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Listening to the Online Conversation

For the past 100 years companies have had the luxury of deciding what products they want to make and sell, what their brand message will be and how they will deliver it to their audience. Communication in PR was based on a one-way, two-step flow of communication through mass media.

The Internet changed that.

We’re in the age of social media and markets have indeed become conversations. The media landscape is in a state of flux. Consumers have access to new tools that allow them to easily and quickly access breaking news, find information, publish their thoughts and opinions and communicate with their peers. It also allows them to give you feedback and form a deep relationship with your organization, but you have to be open to this new media landscape and embrace social media. Listen, learn and respond.

With 500 million people on Facebook and 50 million on Twitter it’s no longer a question of ‘should we be doing social media? – but rather ‘are we doing it right?’

The first step in getting it right is to tap into the online conversations and listen to your audience. Social media offers you the opportunity of doing in-depth research, listening to conversations and hearing feedback we’ve never had access to before. There are tools to mine that data and get intelligence that can inform your PR strategy and hone the messaging.

Case Study: Finding New Markets

By listening to mentions of the brand online Hennessy Cognac discovered fans of their brand on a social networking site in the U.S. for African Americans: BlackPlanet.com.

Analysis of these conversations about Hennessy, and further study of the online and offline lifestyle choices of these brand fans, revealed their interests, preferences and how they interacted with the brand. Based on this data Hennessy created a tour called Hennessy Artistry. They sponsored and partnered with well-known African American music artists and DJs and held events and concerts in major cities across the U.S., always making content from these events available to post and share online.

In Q1 of 2010 they held a major launch party for their first new product in 50 years: Hennessy Black. The event was held in Chicago hosted by LeBron James with special guests Jay-Z, Young Jeezy, Olympic gold medalist Shani Davis, Cleveland Cavaliers Chicago Bulls & Chicago Bears. Content about the event reached more than 25,000,000 people through the following websites; ChicagoTribune.com, RedEye/ChicagoNow.com, ChicagoSunTimes.com, HuffingtonPost.com, TheSource.com, BlackPlanet.com.

200+ blogs and websites posted the ‘black carpet’ video interviews with celebrities like LeBron James, Jay-Z and Olympic gold medalist Shani Davis.

LeBron James [Black Out Chicago - Black Carpet] from MCM on Vimeo.

When you search Google images for Hennessy Black there are 260 000 results. Since March Hennessy Black has been mentioned in just over 20 000 blog posts.

Listening to the online conversations is not only the first step-it’s a vital step. There is an old PR saying: know before you go. Listening makes is so much easier to get that information and once you have it, you can allocate your resources wisely. You’ll know where to start, who to talk to, what content they respond to and what social sites you should be concentrating on.

When you know the lay of the land it’s much easier to plot a path to your destination. A social media marketing strategy is that roadmap.

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Image Credit: The Pub Report

Tags: cases tudy, hennessy black, listening, online PR, socialmedia
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