Talking and Listening: Engage with the Groundswell

Talking and listening, two things everyone does every single day that seem so simple yet could be the make or break of any company. In chapters 5 and 6 of Groundswell (2008, Li and Bernoff), they highlight the importance of listening and talking in order to help your company grow and to properly market to the target audience. 

Li and Bernoff state that "your brand is whatever your customer says it is," then continues to state that "in the groundswell where they communicate with each other, they decide" (2008, p. 78). Without talking and listening to your customer, you will not be able to properly communicate and market to them. 

Photo: Medium.com

They use various examples in these chapters to prove their point about the importance of listening and talking. The example that helped me understand the importance of talking and listening as marketing tactics is the case about Mini Coopers, and attempting to figure out how to keep the brand and trend going. They created an online chatting platform to monitor how customers felt about the car and what ways could it be improved, this allows them to gather authentic notes and genuine responses from customers about the product or service (p. 89). 

They state that "once you begin listening and acting on that information, your company will never be the same," (p. 97). Meaning that once you select a department in your company to begin listening and talking with consumers, that department becomes the most important part of your company. They call the shots, and they are "central to how decisions are made," (p. 97). 

Photo: Shopify

These chapters made me reflect on the ways that Instagram is used as a marketing tool for many businesses. More specifically, how small business owners use Instagram Live as a way to connect with and hear from their followers and customers. We all have used instagram once, and we know what its like tuning into someones livestream and trying to get noticed by commenting and asking questions. So how have small business owners utilized Instagram Live to increase listening and talking with their audience? 

Small business owners can use the option of going Live to ask their followers questions, to receive comments and replies, or even to showcase new products they are selling then reviewing the reactions received. Something that Li and Bernoff discuss is the idea of focus groups and how this is an option to help companies listen to their audience, and I think this is similar to what Instagram Live does for small business owners. Your audience can engage, provide unsolicited authentic feedback, and your business can grow and adapt from it. 

Screenshot: Example of how Instagram Live can be used to showcase products

Not only are more than 50% of people on Instagram, but over 80% of users say they use Instagram as a way to to find new products or services. Here are other ways that Instagram Live helps businesses listen and talk with their customers: users get notified when someone is live-streaming, users can feel heard by allowing them to comment and submit questions, you can have a Q&A with all the followers, and lastly you can keep your live video so that you, as a business owner, will be able to reflect back and gather insights.