Conversational Marketing: Four Truths And One Lie

Moderated by Nielsen Online EVP of Digital Strategic Services Pete Blackshaw, the Keynote Panel Conversational Branding: Are You Listening? examined the notion of conversation as it applies to marketers engaging with consumers. On the panel were Dell Social Media/Blog Outreach Senior Manager Rhichard Binhammer, Nestle Head of Digital Marketing Michael Moore, Edelman Digital President Rick Murray, BlohGer Co-Founder Jory Des Jardins and COmcasts Corporate Communications VP Jennifer Khoury. Out of the panel came four truths and one not so true bit of information. Can you guess the not so truthful approach to conversational marketing?

1. You need to really focus on reaching your customers with authentic conversation through all touch points. Jennifer Khoury, VP, Corporate Communications at Comcast Corporation emphasizes this point—if you’ve come up with a great strategy for authentic conversation make sure that it’s not just a one-off strategy. Customers calling your 1-800 line should be getting the same honest chat as people using Twitter.

2. A question from the audience about how to convince their uninterested management to invest in a digital strategy. Richard suggests going out and researching your brand and company, and having evidence of what conversations are already being held online about them. The rest of the panel agrees: this always wakes up CEOs—they’re never aware of what’s being said and it often shocks them and makes them more interested in getting involved.
3. An explanation of the best practice for creating authentic conversation. Richard Binhammer from Dell (with the longest title ever: Senior Manager, Social Media/Blog Outreach, Conversations Communities and Conversations) outlines the process for this—it’s about listening and then hearing. “If you walk into a dinner conversation, you don’t just sit down and start talking. You have to be prepared, you have to know and see how you fit into it all.” He mentions that there are four to five thousand conversations occurring every day about Dell. There’s a reason he doesn’t jump into all of them.
4. All people in online communities really want is free stuff. If you want people to promote your product, just send them a sample for free, and then follow up a week later with a crate of wine or a iTunes gift card. When they call you out for doing this or write negative reviews, send them a sternly written letter expressing how you’ll be sending the collection agency to get all that free stuff back unless they remove the offending posts.
5. Bloggers are an important gauge for public opinion. Jory Des Jardins, Co-Founder and President of Strategic Alliances with BlogHer spoke about how bloggers are changing, and become savvier to pitches from brands and agencies. A press release isn’t going to start a conversation—it will get word out, but that’s no longer good enough. Use familiar bloggers as a testing ground for your conversation strategy—have them tell you what does and doesn’t work before you send it out to the digital masses.

Nice marketing

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