The Art of Engagement: Communicating to build trust. October 23, 2009
My redefinition of SEO is comprised of three core elements: Strategy, Engagement and Optimization. This post focuses on the 2nd element – Engagement – and why it’s crucial to the whole “web presence” thing. I touched on Optimization (in the form of scaled website optimization) a couple of days ago.
Engagement = Understanding and interacting.
Whether you’re a large corporation, a local branch of a not-for-profit organization, a collective of artists or a couple of friends trying to start a new business, there’s one constant: you have people. Even if you’re a fresh start-up, you still have people – they just haven’t found you yet.
What kind of people?
For the large corporation it could consist of stock holders, employees and customers. For the non-profit it could be groups of volunteers. There’s aspiring talent and potential collectors for artists, and the daring pair of entrepreneurs could be indebted to a number of venture capitalists. It doesn’t matter, though – the point is that everyone has people who rely on them for one thing or another.
There’s an inherent level of trust in something like that, but if that trust isn’t built on, it won’t be of much use. Staying engaged keeps communication flowing freely between parties, which helps increase the level of trust over time.
This isn’t a new concept, of course. It’s been done for generations, and it’s one of the cornerstones of traditional business activities.
Think back to your first part-time job. Remember the importance of customer service?
I worked in retail – a thrift store, actually – throughout high school, so I’ll be using the goods & services industry as my example.
In the case of retail, “our people” are the customers that we serve, and one of the first things we’re taught is that customer service is top priority. Know what the customers want; know what they need; know how to help them. Understanding the customer is crucial in order to keep them happy. The happier they are with the provided customer service, the more inclined they are to trust the business.
This early experience gave me a total appreciation for “working the floor” and helping people while simultaneously learning more about them. And most of those values have stuck with me over the last several years, straight through college and right into my current career.
What working at a thrift store has taught me about engagement:
Making Friends: It starts with “hello”.
Before you start pushing a concept, product or service on someone, get to know them a little. It isn’t networking or research or assessment, you’re just talking with them – that’s it. You have no ulterior motive and you have no intention of sealing the encounter with a sale or signature. Think to yourself: “This is a new person, I’ve never met them before, I’d like to know more about them!”
It doesn’t need to take 20 minutes – it can be as brief as a “Hi, I’m Andy, how are you doing?”
Assessing Intent: What are they looking for?
Now you that you know who they are, see if you can help them. Again, you have no ulterior motive – you just want to provide assistance and be as helpful as possible.
Do they know what they’re looking for? Are they browsing? Are they completely lost? Do they want you to provide advice, or do they want you to get out of their way? Do they grieve, or do they compliment? If they haven’t shooed you away, sort out the issue and determine exactly what it is that they’re seeking.
The Resolution: Provide a solution or provide an alternative.
Have a solution? Hand it over. If they’re after something specific and you know exactly where (or how) to get it for them, do it – don’t just point in a general direction and hope for the best. Make the delivery of the solution as simple and as convenient as possible.
If you can’t provide them with a solution, be open about it – trying to sneakily evade the question or provide a false answer won’t get you anywhere (trust me, I’ve tried). Do your best to provide an alternative, and if you can’t, at least take them to someone who can.
The Point: You’re not trying to sell. You’re trying to help.
I found the most success in sales and customer satisfaction (thus leading to repeat business and more sales over time) when I focused less on selling and more on helping. Helping led to trust, and trust led to a stronger relationship between myself and the customer.
I carried the same practice into my second job, which involved computer sales for a leading big-box retailer. While other sales reps lambasted me for not selling enough warranties in a single shift or pushing enough accessories onto a customer, I took no notice; there were signs of success that the other sales reps weren’t noticing.
For instance, I had a family – newly immigrated to Canada – come through the store. I approached them as I would approach anyone else. I spent nearly an hour answering their questions and comparing different products, and then I let them leave to continue their comparison shopping at competing stores.
In the end, they came back. Not because we had the best deal, but because I took the time to actually help them out. They made a several-thousand-dollar purchase at our store, we got the warranty, and everyone was happy. I never pushed, I never tried to persuade – I just did my best to engage myself (helpfully) in their shopping experience.
Online Engagement: Taking interaction from the sales floor to the web.
We live in an era where consumers have the ability to educate themselves about products and services within mere minutes. It’s no longer a question of why they should buy a specific product, but rather a question of why they should buy it from you. People want to know who they’re dealing with, and on what terms.
Despite advancements in online technology, however, organizations continue to implement traditional means of communication – newsletters, print advertising, television commercials – that have simply been “tweaked” to work online.
Yes, these mediums have their place on the web; but they’re all one-way media and completely lack the human aspect of person-to-person engagement.
Worst Case Scenario? Just having a website isn’t enough.
Rule #1 of working a retail sales floor is to approach the customer directly. Don’t wait for them to approach you! The same rule should apply to online communication endeavours.
If you put up a website and think you’ll start pulling in traffic, you’re sorely mistaken. You need to approach your customers – your audience – proactively. The internet is simply too damn big for folks to discover your site by themselves, and as I’ve mentioned before, search engines are no longer the primary way for users to discover new content online.
The Social Web: Media the masses, by the masses.
Thanks to the social web, it’s immensely easy for individuals to connect to one another. It’s also a perfect opportunity get engaged with your audience.
Jump into the conversation. Mingle with the people. Post on blogs and forums, open yourself up to feedback and learn more about your audience. What do they like? What do they hate? Is there anything they want me to do differently?
Use what you’ve learned to improve your product, service, business or organization. In turn, provide your audience with something useful – something that doesn’t have a dollar sign attached to it – as a way of saying thanks.
While increased profits and constant growth is the overall aim of most companies, the satisfaction of “your people” should be your motivation when it comes to engaging them online. This is your chance to see things in a new light – take advantage of it!
So how does it tie back to having a web presence + SEO?
To have an effective web presence you need to have presence on the web! And sitting in a corner twiddling your thumbs isn’t going tohelp you establish a “presence” any time soon. Start engaging with your audience and your presence will be known.
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SEO is in the business of discovery, and thanks to the social web, word-of-mouth is playing a bigger role in online discovery than ever before. But if you’re not part of the conversation – if you’re not engaging with the folks who matter most (your audience) – you’re not going to benefit from the word-of-mouth.
** I’ll try to be less verbose in future posts. I tend to wander off topic when I start writing – there’s just so much to say! **
Posted in Internet Marketing, SEO