Richter7 Blog » engagement

Writers Arise!

Amanda Sanchez — Mon, 16 May 2011 23:16:02 +0000

Remember in your college news-writing class when you were quizzed on all the rules in the AP Stylebook? Okay, maybe you didn’t take a news-writing class, but if you did, and you didn’t memorize the 3,000-plus entries, then you probably won’t mind hearing they’ve added a few more social media terms to the 2011 edition. If you thought the social media fad would blow through by now, well, you better speak to the lexicographers and the associated press—they feel otherwise.

According to a recent tweet, AP Stylebook will now include such terms as end user, geolocation, geotagging, link shortener, stream and unfollow.

Luckily, with today’s technology, it’s easy (and even fun) to keep up via apps, Twitter feeds and the like. No more lugging that 1-pound, 1.6 ounce paperback around with no search functionality but your weary, opposable thumbs (don’t tell the printers that we suggested it).

If you didn’t join the conversation with @APStylebook on Twitter today, familiarize your inner journalist with the bible of the newspaper industry by searching hashtag #APStyleChat for tips and refreshers to improve your writing.

Are You Listening?

ecatlett — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:24:15 +0000

As the traditional ways of interacting with customers and prospects changes, no longer can we just talk TO them, now we need to talk WITH them. The importance of listening to the consumer becomes paramount and social media affords a much broader, honest, in-depth and cost effective way to really understand how your company or brand is being represented online. By listening first, you can develop a much more targeted and ultimately successful social strategy that forms a comprehensive part of the overall marketing mix.

BUT, you can’t develop this strategy without first listening to how your consumers are talking about you and your competitors online.

Do consumers talk about you predominantly in a negative or positive way? Are they letting their social graph know when they are on the way to your location or that they just finished eating your pizza? Do they want their friends to know they attended your event or are they complaining about lost luggage? And, are they doing this on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare or through forums, blogs etc.? Once you have a strong understanding of this, your social strategy can develop into something that will help effectively engage with and serve your customers and increase dialogue about your brand.

There are a number of monitoring tools out there that help facilitate this process. Programs like Radian6, Collective Intellect, Alterian and others aggregate mentions of your brand across online platforms including blogs, forums, Facebook, twitter, aggregators, etc. This is critical for a number of reasons:

Helps you gain a better understanding of how consumers feel about your brand;
Gives a quantitative understanding of the reach and influence your marketing initiatives are having; and
Increases your understanding of what platforms your brand and competitors are being talked about on which could influence your marketing strategy in terms of where you are advertising or platforms you may want to interact on.

Advertisers run focus groups and do research before presenting new brand messaging and the same should be done through social media. Listening gives you real-time, ongoing and trustworthy feedback on your company, product, offering, general sentiment, competitor comparisons and more.

Whether you listen through a paid service or have a team culling social media platforms through search engines, it’s an opportunity that can’t and shouldn’t be missed.

Tweeting Ballerinas

ecatlett — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:57:10 +0000

As a former ballet dancer, having spent 18 years of my life devoting over three hours of each day and both days on weekends to the craft, I was particularly interested in Monday’s front page article in the New York Times chronicling how professional ballet dancers are utilizing Twitter to humanize the trade – “Ballet Stars Now Tweet as Well as Flutter.”

Image courtesy of NYTimes.com

Since the 1800s, when Maria Taglioni was the first dancer to go en pointe, ballet dancers (both men and women) have worked to cultivate an aloofness, an ethereal air, showing that what they were doing was effortless. Believe me – it’s far from effortless.

Now, professional dancers at New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and others are airing the dirt and showing the human side of dance, blisters, broken toes and all.

Ashley Bouder, a principal dancer at NYCB, is one of the dancers featured in the article and makes a great point as to why Twitter is helping attract new audiences to ballet. Ashley tweets about her injuries, during intermission, between Acts, and even criticizes aspects of her own performance (something those of us watching would likely never have even noticed). She says that “her tactic is not to make followers feel bad about what they can’t see, but to show them how to look more closely.”

Another great point she makes is: “We don’t have celebrity status like actors in magazines…that’s the main reason people get interested in something – you get all the dirt, you get to know someone and you become attached…”

The word “engagement” is so frequently used when discussing social media strategy with our clients.

What are the best ways to engage with your target audience?
What purpose will engagement really serve? Do you want to open yourself up for criticism?
Can engagement go beyond more than a customer service tool?

If tweeting ballerinas tells us anything, it’s that engaging and humanizing yourself can attract a larger audience than you ever imagined. By allowing people glimpses into the inner workings of your brand and those running the company, you are allowing people to become attached and invested in you, with the end result being loyalty.