Comments on: It’s Not About Listening, It’s About the Green

By: Guest posts from last week | The Electric Waffle

Guest posts from last week | The Electric Waffle — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:02:04 +0000

[...] PR Breakfast Club – I spoke about how we’re preaching about using social media to listen to our customers, but ultimately, it comes down to sales and increasing profit. You may use listening to increase sales, but in the end, in business it’s always about making money. [...]

By: DR. WHAW? – February 23, 2010 « One True Sentence

DR. WHAW? – February 23, 2010 « One True Sentence — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:27:22 +0000

[...] It’s Not About Listening, It’s About the Green by Kasey Skala – While I don’t completely agree with Kasey’s viewpoint, I did enjoy the comments because the commenters brought up the points that kept popping in my head as I was reading the post. I love when the info in a post gets expanded by a lot of commenting action! [...]

By: kmskala

kmskala — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:50:04 +0000

Thanks for your comment. Listening is important and should be a part of any business – social or not.

By: kmskala

kmskala — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:48:49 +0000

You made a great point: the majority still don't understand.

That's why I think it's so important that in the end, how is social media making your organization money? In the grand scheme of things, money and profit are what's going to create and maintain jobs and organizations.

Use listening, use action, use common sense. But it all ties back to being profitable.

By: Caleb Gardner

Caleb Gardner — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:04:24 +0000

I agree that there's an overly-focused-on-listening social media echo chamber out there, but I think it's for a reason: most people (normal business owners, not the hyper-social and hyper-digital like us) still don't realize the listening tools that are available to them, must less know that they should be listening.

But I agree with you that we have to be clear that the reason for listening is to then engage. Listening for listening's sake is meaningless. Engaging gets you the loyalty, and the green.

By: worob

worob — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:44:23 +0000

I agree with some, not all, of your comments, and I definitely feel that 'listening' is an important part of trying to reach your goal$. Without it, your ceiling can only g so high.

@Worob
PR at Sunrise blog - worob.com

By: kmskala

kmskala — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:07:13 +0000

But how do you sell someone on the fact that a 2 year project that will result in some minor improvements is worth the investment? Especially in today's economic climate where businesses need to focus on simply staying in business next week, trying to sell executives on something that's not necessarily tangible and immediate is quite difficult.

We all understand the value of customer service, that's nothing new. But the concept of actively listening and going beyond basic customer service isn't a priority. Instead, we're simply trying to provide a product today that will allow us to stay in business tomorrow. We can address those concerns tomorrow, if we're still around.

By: kmskala

kmskala — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:48:37 +0000

Absolutely listening needs to be part of your routine.

Let's take your date example. Say you listened, you were polite and opened doors and pulled out chairs. You smiled, had great conversation. But after the first date you realized that you really didn't have much in common and there was no spark. Would you still continue to see that person? Isn't having a common bond the ultimate goal? Yes, the other parts are key to a happy relationship, but the common bond and spark is the $$$ portion of the formula.

Be polite, show interest, open doors and pull chairs and in the end, hope it leads to some spark.

By: kmskala

kmskala — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:45:53 +0000

Rebecca, you're a smart gal. Again, listening is important and I think it's something you could promote externally. Being a measurement gal, you could document quite easily how you're listening. But how are you converting those listening analytics into something truly valuable to business?

Ultimately you need to listen, but shouldn't we go at SM with the large picture in mind? UNC may be great at shooting free throws, but wouldn't a well-balanced attack be more beneficial?

By: kmskala

kmskala — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:42:54 +0000

Agree. And that's the large issue here. My main concern is that we're preaching how we need to approach social media with both our ears perked. Yes, listening is important. But it's only one part of SM. We also need to provide good service, provide relevant content, etc. Those who go at SM with listening being the most important aspect are only doing an injustice to themselves in the business world. Is social media going to be relevant is you're listening, and like you said, not providing action? United listens, Southwest provides action.

Thanks for the comment.