In the latest issue of Fortune magazine, prominent people talked about the best advice they ever received. Lauren Zalaznick, President, Women & Lifestyle Entertainment Networks, NBC Universal, stated the best advice she ever received was to listen.
Great advice – probably the best for anyone in marketing. And with today’s social media tools, it is now easier than ever.
Twitter: Peter Shankman (twitter.com/skydiver) tweeted about the great service, but poor wi-fi, at a hotel he was staying at. Someone at that hotel was monitoring Twitter and immediately had the problem resolved.
Facebook: Totino’s Pizza has 47 fan groups on Facebook where people talk about their favorite pizza, best toppings to add to a pizza and products they don’t like. Think about how much the Totino’s product team could learn about their evangelists without paying a dime for formal research.
Rating Sites like Yelp, Kudzu, City Search: Ratings sites allow people to post what they like and don’t like about your company. If you aren’t getting five-star ratings, do you know why? Looking at your customer reviews will let you know what you are doing well and where you need improvement.
Blogs & YouTube: People are passionate. And now they have the tools to express their passion through words and video. What are bloggers writing about your company? Have people posted videos about your service? Remember the YouTube video where a Comcast service tech fell asleep on the couch while waiting on the phone for Comcast technical support?
Every day I am asked how to use social media for marketing. My response? Listen to your audience.
