Warmly Embrace the Groundswell

Embracing the groundswell is the whole reason I’ve been talking about it during the past few blogs. If your company chooses to listen and accept the groundswell and learn from it then it’s the next logical step to embrace it.
Embracing something is difficult to do often. People can choose to believe it’s there but not fully embrace its full potential. Companies so often choose to think they are better off without the complication of the groundswell; well these companies won’t survive long enough to see that they were wrong.
Once people begin to realize there is no option but to embrace what the groundswell gives them, then they will fully begin to see the effects in store.  What does the groundswell give you the business? A group of your customers telling you what they think about your company, giving you tips and advice on how to make it better, and that’s just the beginning.
Taking advice and criticism from your customers is getting your foot into the door, once you have their ideas, use them. By taking what the customer says and applying it and using it to better your company and your company’s service you are beginning to embrace groundswell thinking.
Someone once said “ignorance is bliss,” please don’t apply this rule to groundswell thinking. Knowing what your customers views is crucial to success, and will save extensive amounts of money on marketing.
Companies such as Del Monte Foods listened to their customers and began collaborating with them to create products on their private community site. Del Monte listened to what their customers were saying, they took what they learned an began pitching ideas to their customers about what they would buy for their dogs.
By getting the inside edge from the customers that would ultimately be buying their products they were about to keep them involved in the whole creative process for their breakfast treats for dogs that had vitamins the treats.
What many CEO’s and company heads haven’t comprehended in the past is that not only does it take your company staff to come up with great ideas, it takes your customers. The groundswell is the simplest way to connect with them and gain their insights so why not listen and collaborate.
Before reading the groundswell when I received e-mails asking me to fill out the customer survey I was much more hesitant. Now, if it’s a company I like and support I don’t hesitate in giving them my opinion because with groundswell thinking, the company listens to their customers.
Another way to help improve company standards is to create a site where reviews are seen and heard. By showing you care and not being able to erase what customers have said you run the risk of losing your company if you don’t listen to your customers and change what is going wrong immediately.
The groundswell also helps things move much faster than with normal company policies. Speeding up issues let you not be able to ignore what’s happening because the speed at which companies can figure out what’s wrong and change it, is faster than ever before.
Embracing the groundswell is simple, and by now you should know the tools that will help you succeed. Your customers will appreciate your company more and also show you more loyalty as you listen and correct through groundswell thinking.

Groundswell of Dreams

“If you build it, they will come,” a simple and genius line from the movie “Field of Dreams”. The same idea applies to the groundswell.
The groundswell is the ideal place for people to support each other. Companies are beginning to learn that if they build a place for customer’s to connect and the subject or product is compelling enough the customers will join the network.
If you ask someone a question and they know the answer, usually they’ll respond. This simple question and answer game can cost millions for companies when they have telephone lines they use for customer service. But, companies such as Dell have learned that they can save by creating forums for customers to answer other customers’ questions.
Customers will connect with each other and therefore support the groundswell network they are on. What companies who harness these networks can do is listen to what their customers are saying and learn how they can grow as a company.
Hospitals have encouraged patients to join networks such as CarePages and CaringBridge so they can connect with family and friends when they are dealing with medical issues. These networks show how friends and family support patients, how patients support patients and many other connections. These sites let the patients and their families be able to deal with their medical issues instead of just being bombarded by friends and families.
Other networks who have honed in on the power of supportive networks are wikis. A very different aspect some people wouldn’t think of is that when people are able to voice their knowledge and opinions they can be compiled into wikis. Wikis are used in many different websites, they just have to be compelling websites, companies or topics and people begin to discuss and share.
Groundswell members not only need each other’s support they need your support as the company and the leading voice of the organization. Customers can keep things going for a while but it helps to comment or post a blog to keep the conversation going on the site.
As easily as you built it they came, but as quickly as customers get bored they can also leave and not visit your site if there isn’t something constantly happening.
Another thought to consider if you are thinking about building a community online is if there is already a community out there. If your customers have already created their own support community there is no need to create another, by listening in and watching that community you can learn a lot about what your customers are thinking.
But, if there is nothing out there for your company and you are going to build an online community there are a few things to know. In the book Groundswell their first tip is to start small and plan to get bigger. The second tip is reaching out to your most active customers and finding the enthusiast that will spark the community. Then plan on driving traffic to your community because no one knows your website exists, advertise and get the word out.
The last two tips are very important for getting your customers to come and stay. Building a reputation system for customers will make them want to be more involved so they are a more credible source on the site. As the company the last tip is simple, let your customers lead you. Customers know your products and know what they like and don’t like. Listen to them and follow their conversations over what went wrong or what was awesome about your product.
As simple as the quote is “if you build it, they will come.” There is work involved, but the movie “Field of Dreams” made the main character Ray work hard and sort out the kinks as well. Your company dreams can come true if you hone into the power of the groundswell.

