I don’t often blog about conferences I am not speaking at, but Andy Sernovitz is making a special offer to my readers that I want to pass along. You can attend the BlogWell conference for 15% off the regular price, plus pick up a copy of Do It Wrong Quickly. BlogWell features several large companies telling you how to make blogging work. I don’t know all the stories, but I can tell you about one of them, because my company, Converseon, was the agency that assisted Graco with their success in social media.
Graco is a very successful company with loyal customers—my wife and I loved our Graco strollers when we strolled through baby land. (Geez, it seems a long time ago now.)
But when Graco first started thinking about social media, like most large companies, it wasn’t really sure what to do. That’s why they turned to my company to give them some advice. Although this engagement predated my association with Converseon, I totally agree with their advice for Graco: Don’t do anything.
Now, very few clients are excited about the idea that they are paying a company to tell them to do nothing, but, for most companies, it’s the best advice. Before you plunge into social media, it’s best to listen to what your customers are saying for a while, without saying anything yourself. In Graco’s case, they listened for several months.
Understand, it’s rarely dumb to listen to your customers, but when you are starting out in social media it is even more important than usual. Because you are doing something new, you are operating in a strange land where you don’t know the people or their customs. Just as if you were moving to a new country, you must go slow and pay attention to what you see and hear, rather than just blundering your way into conversations and expecting things to meet your expectations.
In Graco’s case, it worked out marvelously. You can read more about Graco’s success in social media from MediaPost, but better yet, why don’t you attend BlogWell and hear Graco’s Lindsay Lebresco tell you herself. Remember, you can attend the whole conference for $170 when you use my discount code (mikebookdeal)—which also gets you a free copy of my book, Do It Wrong Quickly, which can help companies big and small to get their arms around social media and any other aspect of Internet marketing. Think of it as a half-day class with a textbook.
I am not able to attend, but please let me know what your experience was if you do.
