Increasing Employee & Client Engagement

The Iron Man… no not the movie.  The Real Iron Man.  Cal Ripken Jr. was praised just for “showing up” everyday for work.  He surpassed a 56 year old record when he played his 2,131st game on September 6, 1995 and played a total of 2,632 games in a row or 17 total seasons.  That is not a destination, but a journey that was built over extended over time.  A legacy of consistency.

A long term view, not a one hit wonder…   Whether you are writing a special report, articles, monthly newsletter or blog posts they all require consistency.    To feel connected people need consistent intervals of communication.  So today lets look at it from how often.

People are routine by nature…  One of our most popular products we sell is calendars.  If I have one of my clients who give a yearly calendar away and one year they skip, I will get calls from there customers asking where their calendar is from that company. 

I know when my son was very young, we had him on a very set schedule and routine.  Even though he was too young to talk, when we tried to deviate from that routine, he would definitely let us know.  If he ate at noon, he wanted to eat at noon.  His nap was at 2 sharp.

Post on Consistent Schedule…  For a blog at least once a week (would prefer 2-3)  and a newsletter once a month.  So if you plan to post 3 times a week, then you need to try to post at the same days and same time every week.  I don’t think it is good to post one week and 4 the next.   If you are doing a monthly newsletter, than make sure you set a date it goes out and stick to it.

Last thought… Consistent without true insight or value, is worthless.  People would rather have random pure insight than consistent crap.  So make sure you provide consistently HIGH VALUED info. 

It reminds me when I was playing college golf and we heard over and over that practice makes perfect.  This is absolutely not true because you can ingrain bad habits as well as you can good ones.  So just practicing or in our world producing content is not enough.  Only PERFECT practice makes perfect or only high value will produce high value.

It is a journey.  A marathon.  It requires sustained effort.  Don’t be like a stopwatch… this is not something you can just start and stop when you want.  Commit for the long haul.  Til death do us part.

I will be on a panel of distinguished industry leaders this Thursday May 14th at Maggiano’s in Buckhead from 11:30 to 1 PM.

Discussion Topic PROFITING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA IN B2B MARKETING SUCCESS

Listen to compelling panel discussion from industry leaders! What works, what doesn’t and where to spend your marketing dollars to get the maximum return.

Here was a 2 minute video with one of my answers

Panelists:

Shawn Keith, Senior Manager Web Strategy, Sage Software

Micky Long, VP Strategic Consulting, Arketi Group

Chad Rothschild, Author/Blogger, “Increasing Employee and Client Engagement”

Brandy Nagel, Marketing Catalyst - Case Study: Georgia Tech’s Innovation Institute

Sign Up here

www.bmaatlanta.com

Would love to see you there.

Thank you for all the emails and questions last week about the foundational truths of Social Media.  It sounded like it added value to a lot of people.  Based on a lot of your questions, I wanted to add this post to further illustrate and hopefully provide further explanation to help you create your strategy.

Outbound Marketing vs Inbound Marketing…  How are you hunting these days??? Outbound Marketing is the more traditional way of hunting where you are out searching for suspects, prospects and customers. Inbound Marketing is getting people to hunt you down and find you. 

I believe both are needed in your overall strategy…  Yes, let me say it again.  You need BOTH.  You can not just sit around and wait for people to find you.  You have to be active.  Our activity will be different  though and will talk about later. 

With that said, Outbound is more difficult today and many new rules apply…  It is considered interruption.   Technology helps us in many ways, but it also presents more obstacles & built in walls.  Cold Calling is more difficult due to caller ID.  TV Advertising is more difficult because of DVR/Tivo.  Spam filters deflect email.  Etc. Etc.  So please understand me, outbound marketing is not dead, you just have to incorporate some new thinking though.

Inbound Marketing is permission based…  This concept is based around the new marketing model.  We have talked a lot about this and have tried to explain how this is changing the marketing landscape today.  There are several tools to aid in this.   For example.  Search Engine Optimization is critical to people finding you.  You may have a  Blog or white paper where you publish valued info and they find it and subscribe to it.  There are several ways to market & syndicate this message. 

