows for instant feedback and (almost) forces conversation.  This is a far cry from a view of media efforts as one-way communication "campaigns," allowing for carefully framed messaging and perceived ultimate control.  (Nevermind the possibility that a message might completely miss its target while swallowing up huge amounts of company resources.)

So, to the degree that the idea of employing social media as a part of a marketing and communications strategy is problematic, here are three thoughts that might help us frame the discussion anew in the coming weeks.

1. The ultimate goal of any marketing effort should be two-fold: to enhance the brand, and to move forward on a continuum that leads to a new or deeper relationship with the target.  Nothing accelerates the establishment and deepening of relationship like the give-and-take of conversations.
2. Real-time feedback affords actionable marketing intelligence; and nothing is more "real-time" than a cnoversation with a constituent, client or target.
3. Any opportunity to engage with a target audience is an opportunity to deepen a relationship -- even when the opportunity emanates from an issue or problem.  The best company leaders recognize negative feedback as an opportunity to win.

If, to some significant degree, you believe these three points, we have 3/4ths of the framework for a new way to talk about social media.  The final piece?  Don't call it Social Media.  To the uniniated, the term "social media" conjurs images that, at best, have little to do with business.  At worst -- come on, you know what images at this end of the spectrum look like.  Change the discussion.  Create a new label.

One suggestion: focus on the fact (and build conversations around the idea) that relationships trump everything.  I believe our goal as marketing professionals and company leaders is to facilitate deep, meaningful relationships that endure.  Those relationships deliver return on investment...and become part of a customer-based marketing community.  That community will let us know, loudly and clearly, when customer experience and marketing  message do not align.

Put another way: if we hope to build relationships, we'd better have a platform for meaningful dialogue with clients and targets.

What's the new name for social media?  In my view it builds on the concepts of conversation and relationship.  My guess is what we call it changes, depending on the audience.  (Ghosts of Communication Theory 101.) 

Two Takes on Tiger's Tale

Full disclosure: I have enormous misgivings over even commenting on the current Tiger Woods story. From a completely personal point of view, I regret that we are so captivated by the sight of a train wreck. Rationalize any way you like; that is what is happening here -- and we simply refuse to turn away.


For the past two days we've heard every conceivable variation on "it's the public's right to know." The latest (and tax dollars notwithstanding, the most ridiculous) came from a Dallas/Fort Worth radio host this morning who reasoned that this is a legitimate matter of public concern because the fire hydrant that was struck was public property. Really? Is that the best we can do.


Let's just admit it; we cannot turn our eyes away from an accident. We love dirty laundry. Some of us are self-conscious about it, and avert our eyes when near the gossip rags at grocery check out stands; but when the communication channel (regardless of the source) is CNN or MSNBC or Fox News or an RSS feed, even the most personal of issues becomes worthy of "the public's right to know."


That reality saddens me beyond any ability to describe without sounding preachy. But that's one side of the tale.


The other how Tiger and, presumably his advisors have chosen to mismanage the communication. All feelings aside, this is a public story. And, though I hope I am wrong for the sake of the human beings involved, choosing to say nothing never, ever works.


Unfortunately, stories like this don't go away when a strategy of silence is embraced. They linger. And often become larger than life.


Great public relations and communication isn't about "spin" control. It is about coming to grips with and addressing reality. Whatever the story, here's hoping Tiger Woods listens to some seasoned communications and public relations advice soon. Only then will he and his family find the privacy and quiet they long for today.

Communication Theory & The Glare of Friday Night Lights

Look -- I don't want to leave the impression that even in the middle of a high school football game I'm thinking about communication theories.  But last week, the Friday night lights of Texas high school gave me a headache.

Turns out those lights must trigger a screaming/screeching gene in some grown men and women -- or, to be more specific -- the grown woman seated directly over my right shoulder.

I'm all for cheering on the home team.  I can even get into an occasional "ohhh geez...how'd they miss that pass interference call" directed at no one in particular.  But seated a dozen rows up on the twenty yard line, at the end of the field opposite the action, I was finding it impossible to believe that the random (albeit consistent) wailing of one lone voice had any prayer of reaching the target of the communication.

The more my head began to pound the more I doubted the fan behind me had any specific target for her screams.  The cries of "defense" and "hit him" were simply expressions from the language of her intent...to create noise.

Later -- Saturday morning if I remember correctly -- I was able to concede that the fan behind me was, indeed, doing what any good fanatic is expected to do in the context -- she was making noise...participating in the game.  But, unwilling to completely let go of my point, I wondered how much more effective our fan communiqués might be were they executed in a way that might actually connect with the target -- be it the players on the field, or the officiating crew.  In fact, what fan has not experienced the impact of a stadium full of voices shouting DEFENSE over and over in unison -- perhaps even accompanied by the choreographed stomping of feet against metal bleachers.  Doesn't this (sorry for this) strategic approach come closer to the desired impact of fan participation?

Today -- fully over that headache -- I'll admit to having gone a bit far with the theory and strategic application.

But I do wonder -- how much of our communication -- in the marketplace and in our personal lifes -- is little more than a byproduct of the moment, contributing to noise that accomplishes nothing, and soon after diminishes into thin air...even as the enthusiastic screams offered up under the bright lights of Friday night.

Hits, Followers, Inflated Numbers and Noise

Question. When it comes to your business blog, twitter account or other social media foray, how do you measure success?

With the question of ROI on social media paramount on (or at least looming in) the minds of the financial analysts, it is tempting to fall back on the numbers. And while hits, followers, friends and connections are measures to be sure, are they the measure of social networking or web 2.0 successes?

In a recent roundtable with colleagues, a communications manager described a recent campaign designed to do nothing more than exponentially increase hits on a consultant’s blog. The campaign sounded like a radio station-style promotional gimmick with one major exception: the overwhelming majority of those lured to the consultant’s blog were not in any way, shape or form targets for the blog’s content. The goal was simply to achieve thousands of “hits.” The campaign was a blatant example of false advertising. Over 99% of those hitting the site, left as quickly as they arrived…never to visit the blog again.

In the spirit of giving the benefit of the doubt, perhaps the objective of the “hits” campaign was to demonstrate the potential of web 2.0 to the powers that be. But, assuming the best, the mere accumulation of numbers is a waste of time, creativity and resources.

If the “numbers” don’t represent relevant targets, the numbers are meaningless. They do not reflect connection, communication or relationship.

Those of us at the table openly scoffed at the folly. Why would anyone invest in such an effort? But a lone voice called us to task, comparing this campaign to the schemes and tools openly designed to increase your number of Twitter followers and Facebook friends…without respect to whether the increase in numbers equates to an increase in relevant connections.

A million followers is an impressive measure. But if they are not relevant targets, its little more than a noisy crowd.