Are You "In Control"?

I'm just learning to "trust the tribe" through social media. From my point of view, as well as that of my Clients, the issue is one of control. In traditional "push/interruption" marketing, we were in total control of the output (or at least, that's what we thought...). We controlled the message and the media. We controlled the timing, frequency and intensity. Then we measured our results and adjusted the mix to try to improve the outcomes. Then we SOLD, SOLD, SOLD! Features, Advantages, BENEFITS! Again, we controlled the message and delivery.

How did today’s managers rise to the top? Through exercising control over people, resources and processes to achieve results. Control has been learned and consistently reinforced. It’s internalized and “known.” We all want to “be in control.” In fact, don’t we demean someone who’s “out of control”?

Now, it seems to me, the "new" social/community architecture reverses the locus of control. The implications are clear: You (your brand, your offer) has to be relevant and meaningful to somebody. You have to matter in some way to someone. If you don't, you'll be ignored. If you try to push your message through, you'll be ignored.

In other words, you have to give up control to the tribe (thanks to Seth Godin for the metaphor). Today it’s necessary to be proactively reactive.

To be relevant and meaningful, it's critical to understand in detail and depth your intended user, their life, and the "job" they're trying to do (i.e., be customer-centric). There's an excellent (if somewhat dated now) article "Get Inside the Lives of Your Customers" by Patricia Seybold at Harvard Business Review (I found it on Amazon) that helps describe this process.

It's a new (marketing) world today — one where the community has control and the supplier has to work very hard to tune in and satisfy Customer needs, wants and demands. It’s marketing’s version of the old Trust exercise: “fall back into your partner’s arms — they’ll catch you…” No more "push" — hello "pull."

//Richard Randolph

Florida Customer Service Institute