Energize the way you work

Energizing the groundswell is one of the most important ways to get great word of mouth for your company. In the book Groundswell, it tells how you can get your customers to start talking about your company so you can build a better relationship with your customers.
Creating and energizing your customer base will change the relationships you have with them. Your company must decide how you want it to change and be ready for what your customers will be wanting.
Ratings and reviews are one of the more powerful ways to energize your customers. It’s not just for customer service, but it’s so you can know how effectively your product is suiting your customers and adjust. If you don’t adjust the reviews could end up hurting your company. Know the objective for your website and stick to it, but also be prepared to shift as your customers will be controlling the flow of conversation with ratings and reviews.
Brands such as L.L. Bean use ratings and reviews to help sell their products online. Other online companies thrive from reviews online since customers can’t see the product but can hear from other customers what they thought about the product and how well it worked for their situation.
Other companies that thrive on customer ratings are travel websites such as Hotels.com which prides themselves on their “hotel reviews from people like you.” Their savvy marketing campaign not only made people recognize their brand but I’m sure made more people go to their website and read reviews and write them in return.
Lego created an ambassadors program for their most important Lego enthusiast. This not only energizes those customers, but other customers because most Lego lovers eventually want to be those ambassadors so they are more willing to get involved to attain this title.
But an ambassadors program won’t work for every company, just the companies that have extreme enthusiast and a following that wants to connect through an online community. Lego enthusiasts are members on LUGNET and get their news from the Lego ambassadors, but this won’t work for every company.
Another way to energize your customers is through creating an online community. The example given in Groundswell is the company Constant Contact. They created a home for their customers online to connect, give referrals and encourage each other to stick with the company. When they created this site not only were their good forums and positive comments but there also came the bad ones.
A company should know that you can’t have a website without hearing the bad side of your company. But, as Groundswell says, it’s not believable if all of the reviews are good. People like knowing that what they are getting is honest. So by Constant Contact responding to the negative forums that discussed them being a company that sends out spam they were able to discuss what their company stood for and send a positive image to counter the negative.
Energizing the groundswell is a commitment; a company shouldn’t start if they don’t plan to stick with it. As a customer I know that I enjoy knowing the company cares and wants to hear my opinion. If you’ve created an online community, listen to your enthusiast, they’ll be there giving you direction to guide your brand. Listening to your customers is vital to the success of your online community. The enthusiast that are giving you feedback are important to the success of your brand name.

Blog it!

Blogging is a way millions of people communicate with the world and their audiences. In the groundswell, the authors tell how to talk with your customers through blogging. Beginning a blog isn’t as simple as it sounds, because you must begin with considering the appropriate technology for your customers.
After you’ve decided if you want to start a blog then you must decide the objective of your blog and who you will get to write your blog. Most companies have a CEO or president writing their blogs because it gives the customers the view from the top about the company.
The first thing a company must do is listen, which I’ve mentioned before. By listening to what people say you’ll have a whole new view of your company. From my experience I often view a company one way, but then when I look into their websites, or websites about them I realize I might have been thinking something totally different from what their key audience thinks.
The next thing to do is determine what your blog will be focused on. For some companies such as Urban Outfitters their blog talks about things going on all around the world which is good because it’s such an international brand. For other companies such as Southwest Airlines they have their “Nuts about Southwest” blog that brings together their audiences to talk about anything Southwest.
Determining if your blog will be a successful investment is something else you should do before creating your blog. If it doesn’t seem like it will be successful do some research to determine what you think will make it worth the investment. I feel like from a marketing standpoint, a blog is very smart because it is the direct link between you and your consumers, no press releases about it.
Figuring out your blogs voice is another thing. Will it be coming from one person, or many? So many different companies approach them in different ways; some being from just the head of the company and some from many different spokespeople. Peter Shankman, CEO of Help A Reporter Out, has his blog which reaches tons of people daily. This not only helps his company and company image, it helps out him the CEO of the company that puts a name with a face, making it more personal.
The next step after you’ve figured out your writer(s), rehearse, also known as practice, practice, practice! You’ve heard it since you were young, practice makes perfect, well with blogs this will help you work out the kinks and write clearly for your readers. The next step is very similar; develop an editorial process, who will be your editor before you post your blog.
The next two steps are marketing tools you shouldn’t leave out. Once you have a blog, figure out how to connect your readers to your company site, and how people will find your blog to begin with. With companies like Urban Outfitters, I found their blog by visiting their shopping website. When I typed in blog into google the companies that showed up on the first page definitely will get more hits to their blogs, than other blogs, companies appearing were: thewhitehouse.gov, Kanye West, and Seth Godin.
The last two things are that blogging is more than writing as the Groundswell says.  Begin by monitoring the blogosphere and responding to what people say about your company or relevant issues. If you talk about what people are already interested in, it makes it that much more interesting.
 The Groundswell’s last tip is be honest! Who wants to waste their time reading a bunch of garbage made up to make your company look good? Nobody does, so tell the truth, be honest with your customers and they’ll appreciate you telling them how it really is.

