A few years back, my friend, Hugh MacLeod, did a blog post about companies having a Smarter Conversation with their customers. A few months ago my friend George was curious about how to get people talking about his company's work. A few days ago I recommended to another company that they begin to use their blog as a communications tool that controlled all their other social network activity. All these instances have been about having smarter conversations, and the new word for many companies here, is 'conversations'. In an older day, companies didn't converse with suppliers and customers. They dictated and lectured - but social media has changed all of that. Now, if you don't talk with your customers, they talk about you to others, and maybe not always in the nicest of ways. Here are some key points from Hugh's Smarter Conversation post."Social Media allows you to cheaply and quickly begin a smarter conversation. And once you get it going, that conversation starts bleeding out into all other areas of your business- including advertising, PR and corporate communications." "Start today. It’s never too late to begin a Smarter Conversation. Like I said, money or time is not the issue. Making the decision is the issue, and only you can do that."
I'm recommending to another potential client today that they start having a smarter conversation with their audience. Making that decision will be 90% of the battle won for them.