The exciting news is… if they like your content they may subscribe to more information, like your enewsletter, ebooks or email which are by nature outbound.  The difference is they are giving PERMISSION to give them this outbound info.  What is even better is now they are excited about getting this information.  You don’t force feed it any more.  You are using a magnet to attract people rather than a hammer trying to beat them down for attention.  As my dad always said, it is easier to attract bees with honey.

Let me be clear…  This is not the only strategy you can employ and expect to get growth. It is not an end all be all.    You can not just expect that by people finding you it is enough.  That is what I call a find & hope strategy.   IF they find me, then I hope they do something.  Hope is not a strategy.   So I am saying it needs to be one leg of your strategy, but not your entire strategy.  

The great news is there is so many ways for you to get your message out there…  Ways for people to find out about you, to hear your voice and why they should buy from you.  The bad news is, it is easy to lose a lot of time and money searching for a mix to use on these and get the proper message out.  Companies are revamping & creating a new strategy in every part of marketing trying to wade through all the new marketing shifts & tools.
  
The Current Social Media Tools The tools will come and the tools will go…  The tools will always come and the tools will always go.  What is here today could be different in 6 months. Even though I will cover some of the hot tools in upcoming posts.  Just remember the foundation is what is most important.  Your foundational concept needs to be firmly planted in the new rules.  However, because of the fast pace of emerging technology, you have to be  fluid, flexible and liquid to change and shape with whatever new technology or tools come. 

The fifty thousand foot view is its about engagement, relationships and value.  Keep your finger on the pulse of the emerging tools and technologies.  Understand how they can help you and also the risks of how they can expose you.  You need to have four or five areas to your overall marketing strategy.

Hopefully this helps bring it more together for you.  Look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments.

Keep It Dynamic & Current… Keep the content relevant and fresh.  You want users to be excited to come back to get more.  You don’t want to be a one hit wonder.  Most sites look like brochures…  BORING.   Needs to be interactive… ENGAGING.  Have users create their own content.  Have polls to get instant feedback.

In addition, moniter the web… Use as a way to monitor what is being said about you and your product.  Set up Google Alerts so you can see everytime you are mentioned.  This can be used for instant feedback.  An opportunity to thank a customer or try to repair damage control on a not so happy customer so the proper corrective action can be taken.  It can also be used for Lead Generation.

Social Media Measurement Principles… One of the most talked about areas of Social Media.  How do we know what we are doing is working…    Measuring ROI is critical in these economic times.  Unfortunately, Social Media measurement of ROI has very few teeth.  I think the main reason is because it is not meant to be the entire strategy.

Is Social Media a Hype or the Real Hope… With the low cost to enter, people are expecting it to be their savior.  It still is only one leg of your marketing plan.  It should be an enhancer of all your other marketing. It is a way to engage your customers.

Will it create the sale? If you are trying to obtain conversions online, it may be easier to track than if you are trying to track a sale or conversion offline.(retail location).  There are very few things you buy directly online.  You may research a car online, but the chance of buying it online without test driving etc would be very small.  So you do want calls to action and places to get users to do specific things.  A conversion may not necessarily be a sale either.  It might be to sign up for a newsletter, more info, white paper or email.  If they print out directions, then there is a good chance they are coming to visit.

There is a site that I get a ton of information from.  I have done their webinars and really like the company.  Unfortunately, I have no say at my company if we would or could ever use their services.  I wouldn’t be in any phase of that process.  That doesn’t mean I haven’t been a marketing ally of theirs.  I have sent several contacts webinar info, their blog, and tweeted their events.   So even though I may never be a direct customer, possibly by the spreading of their info I will send them customers.  That is why they give so much away for free.  They get it.

A Final Note… Whatever you want to measure, you need to set them up at the beginning. Don’t make the classic mistake and take the ”wait and see” approach & wait until you get into it and determine what your goals are. Set your measurement goals upfront and you can always manuever your tracking.  More detailed in other areas.  I would measure deeper than wider.  Pick a couple of important points and drill down rather than try to measure 100 different categories or areas.  Get at least enough information to make sure you are fishing in the right pond.

