Buzz doesn’t sustain. Active Discussion does. Co-creation sustains and leads to loyalty.
As marcom disciplines meet on the muddy field of social media, we have to understand the different levels of customer engagement and what they are good for. Buzz – the sharing of something remarkable – can help raise awareness for a brand or idea but doesn’t often engage very deeply. And it doesn’t last. You create an entertaining video and distribute via the seven video sharing sites that matter. You count views as people link to it and email their friends, “OMFGYHTST.” And then it goes away or moves on to new viewers.
Active Discussion – you talk, you listen, you build a relationship – that involves people on a deeper level. Lenovo (client) just launched the second in a larger series of blogs. These are all opportunities to carry on active discussions with customers, influencers and even fans. These are ongoing discussions. Participants get to know (and trust) the authors of those blogs. That trust transfers over to the brand (or can). Some of this is basic psychology, some just common sense. While we are all working on a model for this ‘engagement’ measure, we shouldn’t disregard its power.
Co-creation is at the deep-end of the engagement pool. Inviting customers in to create products and services challenges them to be invested. If you listen to their suggestions and incorporate them like Samuel Adams did with the Longshot Homebrew Challenge or LEGO does with Mindstorms NXT then you can build loyalty.
I have never seen “OMFGYHTST.” before, and yet I knew what it meant immediately.
I think buzz leads to active discussion.
Posted by: Corinne | December 21, 2006 at 12:04 PM