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c h a p t e r7:FIVE ESSENTIAL TIPS■Bonus: Listening Is Low Exposure
The previous sections articulate an end-to-end listening and response process: listen, ana-
lyze conversation and spot influencers, and then connect this information with the cus-
tomers, offering it internally to employees who can address it as required and respond,
thereby closing the loop and creating a genuine sense of appreciation in the process.
As an example, consider an experience I had with Boingo, the Wi-Fi hotspot ser-
vices provider. I was in Newark airport’s Continental terminal, and the connection was
decidedly slow. I tweeted this information—in a helpful rather than snarky manner—
to @Boingo. With 5 minutes, I had a response, asking me to run a quick line-speed test.
That was nice, but what was even better was what happened a few days later. In my
Twitter stream I saw a tweet from @Boingo: “People who are always on our radar: ...”
and among the names listed was me, @evansdave. In the eyes of Boingo, I was now an
individual. I was recognized by Boingo as a specific customer. As crazy as it sounds—
or maybe not crazy at all—as the line from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas goes,
my loyalty to Boingo “grew ten sizes that day.” Even in the rare months that I don’t
travel—months that I know I will probably not be using a Boingo hotspot—I still hap-
pily pay the service fee. I want Boingo to stay in business. Listening and paying atten-
tion to what specific customers are saying is a great first step in building loyalty.
There’s an additional insight in the Boingo interaction, very much like the
insights into the Freshbooks case presented in Chapter 5, “Social Technology and
Business Decisions.” Businesses typically are not cold corporate entities, but rather are
made of individuals who enjoy what they do and take pride in the end result. It wasn’t
the abstract “Boingo Incorporated” that won me over: It was a one or more specific
employees who were enabled to respond to Boingo’s customers in ways that resulted
in a positive experience—even in the face of a negative issue—and to therefore earn
customer loyalty. It is the implementation of these internal processes—flip back to the
Freshbooks case too—that tap the collaborative, equal-footing relationship with cus-
tomers that define and drive social business.
If you’re not sold on the value of a formal listening program, consider this: Unlike
developing an external presence on the Social Web or changing a business process because
of what has been learned, listening is an activity that is in itself low exposure. The response
aside, you aren’t actually required to do anything: You are simply paying attention to what
is already being said. Basic listening provides a way to gauge your actual requirements
should you decide to begin responding (as @Boingo and @Continental and many others now
do). Listening gives you the insights and information you need to make smart choices in
how you might implement social technology in support of your business objectives.
In summary, you can use listening to build the social connections between your
organization and your marketplace by first understanding what is being said and how
it impacts you. You can do this without incurring significant costs (your time aside!)
and without creating exposure. In effect, you can leverage basic listening to shape your