• How did they find you?  Inbound or outbound?  Google Key Words/SEO or  Social Media etc.
• Look beyond the number or visitors.   How long did they stay, where did they go, where did they stay? Were they engaged and participating.  Did they make any comments or upload any of their own content?
• Have different conversions set up on every page to track.  If certain pages have higher conversions, determine why and make other pages as engaging.
• Try to determine if different days, times, or season affects behavior.  For instance someone may not convert during work hours but may wait until they get home etc.>

What creative and dynamic ways are you engaging customers?  How are you measuring success of your Social Media?

Does Size Matter… It is one of the biggest errors someone can make.  Bigger is not always better.  That goes against everything in American thinking.  We want big.  Big cars, big houses, big portions, big diamonds, big, big, big.  It is the American way.  However, in this arena, I feel it is important to go against our natural urges.  Because our ego will want everyone to read, hear or watch what we have to say.  This will not make it more successful though.  In my opinion, I would rather have a thousand raving fans than ten thousand luke warm admirers.  An admirer may respect you, but not necessary loyal.  The first sign something perceived better comes along… they are gone.  It could be lower price, a different or new attribute or something more trivial.  So size is very subjective to me.

An example of this could be a website.  Number of visits and click through rates have always been key measures.  They really don’t tell you anything.  It doesn’t tell you if the attitude of the user was happy or not.  If they like the brand or why they were there.  Were they engaged?  Were they researching or participating?  Did they convert to a customer or lead?  So determining the most important part still needs work… User Attitude & Behavior.  A lot of drilling down needs to take place.  Quality is more important than quantity.

Do Not Bite More Than You Can Chew… It is so easy to get swept up in the excitement that Social Media brings and builds. Social Media can be very daunting though.    Who wants to just dip a finger in and get a nibble.  Again the American way pokes its head out.  We want to be master of all.  We dive head first into every Social Media tool out there and become master of none.

Lets try taking small bites and grow organically.  Lets list out all the different Social Media tools.  Do research on each of them.  Then prioritize each tool, set goals and determine the order in which you want to take on and tackle.  We will discuss a few of the specific tools soon, but let me illustrate this point with an example.

I am a man of big ambitions.  My wife is always having to reign me back in.  This year, I decided I was going to tackle organizing the basement…  In my “Tim The Tool Man Taylor” (from show Home Improvement), I went to Home Depot and bought every known organizing piece available.  I had shelving systems, big clear containers with lids.  You get the picture.  Then I moved everything out of the basement and into the backyard.  It looked more like a grave yard for stuff.  Sanford & Sons theme song would of been playing at this funeral.

My wife came downstairs, and I wish you could of seen the look on her face.  It was priceless.  It was a look of disbelief, and SHOCK.  She looked over at me.  I was sitting in a chair, elbows on my knees and my hands pressed against my forehead.  She knew my heart was in the right place, but my stomach was bigger than my mouth…   She could tell I was overwhelmed and no clue how to start.  In a soft & gentle voice, and a shaking of her head… her advice was to just take it room by room and she would help me get started.  It turned into a team project.  We got the first room done.  We started getting momentum.  We picked up pace and speed… Clean & organized basement.

So when you feel overwhelmed.  Compartmentalize.  Create buckets.  Step by step.  Dont take the next rung until you completed the one before it.  Easier to fight a bunch of smaller battles than one big one.

What size is the perfect size?  How big or how much is to much?

Markets Are Communites… Your goal in Social Media is to create a community… a following.  Continually create remarkable & valuable content first.  People will hold that information dear and close.  Remember, all that is needed for the basis of community is common interest, connection to it and passion for it.

After a while, because of the common interest, the community will take over.  Info will go from Leader to Community and then spread horizontally.  So it is important to create tools for the community to be able to communicate with the community.   The Grateful Dead did this better than anyone I can think of.  The Dead Heads.

When Developing a Community:

• Determine the Reason People Are Gathering - Information Gathering, Networking etc.
• Again… Deliver Value and then Deliver More.
• Engage Them… Get People to Participate.  Empower Them.  Determine Ways For the Community to Share Thoughts, Information, Ideas and Insights.
• Get Permission to Opt Into Further Communication.  This Will Help People Remain Connected. -Newsletter etc.

Communities Are Conversations… Conversations are going on with or without you.  So join in.  Participate. Determine what the “bigger piece of pie”, that your company, product or service encompass.  The solution that keeps your target audience awake.  Then base all of your conversations around that.

