Businesses want to be in the social media world.  They see the value.  They understand that their customers are talking about them, about their products, about their market.  My clients also know that customers are talking about themselves: their dreams, hopes and desires.

All searchable.  All interpretable.  All right there for business to read and thoughtfully respond to.

Thoughtfully respond to?!!?

Yes, thoughtfully respond to.

And here’s the problem.

Businesses have historically been run by people who have enjoyed (really enjoyed) the distance that existed between them and their clients.  One of my colleagues recently mentioned that the upper management of her company felt they were in a battle with their customers.

So, thoughtful and immediate response is really difficult for traditional companies. 

The first thing that clients mention is the cost.  “Do you know how much it would cost to be responsive?!”

The second thing that comes back is what I call “The Traditional PR Fallback.”  They want to hire me to be their voice.

The third protest is, “How do I know if this works? It’s only a couple of people with no life who get on line and say these things!”

These are all perfectly reasonable responses. Each of these questions answers itself and is each indicative of a business world in transition.  I will cover each of these over the next few posts.

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