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There was a time (not too long ago) when brands were learning the value of considering how customers are behaving online – learning from them, listening to what they are saying and engaging with them. Now we have reached a stage where this kind of benefit and learning is commonplace. In different ways and for different reasons, brands are listening to, learning from and engaging with people online. And they are getting huge benefits from this.

But with these changes and benefits comes a word of caution – just because it is often easier to find, identify and engage with people online we shouldn’t forget the offline. In fact the real benefit comes from when these two work together.

Social tools allow us to find people, sites and conversations that are influential – on a particular topic or with a particular audience. They allow us to get a more nuanced view about things (people might be influential on a very specific issue only, or for a limited time). And to some extent the automate this process. We can debate the concept of ‘influence’ and the way tools from Kred to PeerIndex and Klout measure it another time (and there is a debate to be had). But what is clear to anybody is that when it comes to the influence somebody has over others the lines between the offline and the online worlds are not just blurred, they overlap.

Let’s look at just two stories (based on work we have done with clients at FreshNetworks) that show the importance of offline to your social media influencer programmes.

1. The critical friend online; influencer offline

We had a community of influencers – a private space where these key customers were being talked to and asked their opinions on new products and services, potential changes to these and about the brand. A small tight-knit community of people chosen specifically on their propensity to recommend or influence others to buy from the brand.

In this mix was one customer who was usually only ever critical – they would be negative about ideas, critical of developments and were not evidently engaging in conversations about the brand externally. We thought this person might have made it into the group by mistake – they were not acting as we expected an influencer or brand advocate to act. It was when we brought these influencers together for an offline event that it became clear what was happening.

This influencer was acting as a critical friend online – they were in fact a huge brand advocate and were critical for this very reason (there is some good academic work on this behaviour). But offline their behaviour was very different. From what they were learning online they had converted people across the town they lived in to our client’s services and were even continuing to support them after they had purchased the product – providing support and advice on upgrades and other things to buy.

So this influencer was not exhibiting the behaviours we expected to see online. But by treating them as an influencer and engaging them online we were seeing huge offline impact.

2. How offline events power online influencer

Many influencer engagement programmes rely on engaging people online so that they carry out an action online. Brands talk to them via their blog or Twitter; from time-to-time they might email or call them so they can speak to them directly. But all these communications are one-to-one and don’t really help us bond or get to know each other.

The value of getting your influencers together offline can help to really kick-start their online activity. In one case we had a group of professionals who we knew had the right connections and were leaders in their own fields online but that were not sharing and talking as much as we might expect. One evening in a pub they could all get to changed that. We talked, exchanged ideas, got to know each other as people. We didn’t sell to them, or use nay gimmicks. We just got to know them, and they us. And when they left that evening their behaviour online changed.

That one evening in the pub had helped us to understand them more and helped them to understand us. Not only did just have the connections and respect online, they also had a real bond with us and would grow into useful influencers for the client online.

Author: Matt Rhodes     Matt Rhodes RSS Feed

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This article originally appeared on FreshNetworks Blog and has been republished with permission.

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1. Increasing Customer Satisfaction with Better Customer ServiceYour existing or potential customers can follow your business updates from your Twitter account in real time.   This gives you a unique opportunity to adjust or tweak all your business activities instantly according to your customers’ reactions.   This ability alone can give you an enormous advantage over your competitors who are not aware of the power of Twitter.   Also, you can search Twitter for any conversations that are related to your business and respond to feedback.   This ability gives you an opportunity to control and manage customer service for better customer satisfaction.

2. Breaking the Distanced Corporate Image and Communicating More Effectively 

Regardless of how hard you try, if you can’t make your business values and goals clear to people, all your marketing efforts become worthless.   Twitter can help you in this matter by giving you many opportunities to tell people clearly about your business values and goals.   You can have day to day chats on Twitter and let people follow easily what you are up to.   You can answer their questions instantly and clear up any doubts they may have. As you become closer and more open to people, you break the distanced corporate image and start to communicate more effectively with people.

3. Generating Traffic for Your Local Store and Website

By using Twitter, you can catch your customers’ attention with special offers or the announcements of online or offline events like contests.   When you arrange special offers or events, you can direct people to your local store or website to get more info, sign up, leave comments etc.   For example, if you sell kitchen cabinets online, you may offer promotional discounts for your new cabinet line.   Also, you may ask your followers how they like the new model with a fun questionnaire that is linked to your website and may give an incentive to people who complete the questionnaire on your website.   If your offer is valuable, your tweets can spread in no time on Twitter and let you stand out from the crowd easily.

