Nov 6

Written by: Myra Norton
11/6/2008 9:40 AM

I am embarrassed to say that I have committed the cardinal sin of blogging – I stopped.  There really is no excuse.  It isn’t as if I don’t have a ton of things to question, ponder and discuss.  It just seems that there aren’t enough hours in the day.  So, I’d like to ask those of you out there who do such an amazing job of carrying on the conversation in the blogosphere in spite of your very busy lives, "How do you do it?!?!"  My friend, Jeremy Epstein, is one of the masters – check out his blog here.

In thinking about why I am struggling to stay on top of the blogging world, it occurred to me that there is a more important challenge facing companies and brands today (Community Analytics included!)– staying engaged with their audience in general.  I see this problem in some of the world’s largest companies – sure, they have corporate bloggers and online communities and email newsletters; but they aren’t really engaged – the conversation is still one-sided even in the age of social media. 

As I was contemplating this phenomena (you can see my mind tends to wander a bit), a funny thing happened.  I received a call from a board member who  was all excited because a friend of his had been singing our praises.  The interesting part is that his friend has no connection to Community Analytics – he heard about us from one of the Trusted Advisors we have connected with in our efforts to meet sales, marketing and strategy leaders where they are.  This Trusted Advisor isn’t a client; but he is admired by several of our clients and prospects.  We reached out to him a while ago to seek his thoughts on how we can best serve our market and deliver the highest value.  He told us, and we listened – that was it.  Yet now, he is carrying on the conversation for us – he is engaging with our audience on our behalf OF HIS OWN ACCORD.  I think that’s part of the answer – that’s how you stay engaged with your market.  You connect with the people whose voices matter from the perspective of your audience (don’t guess at this – let your market tell you who matters), you listen to them, you act with them and then they carry the conversation forward.

So, in this day and age, when none of us have enough time, find the voices that matter and make time for them – they will multiply your efforts in ways that will surprise you and your bottom line!

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