Listen! Your company needs the groundswell!

Listening is a skill not many people do well. In the groundswell everyone is constantly talking about themselves, each other and other companies. Well what if these people are talking about your company, will you listen then? You should, because if you don’t listen then someone else will listen to your customers, and possibly take those ideas they have for your product and form their own better product.
The groundswell is a trend that has given the voiceless a voice, letting people share their opinion about everything. Listening to these people is as easy as following them on their blogs, websites, or Twitter. As easy as it sounds, many companies aren’t listening the right way.
The groundswell has many members but singling out your target audience is key to getting the results you’re looking for. The first thing a company must do is figure out what role your target audience plays in the groundswell. By figuring out if your customers are creators, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators or inactive in the groundswell you can make your first decision.
After figuring out the role your customers play and assuming they take part in the groundswell in some form you must figure out what your company image is. Every company aspires to create an image they want their customers to view them as. However, as Ricardo Guimarães founder of Thymus Branding says “brands belong to customers, not companies.” So by listening to the groundswell you can figure out what brand your customers have created for your company.
 Figuring out how your customers view your company will allow you to begin taking steps to creating some sort of way to listen to their views about your business. If you don’t like to listen, then PR isn’t going to work out for you, because the rest of your business marketing strategy should be affected by what you hear from your market.
The best way to tap into the groundswell I feel is by setting up your own private community. By creating your own community similar to communities people are already a part of they can make connections to people with similar interest, they’ll begin talking about your product, service and themselves, and let you begin to see behind the reasons they are your customers. In the book Groundswell the authors talk about Communispace, a supplier of private online communities, created a community for New York’s Memorial Sloan Kittering Cancer Center. The community allowed marketing specialist to figure out why people came to the hospital and eventually where their marketing funds should be spent to better promote the cancer center. The community helped them realize and correct current problems within their work environment and better focus on patient needs.
Brand monitoring is another way to monitor your brand that shouldn’t be ignored. It can offer a different perspective and should definitely be done especially if you don’t have a current online community. Private companies will monitor the positive and negative comments about your company on the Internet. They will then deliver precise summary reports that should spread throughout different departments so the company can better focus its attention. This can help you pay attention to trends, get new ideas, prevent crisis and find influential sources that will overall help your company’s marketing strategy.
Listening to your consumers is a large task, but if handled appropriately can make your company stand out above the rest. You will better predict trends, save money on marketing and research and keep up with your company brand as your customers see it. Customers will speak openly and freely about your product helping guide your company to your customers wants and needs. So why listen to management guess at what the customer wants, when the groundswell lets you see exactly what they’re saying. Listen! It’s the easiest way to a successful company.

Don’t fear the Groundswell

The Groundswell is unavoidable so why are companies fearful? Well, there are many ways to execute the groundswell appropriately but there are also many ways to fail. So what should a company do that wants to enter the groundswell? POST as the Groundswell says, this is the four step planning process that can help a company succeed.

People are the first step to the post planning process. By companies knowing their consumers they can know what their interest are and what areas of the groundswell they are active in. By a company paying attention to where their consumers spend their time they are able to activate those types of blogs, wikis, or social networking sites. For example, PROpenMic, a site dedicated to public relations students, faculty and specialist, draws PR people in but by also having a Twitter account it connects to even more PR people who might not have been on PROpenMic before.

The next part of the POST planning process is objectives. A company must know what their goals and objectives are when trying to reach out to customers. There are many different objectives a company might have. Most companies already have objectives within their own corporate structure so why not just extend them into the groundswell.

A research tool many companies use is listening on the groundswell. They are able to better understand their customers and can better develop products and market them specifically to their customers. Usually companies would create a forum or some sort of way they can specifically hear their public’s interest.

