{"id":5427,"date":"2014-04-18T19:33:40","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T19:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=5427"},"modified":"2014-12-20T17:31:27","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T17:31:27","slug":"let-go-of-the-fear-and-own-social-via-insidecxm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/let-go-of-the-fear-and-own-social-via-insidecxm\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Go of the Fear and Own Social ~via @InsideCXM"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just about every business owner recognizes the importance of using social media.\u00a0To that end, they arrange for web sites to be built, have accounts on all the major social networking sites, and regularly post information about what their businesses are offering and doing.\u00a0While that\u2019s fine, these efforts are still relying mainly on pushing information toward consumers and attempting to treat their responses like data.\u00a0That\u2019s where things need to change.<\/p>\n

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Social Empowerment and Relationships<\/b> <\/p>\n

Whether\u00a0brands\u00a0want to admit it or not, consumers already have social empowerment, and they\u2019re\u00a0using it every day.\u00a0They do more than read what\u00a0brands\u00a0post on their Facebook pages or their Twitter accounts.\u00a0They also decide whether to comment on those posts or share them in some manner with their friends.\u00a0In short, the\u00a0very nature of social gives\u00a0consumers\u00a0the power to\u00a0take the information and use it any way they see fit.<\/p>\n

For many executives and\u00a0business\u00a0owners,\u00a0this is difficult to face.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0used to being in\u00a0control\u00a0of their information and deciding what is done with it.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0used to\u00a0traditional\u00a0advertising campaigns\u00a0and\u00a0using\u00a0focus groups\u00a0to develop\u00a0products\u2014doing things the way they\u2019ve always done them.\u00a0Digital disruption has thrown a monkey wrench into everything they\u2019re familiar with, and many are unwilling to let go of that control.<\/p>\n

But you know what? It\u2019s time to stop complaining,\u00a0to stop being afraid and to learn to make the most of it.\u00a0There\u2019s no going back to business as usual.\u00a0Rather than fighting it, innovative companies have seen this coming and are acting on it\u2014shifting their mindset from controlling the conversation to listening and facilitating\u00a0the new\u00a0social conversation. It\u2019s a shift every brand will need to learn to make, both internally and externally.\u00a0Doing so will make it easier to see consumers as people rather than data,\u00a0to empower your employees and advocates to share your story,\u00a0and\u00a0to\u00a0create a return on relationship that\u2019s greater than anything\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0ever experienced.<\/p>\n

A Return to a Small Town Approach
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\nIn many ways, the modern world of social networking is a lot like doing business in a small town. In that environment, people are buying from their friends \u2013 their neighbors \u2013 people they see every day.\u00a0They know each other\u2019s spouses and kids;\u00a0they go to the same restaurants, and they remember each other\u2019s birthdays.\u00a0The selling process is all about relationships, and how those relationships work to provide benefits to both parties.<\/p>\n

With social empowerment, this return to listening and learning\u2013getting\u00a0to know customers as friends and not simply statistics\u2014takes\u00a0a lot of effort. Since new people come into the circle of friends constantly, and the opinions of old friends are subject to change, it means that\u00a0brands must be willing to change with them.\u00a0It means listening to what they have to say, asking questions to clarify what they mean, and then taking what they say to heart. That\u2019s not easy, especially for anyone who has for years been used to working with impersonal data and using it to design everything from packaging to mass media campaigns.<\/p>\n

Let\u00a0Go\u00a0of the Fear
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\nTo my mind, true social empowerment means recognizing the fears\u00a0you have regarding social communication\u00a0and learning to overcome them. Admit\u00a0you have\u00a0some fear of a changing business landscape.\u00a0Admit\u00a0that you fear relationships will change over time.\u00a0Admit that all the control is no longer in\u00a0your hands.\u00a0Once that\u2019s\u00a0done, it\u2019s much easier to step back and begin to ask the really hard questions:<\/p>\n

– How do I fit in to this different way of thinking?<\/p>\n

– What can I do to build relationships that last?<\/p>\n

– How do I empower my employees to really listen and make connections with our customers?<\/p>\n

Adjusting to this brave new world takes guts. It means getting beaten up a little. Even so, I believe\u00a0it\u2019s essential if you want your company to move forward. Get out of your own way. Start\u00a0going where people talk, and\u00a0start listening to what they have to say.\u00a0Use that knowledge to write a strategy for\u00a0delivering\u00a0more value\u00a0and\u00a0better customer experience,\u00a0as well as create a\u00a0more collaborative internal environment. The tools are out there\u2014and if you\u2019ll step out on faith and use them, you can build relationships and make\u00a0your\u00a0brand\u00a0stronger than ever.<\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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Originally posted at\u00a0InsideCXM<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0MARCH 31, 2014\u00a0\u00a0\/\/\u00a0Expert Insight<\/a><\/em><\/header>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just about every business owner recognizes the importance of using social media.\u00a0To that end, they arrange for web sites to be built, have accounts on all the major social networking sites, and regularly post information about what their businesses are offering and doing.\u00a0While that\u2019s fine, these efforts are still relying mainly on pushing information toward … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,7],"tags":[1370,25,358,480,30,1029,897],"class_list":["post-5427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-tedrubin","tag-ronr","tag-brand","tag-relationships","tag-return-on-relationship","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-marketing","tag-social-media-strategy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5428,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5427\/revisions\/5428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}