4. Following the Trends in Your Industry and Watching Your Competitors Closely 

Obviously, Twitter is a marketing platform where the main activity is sharing information.   When you do a search related to your business or industry, Twitter will give you dozens of links to websites or blogs.   In fact, this is one of the benefits of Twitter which enables you to learn about current trends in your industry.   You can research local and global trends on Twitter and reach up-to-date information very conveniently.   Also, you can search to find out about your competitors’ current activities and strategies and follow if their activities and strategies are successful or not.   You can use this opportunity to repeat their successful strategies and also watch for the chance to collaborate with them.

5. Strengthening Your Connection with Your Local Community 

As mentioned before, Twitter offers beneficial opportunities both globally and locally.   If you have a local business or a local branch, you can include this location to your tweets to make it known by your followers.   Also, you can share useful local information, offer solutions to local social issues and support local events or causes.   All these efforts will create awareness for your local business and strengthen your connection with the local community.

As a conclusion, Twitter phenomenon offers your business great benefits.   Businesses that successfully use Twitter as a marketing platform can improve customer service, communicate better with customers, increase traffic to offline store or website, follow trends and competitors closely and connect with their local community.

As my creative partner @FamousAlice says, “competent and nice beats genius and difficult” when it comes to hiring, promoting and collaborating with team members – or selecting and working with vendors and consultants.

Competence is broadly understood as being good at what you do; but do not dismiss what it takes to be good – the education, experience, failure, success and of course opportunity. You might feel heartened to know that getting to the top rarely demands you to be the Wily E. Coyote, the super genius of your generation.

Actually, unless you have the idea and lone-wolf determination to launch the next Apple or you’re floating in pirate-free waters on a yacht as an heir to a Madoff-proof fortune, nice is the significantly larger factor when it comes to achieving success for most of us.

The great advantage of being nice – or learning to be nice

Nice is not the natural state for many, many people. You know it and so do I. I interact with tens of thousands of people from speaking and working in branding and communications. I interact with professionals, business owners, students, young managers, mid-career changers, and the gamut of people who work from all over the world.

About 20% of these people are nice. Another 25% can pretend for a while. The other half are acting irritated, frustrated, angry, rude, bored, and certainly self-centered. A fraction of those are just plain nasty. This makes your life as a nice person fantastic when it comes to the odds of people wanting to help you, hire you and send the best work your way.

Learn the language of nice

So, if you are looking to get ahead or get into your next great gig, learn the five languages of nice. Yes, it is that easy.

1. Trustworthiness. For example, learn to keep a secret. In fact, keep all of them. Be a vault. There’s no gain in sharing anything that someone tells you in confidence. Oh – and when you say yes, mean yes. And, do it.
2. Generosity. Keep your eyes open for a job that someone else might do well – and transfer the information to them. Be selfish about your karma.
3. Kindness. Next time, offer to go get a sandwich for a co-worker who’s going to miss lunch to make a deadline. Bring back packets of mayo AND mustard.
4. Compassion. For instance, sympathize with your boss. Act like you understand what it’s like to have all that pressure – and everything else that’s going on in his or her life.
5. Empathy. Feel the joy when your friend gets good news. Let tears of happiness well up in you when you see a soldier get that first kiss on home soil.

Being nice takes work

If you know my work, you know I say: “There is no magic threshold.” You can’t be nasty, indifferent, lazy, untruthful and unkind in your personal life and somehow be a nice person when you cross the threshold at the office door, meet a recruiter or prospect or write an email.

Paul Zak, cited by the New York Times as a leading authority in the emerging field of neuroeconomics, has been researching neuro-chemicals. There could be a possibility that genetics can cause people to be not-so-nice and based on these findings, what profession they are most suited for can be determined.

Apparently, if you can’t speak the languages of nice: you can always be a Wall Street trader. That counts you out of a whole lot of other opportunities – but at least you know where you belong.

Want to learn more about making your fortune by being nice? I will tell you for free. Email me: Nance@NanceRosen.com

Author:

Nance Rosen is the author of Speak Up! & Succeed. She speaks to business audiences around the world and is a resource for press, including print, broadcast and online journalists and bloggers covering social media and careers. Read more at NanceRosenBlog. Twitter name: nancerosen

Author: Personal Branding Blog     Personal Branding Blog on the Web Personal Branding Blog RSS Feed

The Personal Branding Blog offers branding and career advice from Dan Schawbel and his team of experts…. View full profile

This article originally appeared on Personal Branding Blog – Dan Schawbel and has been republished with permission.

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