The Humanization of Marketing Communications

Although anarchy might appear to reign on the Social Web (perhaps because best practices and governing rules are only now starting to emerge), Social Media and community cultivation and relationship building are not a free-for-all and should not be taken lightly. Not just anyone can jump in and solve problems or become a resource for a community. Companies need to create an internal strategy that officially assigns specific, versed, and highly knowledgeable people to help customers—nothing less. Every company has a planned inbound customer service approach. The outbound customer service approach should be given the same level of importance.

The amount of listening you do in active communities will dictate your level of participation. The conversations and reactions stemming from your participation will reveal immediate metrics. Any company can rely on reactive community relations; that’s easy. But at that point, it’s a little too late because you’re embarking on a control-and-repair program instead of a proactive campaign of nurturing and empowerment. Companies must learn from listening to and talking with customers to create specific content that addresses the wants and needs of customers and distribute that content within their communities. Doing so will enable you to translate the lessons learned from one-on-one conversations for the greater good of the company (and of the masses).