Our world, human relationships, work, and interactions have never been more connected than they are today. We live in a fast-paced environment that thrives on communication, feedback, and the good old sharing. We’ve discovered that people gravitate towards a ‘borderless’ way of living.
When we created the RaVaBe digital platform we knew what we were heading towards and that is a collaboration-oriented society.
I view collaborative working as an effective ‘short cut’ to very many things, for instance, your audience. You have a question; you post it and receive immediate response from netizens who are very willing to help out and get involved. Gone are the days of orchestrated surveys with limited range in response by test groups.
Information is readily available out there for the taking. This is precisely how ‘socially correct’ marketing plans are formulated.
How do you measure up in a collaborative society?
Encourage collaboration from inside-out Practice collaboration in order to truly and fully know it. Start collaborative management in the office and understand how it works, and how it can be done effectively with a community mindset when dealing with broad audience management.
How you do this: Adopt a strategic, collaborative way for formulating ideas, executing projects and delivering end results. Get employees involved from start to finish, promote discussion, and listen to opinions. Ultimately you want to conclude the best points to include in your work processes. The goal is the spirit of collaboration comes naturally and your organization communicates in the way that propels brands today.
Keep your audience closer More and more organizations are taking community management seriously- not for damage control when problems surface, but to spot loopholes and to keep track of on-going consumer patterns. This means communicating and listening to each and every one of your consumers. Listen. Respond. Learn from them.
How you do this: Assign a community manager to communicate with and get a good grip on audience reaction, response, and feedback. Set up a structure for conclusive data crucial for branding and marketing purposes, and anticipate unforeseen but useful data you can use. Every bit of information are components for an entire strategy.
Strategize your content so it brings people together People like to share. Consider audience mindset, their interests, and post content that will get people talking. Your fans want to feel invested in the content you put out and this happens they come across content that provokes a feeling(s). Create a community, and this brand community will lead to brand loyalty.
How you do this: Generate content that is true to your brand and brand values while promoting interest and discussion. Let your audience know that you encourage feedback and leave room for comments and opinions. And, don’t just stop there- respond. Chatter aka buzz cannot be encouraged with the absence of response.
Collaborate and grow
It’s impossible not to grow, and grow traction through collaboration and sharing. Collaborate with companies, influencers, your audience, and this will not only allow you to pull additional groups in, you’ll find a new demographic of people who want to drive your success. Collaboration stimulates value-sharing which creates a type of unity that we are drawn to.
How you do this: Find the right collaborators that share common values that will help reinforce your own values while boosting your brand presence through widening the range of your usual approach. Cast a wider net: for instance, a travel company collaborating on a campaign with a fashion and lifestyle blogger gets the benefit of their audience seeing travel through a completely new set of eyes.
Collaboration is not the work process it used to be. It is fostering human relationships with our community. It is a new way of life.