Content marketing offers two-way communication, and that’s fantastic. But, are you taking the time to listen to what your customers are saying? Does your organization have processes in place to gather feedback from the social media channels you’re using? Do your employees have the power to act on that feedback? Surveys , dashboards, feedback and comments are possible tools to make this happen.
Why it’s so important to listen.
Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends and Influence People , said to “Listen First.” You’ve got to understand the issue before you can address it, and you can’t learn from your customers if you don’t listen. Let that inform your attitudes towards gathering feedback on social media and content marketing . Both formats offer you the ability to have a two-way conversation, but only if you stop talking long enough to hear what your audience is telling you. Then, you’ve got to make sure there’s a process in place to share that feedback.
Comment fields, facebook comments, likes, shares, and twitter are all offering you the chance to listen to your audience. Think about who in your organization collects that information, and how they share it internally. Does your sales team see it? Does your customer service team read it? Is there a regular report to senior levels of your marketing team? There’s a difference between simply dumping the feedback onto everyone’s desk and building a process to share it internally. Understand the time the second requires and make it happen.
Once your employees get that feedback, are they empowered to act on it?
This article on fastcompany.com details the importance empowering your employees , and how that idea helped DHL succeed. Gathering feedback is a waste of time if your social media managers and channel coordinators aren’t prepared to do something about those ideas and complaints from your customers. This requires internal trust in your organization, and it demands every employee buy into the corporate vision and mission.
Create a process to manage feedback
Define the parameters for managing feedback from your audience, and then define when an employee should go beyond those parameters. The captain of the good ship Netflix became a viral sensation when he solved a customer problem and did it in style.
Beyond empowering your employees, there are a plethora of tools you can use to monitor social media channels and understand the effects of your content marketing. Check out this list of 25 Awesome Social Media Tools Your Brand Should Be Using . The first five on the list are devoted to social listening. Because your audience is telling you something. Are you listening?