I was in a meeting with a business owner the other day and she said, “We communicate with our customers on a regular basis through our social media networks but what frustrates me is that they aren’t responding to anything we talk about.” She’s not alone…this is, unfortunately, the situation with most organizations face today. They think they are “communicating” when in reality they are simply “messaging.”
Here’s a simple rule I personally use to help clients keep this straight.
Messaging is a one way street. Communication is a two way street.
If you can remember this simple differentiation it will help you realize which one is happening with your customers and at what point in time.
I get pretty passionate about this topic because I focus so heavily on helping others create word-of-mouth…which is pretty tough if you are primarily (or only) messaging and not communicating. It’s unrealistic to expect much word-of-mouth if all you do is message your audience…unless you are trying to be just a commodity and act as the cheap deal of the day and your value is price. Word of mouth takes communication…the two way street to work.
Think of the last party or group gathering you attended. There were small groups of people huddled around talking with each other. Some groups had one dominant talker…the one that dominates 80-90% of the conversation. This is MESSAGING. But other groups seem to have a robust conversation going where everyone is participating and sharing their thoughts, opinions, and perspectives. This is COMMUNICATION.
There is nothing wrong with messaging…in fact most communication starts with messaging to build some awareness. However, based on what you are messaging usually determines whether you create communication with your messages or you just keep messaging.
For example, a common practice in the market today is for promoting your company is to continually message your audience. Unfortunately, like the party you just attended, this means most of your audience won’t communicate back with you if you continually occupy the airwaves with your messages.
However, there is one sure fire way your messaging can work in your favor to create communication with your audience. If your messaging is always about helping them in some way they perceive will help them or their business, they will want to communicate back with feedback, questions, or comments and are much more likely to share this valuable content with others. This is where you move from the one-way street to the two-way street…you are now using messaging to communicate.
I suggest every organization do an audit and determine how much of what you are doing is messaging and how much is communication. You might actually find the answer to why no one is engaging with you and why there isn’t much word of mouth going on. It’s a helpful exercise and I usually find it significantly helps companies better understand why things aren’t happening the way they want in the area of communications.
And if you ever want some guidelines on how to go about figuring this out just shoot me an email and I would be happy to get you started in the right direction…my treat! Because selfishly…I really don’t need a bunch more messaging…I want more communication…just like you!
