conversation

Many say that the art of good conversation is listening. We say that the golden rule of conversing online is also listening. But to who? how do you know what’s worth paying attention to, or where to go to listen in? The Internet is a little larger than your local post office, so standing about eavesdropping probably wouldn’t do you much good – where to turn when you want to find out what people are saying about you, your business, or your products?

If you want to find out what’s being said by people online, you generally have 3 options:

1. study page after page of Google search results;
2. check every social media site, searching each conversation;
3. visit WhosTalkin.com

WhosTalkin? is a social media search tool which allows visitors to quickly search popular social media sites, hang-outs, and platforms for keyword mentions. It’s a simple, quick, and easy tool to find which conversations are happening right now about the products, companies, or events you are intersted in.

Type in the term you want to check out, click search, and WhosTalkin will treat you to a list of results that feature mentions of your chosen term. WhosTalkin scopes out Twitter, Technorati, MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn, along with most popular social networks – so it’s a pretty powerful way of getting to grips with the recent buzz around certain terms in no time.

WhosTalkin seems to have huge promise. Recent sites and services have shown good promise, but we usually end up searching various sites to try to get a feel for whats being said around the Web. WhosTalkin does the leg work for you and seems to do a very good job of it. An RSS feed is on the cards for subscribers in the future, and then I can see this tool becoming an invaluable resource for anyone who cares if people are talking about their business (that’s you, right?).

Throw in the ability to save searches, review trends, and get a feel for how old a conversation thread is, and we might be seeing the birth of a future superstar.

I can see a lot of situations where this tool will prove it’s worth: Last-minute checks for sales leads or potential clients; Check out what people are saying about you and your business; Scope your competitors web presence; Identify conversations that are happening now for you to join about your products or business; Search out conversations about your hobbies and passions; Find like-minded people; See who’s talking about Britney Spears (or is that just me?).

When things are made this easy, there really is no excuse for not keeping your finger on the pulse. Start listening in on Who’s Talking about you and your business, it’s the perfect way to start engaging in conversation with your potential customers. Of course, if no-one is talking about your business, chances are no-one cares. Either that or you’re just plain boring.

Last week I outlined what a blog is, and began to look at why a business should invest time in developing, writing and promoting their own blog. Here I want to look at 6 key reasons why your company needs to blog:

1. Gathering Feedback – A blog can serve as an essential communication channel with your customers. Customers feedback, critiques, praises and complaints can prove invaluable. How much would you be prepared to spend on customer opinion polls, surveys and focus groups? A blog is a cost-effective way to listen to your customer feedback.

2. Clearer Communication – How would your business deliver relevant, up-to-date messages regarding events in your business or market to a broad audience, instantly? A blog helps you attract new customers and offer a personal touch to your communications with existing customers.

3. Google loves a blogger! – A blog can form a cost-effective, measurable solution to gaining higher rankings in the major search engines. Google loves relevant, updated, ever-changing content – the essence of a good blog, plus, if you’re talking about your market and business, your blog is naturally keyword heavy. (your talking about your products/services/industry after all, right?)

4. Blog for your staff - You value your customers feedback, thoughts and complaints, but how about your most valuable asset: your employees? Offering a channel for airing staff views and offering a virtual ‘water-cooler’ for your staff to discuss ideas, what’s working and what’s not, can provide direct feedback and it can help keep staff motivated and feeling valued.

5. Stay ahead of the competition – A blog allows you to demonstrate your industry expertise. Striking up conversations with potential and existing customers may well set you apart from your dull corporate competitor. If your competitors aren’t blogging, who are your customers listening to?

6. Extend your brand - Don’t just give your company a voice, how about a personality? A blog gives you the opportunity to talk to your customers in whatever accent you choose. The ethos of your company can be projected in the way you communicate, and what you choose to communicate about. A blog gives you the chance to further build on your brand.

Bonus 7. It’s the way you tell ‘em – Say what you want to say, when you want to say it – a blog allows unedited views, announcements or statements without being at the mercy of press editors. Press publications rarely tell it as you see it, so why aren’t you?

So, I believe these are among the most compelling reasons that your business has to join the on-line conversation, but the road to blogging bliss is crawling with considerations: who will write your blog? What will it be about? How often should you blog? Will it be hosted by yourself? Do we moderate comments? And more…

Of course, [warning: blatant service offering ahead] bpodr would be happy to help you implement your new blogging strategy, or just talk you through your options.

I received a press release this morning that put in physical terms the way the relationship between businesses and customers is changing. Here’s the gist of the release:

A new poll has revealed that 35% of Brits no longer want to receive printed business directories at home – preferring instead to look up information on the Internet or better still receive recommendations from friends. The results of the poll commissioned by local search website http://www.welovelocal.com and conducted by YouGov revealed that 67% trust word of mouth more than advertising.

Max Jennings, founder of local listings web-site http://www.welovelocal.com, commented: “more than 17.5 million(i) unwanted directories are produced every year, the waste is staggering, particularly when this survey demonstrates that 51% of all British adults are now using the Internet to find local businesses.”

The most telling number in the poll, however, is this: 67% of the British public trust word of mouth more than an advert when trying to find local businesses. Think about that when you next wonder about the ROI of placing an ad in your local directory or free newspaper. It’s no longer even about reaching an audience off-line: it’s about reaching an audience that trusts what it reads or hears.

Word of mouth is fine for small businesses with low capacity in a local market. As this scales – or as your business grows – you still need the trust factor of word of mouth but you meed more voices, more ears, and a wider geographic spread. That’s where on-line conversations take over. That’s when word of mouse begins to make a real difference to your business. Now, and in the future.