The Changing Nature of How the Community Wants to Communicate

Earlier this week I was talking to a prospective client about the changing nature of customer and prospect behaviour and how the social web, specifically user-generated content was changing how we must think about communication. Being part of a global professional services firm, my prospective client was struggling with the idea that engagement via social channels like a blog would be welcomed or consumed by clients and prospective clients.

I made the point during the meeting that one of the key objectives every business must achieve is a mindset that we have to stop talking to our communities and start talking with them. Even in professional environments the opportunity exists to move away from monologue, blast-marketing based techniques to a model where the organisation and it’s key stakeholders know how to, and do engage with the various interesting communities in ways that resonate with the recipient.

With that in mind I caught a quote from one of Scott Monty’s SlideShare presentations today that sums this up very well:

One example I know of this quote in action is through noted Australian pioneer thought leader on innovation and creative thinking – Gary Bertwistle.

Last year during The Executive Connection’s All TEC Day roadshow, Gary shared his thoughts about how the Tour de Cure team had built the foundation in what is a crowded charity/foundation market into an engaging and powerful force for good. Gary stressed a key point of their strategy – they shifted their focus away from wanting contributions to wanting collaboration  – from their perspective a better outcome was achieved when they worked collaboratively with those who wanted to be part of the journey.

As we recover from what I think is our first Super Bowl driven by social media, it’s worth noting that there are many great examples of effective engagement happening away from the limelight. There is much to learn.