Here a few things to keep in mind in developing those conversations.

• Understand what is driving the conversations?
• What influences the conversations?
• What is keeping your suspects, prospects and customers up at night?
• What is the mutually interesting connection taking place and common topic of interest shared.

Even More Important Is To Keep In Mind All the Conversations Going On Vertically, Horizontally & Diagonally…

• Management to Employee
• Management to Customer
• Employee to Employee
• Employee to Customer
• Employee to Supplier
• Customer to Customer
• Management to … ; Employee to …;  Customer to …  & on

Create conversations and a community and you can create a MOVEMENT…

How are you going to create a community???   How do you develop conversations that spread???

Hopefully, by now, you are at least challenging what your belief was before.  All this is the foundation for the strategies we will be talking about next month.  If I haven’t proved it yet. If my overwhelming passion about this still didn’t make you feel it.  If I have done a horrible job explaining and convincing you that engagement is the new promised land.   Then today my goal will be to give you the final nail. Then in my next post, I am bringing the hammer which will nail it down for you.   I feel it is my job to shout to the world and to push and challenge you  to exploring further how you can engage your clients & employees and get greater results.

Feel free to add your comments at the bottom of this article on what’s worked for you. It’s a great way to make a good impression and meet new contacts.

Everything Pointed Me Back To Engagement…

I have done hundreds and hundreds of hours of research (my wife will try to make you believe it is thousands).  I have read, studied and spoke to some great pioneers in fields of branding, thought leadership, social media, permission marketing, inbound marketing and “new marketing”.    No matter who I was talking to or reading…Everything just brought me back to engagement.  WHY???  Because that is the ULTIMATE GOAL and END RESULT of all of the fields I mentioned.  They are all tactics or ways to engage your audience.  After all of my research, it came down to these basic fundamentals. (click on link below for previous post)

1.  Caring & Sharing

2.  Involvement

3.  Understanding

4.  Connection

5.  Appreciation

6.  Performance

7. Genuine, Authentic & Transparent

8. Communication, Collaboration & Actively Listening

9. Measurement & Feedback

Hopefully you see how important the foundation for engagement is for the survival of your company in the years to come.  More importantly is you see the risks of ignoring it, putting it on the backburner or just not putting the adequate resources to it are just too high.

Tell me your thoughts on engagement?  Is it the real deal?  Can it change the direction of your company?

(PS Dont forget, I have a big surprise in my next post which is the hammer that will drive down this last nail)

American Idol OWNS TV!   It is the most popular show on TV today and has been for many years.  I know dozens of people who not only watch the show, but are obsessed with it.  Their Tuesday’s and Wednesdays are always booked.  They live and die by what happens each week.  They watch and read as much as they can.  They spend an hour or two voting each week.  The amazing thing is the wide range of watcher segments.  It goes from teenage to retired.  It is more than just a singing competition… It is a National and probably Global obsession.  I hope this case study can bring the elements of engagement together for you.

What Makes American Idol The Top Rated Show…

American Idol encompasses engagement.  That is why the show is a continuous hit.  When you combine all the core elements of engagement and add in the chance for viewers to particpate in the show and really involving them and making them feel a part of it by allowing them to vote.   It is a winning combination.  I feel if the judges picked who stayed and who went, it would not be as widely successful and why it has dwarfed Survivor, Road Rules, Big Brother and others.

American Idol Uses Several Engagement Strategies… Yesterday, I mentioned how American Idol invited feedback from the judges and this gets the audience engaged.  It is LIVE.  There is no editing.  It is real time feedback.  The judges are put on the spot to offer genuine, authentic, and transparent observations about the performances.  It makes people choose sides.  They agree with the judges or they don’t.