Another objective companies use is talking to spread messages about their company. Often this is simply a mass e-mail to customers in their web base, using a banner advertisement on a website, search ads but most of all having a more interactive channel.

Energizing is another great way to reach out to your customers. By finding energetic and enthusiastic customers it excites other customers. Word of mouth is by far the most effective tool when it comes from a highly respected friend or person. A company must have energetic followers though, companies such as Lego and Activision.

Supporting is a very effective way to attain and retain loyal customers. This lets customers that have a natural draw towards each other find each other and create a relationship. Companies that support cancer research or other diseases or illnesses often have sections of their websites devoted to this sort of forum or social network.

Embracing is a way to show your objectives and further involve your customers into your business. Usually a company that uses embracing has already accomplished one of the other five goals. Urban Outfitters uses their website UrbanOutfitters.com to reach out to their teen to college and twenties age crowd. They have a blog, Facebook, MySpace, and RSS feed people can submit to. Their successful company reaches to people that are directly going to go and shop at their store. They also have multiple countries Urban Outfitters blogs you can read.

Strategy is the next part of the POST planning process. You must plan for change because the Groundswell is constantly changing. You must plan for changes in advance and how you can prepare for the possible threats that could come your way. Change isn’t always a bad thing though, most companies need a change to happen with their customers so they can further develop the relationships they once created.

Technology is the last part of the POST planning process. Remember, you must have figured out all other parts the people, objectives, and strategy before you can assume what technology is most effective. Companies are becoming much better at figuring out what types of technology are most effective for their customers as more types of technology arise.

The most important thing to remember is to not be afraid of the Groundswell! Accept it and embrace it because the technology is not going anywhere. Your company needs the Groundswell, and if it uses the POST system it should succeed.

Political roles in the Groundswell

Who is more active in the groundswell, republicans or democrats? According to the research in The Groundswell, democrats are more involved online.
Groundswell activities are an influential part of the primaries in the elections now more than ever. This past year the Democratic Party heavily relied on this form of media. The groundswell is the fastest way to react and put out information so in politics this is extremely beneficial. During elections if you were to look at each of the party’s websites daily usually there is about one new campaign video per day.
Before the groundswell politicians were not able to react quickly as they are now. Videos released by political parties aren’t the only influential videos released. In the past few elections celebrities and other prominent figures, not in politics, have felt they should make videos to promote their political candidates. In the groundswell people that wouldn’t regularly get news feed about the elections would definitely hear about these videos. Celebrities bring an audience that political parties often can’t attract.
Different roles are taken on by groundswell members. Each role groundswell members play is equally important. The groundswell’s roles must be played by different people. Some people play multiple roles, but by each person doing their part they make the groundswell successful.
Groundswell members in the political world contribute information and videos, people that create this content are the “creators.” “Critics” in the groundswell range from those people that comment on blogs, wall, websites, contribute to online forums or post ratings and reviews.  “Collectors” are the people who tag photos or pages, these people help connect others to the information they want to see. In politics these people are an important part of connecting others to the political news they want to hear, and sometimes don’t want to hear.
25 percent of all online U.S. adults are “joiners.” These people join social networks such as Facebook or MySpace and maintain these sites as they connect with others. Through social networking sites people are able to pass word to many other people about breaking news quickly. These sites also have developed programs so any news can go directly to your phone now, not just your computer. During the elections I received many political campaign invitations to groups that sent news about events, speeches and other important political news.
“Spectators” are the most popular of any of the groundswell member groups. “Spectators” occupy 48 percent of online U.S. adults. Being a spectator is by far the easiest of the groundswell jobs. These people watch videos posted by others, read blogs, listen to podcast, read online forums and read customer ratings and reviews. In politics “spectators” are able to learn so much more about political candidates than before groundswell times. “Spectators” can view campaign videos, debates, read what top political critics say and much more. Because of all of the different roles that come into play to make the groundswell happen it has changed the way political campaigns are run and will change the way political campaigns play out in the future.

Social Networking grows as You grow….

In a world where so many people thrive online in their relationships, but suffer in the real world; have Facebook and MySpace become a way for people to escape themselves? The way people connect has gotten so much more complex than when the web first started.
 

My first experience with interacting and talking online was when I was in middle school. AOL was the most exciting activity to me and my friends. It changed the way we interacted with each other at school because we were talking about who was talking online the previous evening. I’m not sure if it made our lives better at the time or worse. I know blackmail was quickly learned and this began the time when we all started to realize that nothing was private even in what we thought was a private conversation online. The Internet opened doors for information to be leaked and by the end of the day everyone at school knew what you and someone else had said online the night before.
 

