Historically, the idea of “conversation management” has been very one-way. I take my message, send it everywhere I want it to go, then sit back and watch my communities buzz like Daytona Beach Spring Break.
Problem is–those communities are still siloed; they can’t talk to each other.
An alternative approach would be to think of your conversations as a “stream”. Just consider the fact that most streams in the world have almost everything in them and this approach will allow you to consider ways to cross-pollinate good conversations from one area into the other.
So without further babbling, below are 4 indicators that it’s time to consolidate your conversation stream.
1) You’ve realized that Social Networking Service dashboards are helpful to YOU…but not your audiences
Sure you can see what everyone is saying about you across your networks of interest, but can your audiences see the same? Can your YouTube users engage with Facebook users? Can your Facebook audience engage with your dynamic Twitter audience? If everyone can see everything, it makes it easier for users to do some of the moderation for you.
2) The same conversation is interpreted several different ways
The twitter conversation is stale while your Facebook wall is lighting up. Or worse, your Facebook conversation is running amok while the discussion on your brand site is right on target. A consolidated stream will provide balance in interpretation, rein in the extremes and motivate the mundane without forcing users to toggle between several different sites.
3) Your social media engagement is reactionary
Since 70% of your day is spent responding to inquiries, thanking people for sharing your articles and providing clarification around last week’s social media gaffe, the last thing you have time to do is pose a witty question to spur conversation between your constituents. Implementing consolidated conversation streams on your brand sites will provide a forum in which your community can engage one another on your brand’s behalf.
4) You have 5 different sets of data to reconcile
If you feel like you’re comparing apples and oranges, you’re only slightly missing the mark. After all, once you merge the reach statistics of a social network where the average user has 400 friends versus another network where the average user has 120 followers, the reality is that you’re actually comparing fruit and vegetables. The back-end of a consolidated conversation stream should merge this data for you.
What else would you add to this list?
-brs
Andrew Sielen
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