I’m All Ears

Or Why Listening Is The Way To People’s Hearts And Minds

This piece was inspired by my ever present inspirations I get while listening to music, in this case “Everybody’s Talkin’ (At Me)” by Beautiful South. Also the countless stories I hear when teaching, presenting and collecting stories, insights or inquiries as a part of series URLATalks (2010 — 2016).

Listening Is the New Black In Connecting And Engaging With People

There’s a new “trend” and “talk of the town” present not only in Social Media and Digital Marketing. It’s called Social Listening or, going back strictly to basics, it means: “Stop shouting and broadcasting about yourself”, open your ears and put others (THEM) first. In the information overload we get to experience every day, refraining from talking and resorting more to listening attentively, can often be decisive in catching what your audience is (not) saying, thinking, searching for, needing, googling if you wish. Understanding how hey think, process information, what triggers their behaviour is necessary to make your services be utmost aligned & tailored to the ones you’re serving, rather then executing “spray and pray” techniques that don’t work (even if somebody’s still preaching this wholeheartedly). Social Listening can be done advanced with tools and processes, eventhough it’s more important to actually understand what you wish to listen to and what’s the purpose behind it. It goes beyond just tracking and monitoring what’s being written or spoken about your brand / business, it’s definitely a more advanced dive into values, passions, intentions, needs, intents & beliefs of all those who are in dialogue with you. Or should be.

As a part of a pilot research for URLATalks we’ve picked 20 small entrepreneurs (businesses who do not have a dedicated SoMe team) on the local market who wanted to put themselves on the digital map or simply wanted to know how to “up their game” on existing platforms or possibly revive stories they’re creating. The following results were somehow surprising or unexpected:

1. 100% had an existing website connected with 1–2 social platforms, but did not use any plan or specific tactics to post nor to listen or engage with their audience, therefore their message, voice, tone and style of communication lacked consistency & stucture, therefore not serving any purpose than just “getting on board the digital train”.
2. 80% were not aware or had any knowledge of any existing SoMe tools either for automation, tracking, scheduling or social listening, further more the follower count did not “produce” much engagement with the content (engagement usually meant likes, but no comments, shares or further contact inquiries about the business or services). Putting it bluntly: they were not generating any new leads, contacts, business, sales via digital presence.
3. 75% had their business plan and strategy in place, yet when it came down to digital strategy they weren’t able to define their WHY in business, their story, voice, values and what makes their business = them. They had not put into place or actively worked on getting the image and detailed picture of how their business is perceived externally, how to engage their future prospects and what was (not) being said about them online. Furthermore, they were not actively collecting online data that existed “out there” about their business.

The results of the research and further talks made it obvious that they were missing out on important opportunities to create meaningful connections beyond F2F sales interactions, in-shop interactions, e-mail communication or customer service support. They were, putting it into wider perspective, skipping on the best food & drinks in town, plus dessert.

More Than Words

Listen Before You Speak. Listen More. The Act.

When we take a step back and open not only our hearing channels = ears, we also give our other senses and sensory channels the best opportunity to hear, sense, learn and recognize more than (just) words. Listening attentively (without having the need to give the best, fastest and smartest answer immediately) and observing, offers the opportunity to look closer at values, beliefs, intentions and needs of those who are talking. We get the unique chance to understand who they are, where they’re coming from and what they need from a business. Even more importantly, do they “feel you”, do they “get you” and are you “on the same page with them”.

Often it is necessary to do a reality check, meaning to define really clearly if my perception of my business is the same as theirs = my prospects, my converts, my buyers. Perhaps I think my products scream hip, millenial or trendy, when in fact it does not “speak the lingo” of this demographics and repels the values and needs of other demographic segments. Rather than misplacing my energy and effort to provide value to the wrong crowd, make sure you’ve selected the right venue & setup to play your tunes.

When starting out on the “listening highway” make sure you focus on three key areas:

1. Is your content resonating with your audience? Do you use their language, speaking to their values and are mindful of their sentiments? Or is your content plainly stand-offish and can easily get lost in the overwhelm of content overload out there?
2. Is your tone, voice and manner of “putting yourself out there” congruent across channels & communication platforms & across the entire customer journey? Or do you SAY something and it comes across as totally different in meaning, understanding or even actions?
3. Are you clogging their sensory channels & stuffing their worlds with ME, ME, ME, not giving them the space and possibility to get to know you, interact with you? Are you rather buy 2 get 1 free (plus we’ll throw an additional xyz in there, instead of offering 1 that suits exactly what someone wished & expressed before or when coming in contact with you & your business?

Listen Before You Speak. Listen More. Then Pace Yourself To Listen More….

Whenever I talk about training ourselves to become attentive listeners, I tell my audience to imagine a big sponge (yep, like Sponge Bob if you wish) that just sucks in & holds information in, processes it and then upon squeezing, it releases loads of processed, targeted, useful & precise information.

Since there is always the question of ROI and monetization of our actions and activities in every business, here’s WHY listening is the key to the hearts, minds and lives of your audience /fans / buyers / community.

Listening shows people = others that they matter (to you). It transcends the typical salesy & pushy role of sales & marketing and positions YOU as a real, empathic human being that doesn’t just talk to sell.

Listening is a great way to connect genuinely to others, to get to know them and let them have the time & space to get to know you. So it primarily works both ways, always giving benefits to both parties involved in this “relationship”.

Listening offers you the best opportunity to gather cues, behaviour, sentiments, materials, stories & insights you need to create content, stories to attract people to you & get their attention to make them stay a little longer and look around your digital outlet. Consecutively convert them into customers, fans or even better, members of your community that speak and breathe your values and business.

Listening shows every person you touch base with, that you put THEM first. They matter, they are first, they are heard. You’re in it for the long run, from beginning to the end, you’re present long before a person hears about you, clicks on your website, signup form or wants to talk to you. It’s more than purely collecting data, but creating trust, connections. Real, honest, human customer experience that lasts & transcends just a sales cycle.

… Then Act.

Listening means lending not just your hand, but your ears, your attention, your full self. When you listen closely, attentively, dedicated to improve the human side of your business, you’ve gotten the perfect combo, a good starting point.

Step 1: choose a channel and tune in. Step 2: define what you’d like to learn & what insights would help you in period x-y to achieve xyz. Step 3: make a simple plan & action steps you’d need to track your progress. Step 4: use existing content — align, change and re-purpose it to match perfectly to their “maps of the world”, to their expectations, understanding and needs.

Don’t lose yourself and jump in all over the place. Tip your toes in the water and start with small steps, start enaging, tuning in, loving your audience — individuals behind it. It’s like a perfect piece of music, unforgettable dance routine and the most inspiring film that made and impression on your life — for me at least :-) that flows between the performers / creators on one side and listeners, audience, consumers on the other.

Curious to start? Want to talk? Have questions? Interested to learn more about active, deep listening? Catch a new tip, share your experience? Find me on Twitter — Zala Bricelj. Or head over here for a deep dive into this topic.