AOL was only the beginning, in high school AIM was the new AOL and those of us who still had AOL had to recreate our accounts to keep up with the trends at school. When thinking back to how I viewed AIM, I didn’t even realize how huge it was and what a landmark I was partaking in. These were some of the first social networks, I met people from all over the world but it never clicked to me the power this could have on the markets in the future.

 I moved midway through my high school career. It was hard, but also a new experience and I was very open to experiencing new people and a new place. When I entered my new school I stayed connected with my old friends on AIM. Realizing I didn’t know the kids at my new school well I created a livejournal account which was what my new friends were in to.
 

Livejournal was my first blogging experience, I created my page trying to show who I was and what I was interested in. I became online friends with my new school friends and learned about their personalities, their past, and their aspirations through livejournal. Livejournal almost helped me speed up time because I was able to find out about my new friends before I really even knew them personally.
 

Between by junior and senior year in high school I created a MySpace where I linked up with old friends, current friends and made new friends from all over the country. My senior year in high school Facebook opened to high school students. A friend of mine said her sister in college was a member and that we all had to get a Facebook because it was the “it” thing. So of course we followed the trends, abandoning our AOL, AIM and livejournals to become Facebook fanatics. MySpace was much stronger than Facebook for a while but within a year Facebook picked up and ran and by the end of the year almost our whole school had Facebook. MySpace didn’t feel as protected as Facebook for a long time until privacy controls became a big issue and we all learned how to use them efficiently.
 

As my networking days continue, I think about what my life would have been like had I not be in a social network. Without being connected online I would be missing such a huge portion of my social life. Conversations that people might not have had in person, confessions, apologies and relationships that wouldn’t have haven’t without the Internet. Overall, with the good and the bad that has come from social networking, I’ve taken it as a positive social experience that has shaped who I am today.

Blogging changed the world

The power of the Internet has reached all sectors of the world market. Groundswell allows people to connect with people and accomplish most anything they want to create. Bloggers have changed the way people communicate,news is reported, and even how movements are started. Individual bloggers have also become famous from their insights into different sectors in society. Perez Hilton is a celebrity now because his opinions about celebrities and celebrity gossip made his blog a hit almost over night. Perez Hilton has over 100 million hits per month, according to Technorati a site that has a top blogs list. The next most visited blog on the list is boingboing.net which estimates about 25 million views per month.

These numbers are ridiculous,the influence blogs have on the public is huge. If you think about most billboards you pass, you can’t spend time looking at them, or go back to it over and over again. Billboards are selling items usually, bloggers are selling ideas. With blogs you can visit them over and over again, making comments, and really soaking the information in. Plus, the information that blogs give you is usually updated each day unlike a billboard, or advertisement in a magazine. In Groundswell it talks about the passage of the code to download movies online. Bloggers and others on the Internet became powerful behind their computer screens as they linked with others who had the same interest. Information becomes unstoppable due to the power of groundswell. Social networking has made information flow so quickly news is updated each second on the Internet. Before the Internet you had to watch the news or read a newspaper, now all it takes is one click, and you have the news, comments on the news, and more stories posted by bloggers for you to look into further.

Blogging is now one of the most effective ways to communicate. Most all companies have their own blogs now because they can have such a greater grasp on what their customers want and are interested in. Bloggers join together on different networks, in different interest groups and form a common bond which for businesses is very influential. All it takes is one blogger telling all their friends about a great product, or saying how terrible the product was to make or break a company’s chances. So by a company establishing a means of communication with their interest market they can have a heads up on how their customers will react to what the company creates.

In the book “Groundswell” the authors refer to another book called “Microcosmic God” by Theodore Sturgeon. In the book it talks about a “mad scientist” who creates a rapidly evolving race which the scientist watches and puts through obstacles. The race develops a generation in about eight days. The authors of “Groundswell” compare this mini race to the way the Internet has evolved. This scares me, a tiny community that thinks by itself and evolves more quickly than any single human being can think. As scary as this is however, this is what the Internet has become. No computer could supply all of the knowledge and depth that millions of people can supply.

So as I sit back and think about the discovery and the depth of knowledge that scientist, teachers, students, parents, doctors and yes bloggers have created, I am forced to be thankful and not fearful. Because as people collaborate with others we make connections on the Internet you could have never done without the Web.The world may be a scarier place because of such an influential Web with which we communicate. But, communication has become so much more open between customers and their companies that we are forced to accommodate because it will allowa better flow of communication in the business world and in people’s lives.