Episode: VMC #145 – The Importance of Listening

Forget the traditional old-school ‘one to many’ communication model used abused by organizations to connect with their audience through controlled traditional-mass-media channels. No I’m not saying that traditional media models will die, they will eventually have to evolve in order to survive.

During the last years thanks to the Internet we had the rise of a huge number of new media channels so today what we are seeing is a communication that shifted to a ‘many-to-many’ model where no one is in control of the global conversation. No organizations and neither consumers. There simply is no control.

How brands/organizations should move then?…

Do everyone have to join the conversation? No

Should everyone be aware of the conversation? Yes

A simple step that would give an immediate return on investment (ROI) to ANY brand/organization is this: Start listening.

Start listening to your customers, audience, competitors, market… In this many-to-many world the conversation is about you, what you do, how you are doing it and what you represent. Side note: Yes, the conversation is taking place anyway whether you like it or not.

Honestly, how can you pretend your target audience/consumers to fall in love with you, with your organization, with your services if you don’t even listen to them? Listening will help you in skipping bad advertising campaigns, clueless PR, inefficient customer service… got the idea?!

Below you find a video snippet that I recorded during Itay Talgam‘s fantastic paddle symphony at the DLD conference (Munich). It’s a very simple (and entertaining ) example but the meaning behind it should make think many organizations…

What’s your take in this many-to-many era? I’m interested in hear your thoughts here on my blog or via Twitter @vascellari.

Andrea

Show Notes & Credits: DLD conference, Itay Talgam

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