It Creates deep connections and associations with the viewers… All of the performers are also genuine & authentic.  They talk about them so you feel like you really know them.  A big difference from dancing with the stars.  They take you behind the scenes and show the towns excitement for them and what it took for them to get where they are.  Not only do the viewers connect and identify with each participant, they connect with other viewers.  The have created an American Idol community with chat rooms, forums to talk about the show.  Up to date info.  This makes it spread horizontally.
American Idol Gets It… People spend hours not just watching the show, but actually taking their most greatest asset, time, to vote.  That participatory involvement is crucial.  It takes the viewer from a bistandard to the action oriented verb.  No longer a viewer, but a RAVING FAN!!!  I expect in the not to distant future we will see Twitter or another instant messaging tool enabled on the show more engaging than texting brought to the limelight.  Constant feeds, instant engagement on the TV or online.  That will take it to another level.

What Corporations & Businesses Can Learn From American Idol… Obviously what this whole platform is about.  Engage your audience.  Make it a two way stream.  One where participation is not only welcomed, but expected.  Determine ways that will have action, and determine a call to action.  Make it part of the strategy and not just an after thought.  Encourage Engagement.  Make people choose sides.  Take polls and have clients and employees part of the decision making process.  Make them feel they have a part in the success.  That their opinion matters and they can add value.  This will draw not only experiences, but form a closer identity, connection and association with your company & brand.

What engaging strategies are you using?  What ways can you involve your audience?  What ways can you encourage engagement?

In our building of our house, measurement is the roof. We all want feedback. It is natural. We want it whether it is good or bad.

My wife loves American Idol. I am not really a fan, but have watched the show with her a couple of times. The fans vote to see who will continue on, but they have this panel of judges who critique the performance. From what I can tell the judges have no power on who moves on but everyone anxiously sits on the edge of their seats and awaits for the judges reactions to the performance like it means something. Paula Abdul typically tries to be overly nice and give positive critiques, but you have this one guy named Simon. You either love him or hate him. To get him to give you anything positive you REALLY have to EARN it because if he says something nice it is a rare feat.

Feel free to add your own comments at the bottom of this article on what’s worked for you.  It is a great way to make a good impression and meet new contacts.

We all want feedback…

We want some indication of where we are and how we are doing. We want to keep our finger on the pulse. See if we are alive or dead…

Feedback can be used for reinforcement and continuous improvement…

A company wants feedback from its customers and employees want feedback from its supervisors.  They want confirmation or be able to take corrective measures. The worst scenario is not knowing either way.  That leaves you status quo.  There is no such thing as staying the same.  You are either getting better or worse.  If you are not getting better than your competition is closing that gap, which is in turn making you worse.

Tiger Woods Relentless Pursuit of Perfection…

I just had lunch with Hank Haney, who is Tiger Woods golf coach and he told a story about how all of these players were saying they were working to be the number one player in the world.  After reading one of the articles, Tiger looked at Hank and said… “Do they not think I am going to get any better?”…   Hank went on to say… the only thing Tiger concentrates on is getting better.  He said he never has once heard him mention breaking any record or making any certain amount of money.  If he continues to improve, the other things will take care of themselves.  That is why Tiger is the best.

How do you utilize feedback from your clients and employees?  Share how feedback positively or negatively has helped you?

I have a 4 year old son.  I will be working on my laptop and he will come up to me and ask me to put batteries in a car or train and I will automatically respond… OK.  He will put his hands on my face and turn it so I am looking him eye to eye.  I know you are not listening to me.  What he means is NOW!!!

Are All Women Right??? My wife and most any woman will call it “selective” hearing.  Men are famous for being told they hear only what they want to hear. Companies are just as guilty.  They hear what they want to hear.  Their perception is their reality.  Unfortunately, that is the quickest way to cut your own throat.  The bad news is they do it to themselves.  Active listening is participatory.  It is a two way dialogue.  It lends itself to engagement.  What do you know…

Watch Out, I Am About to Get on My Soapbox… If there is a magic bullet in the world, it would be communication.  That could probably solve and prevent most World Wars, National Issues, Divorces, and any other disengagement. Communication starts with active listening. I think most would agree that most companies have silos.  Every division, every dept, every team is on its own island.  I can’t wait to start talking about startegies to fix all this.  We are just identifing the issues.  Think about a perfect world… where everyone in the company feels wanted, they exchange information freely. They are collaborating and feeling like they are part of a team they actually believe in.  They are connected to one another, they believe in one another.  They feel they are part of something bigger, a tight knit community….

What ways can you create open communiation, collaboration & active listening?  What would need to happen for that to take place at your office?