Have you been open to the idea of social media for some time now, but are still unsure whether you’re ready to go all the way? Frankly, you are not alone. The conflicting reports are numerous, arguing both for and against “letting go” of brand control.
Unfortunately, the “con” arguments often read as “what were they thinking” stories. Some companies are diving in without a keen understanding of what they’re doing, how they’re doing it and why they need to do it in the first place. All the while, marketers are offering Web 2.0 services without truly understanding what the term actually means.
This reminds me of some old wisdom: “When a blind man leads a blind man, they both end up in the ditch.”
Have a look at the following 6 principles of radical trust, all of which I hope you’ll seriously consider prior to beginning your exploration of social media.
You must radically trust that consumers:
- are best equipped to determine their own needs, and left to their own devices are best equipped to get those needs met.
- would rather be communicated with than spoken to.
- require freedom of expression, but often require guidelines to create expressions within.
- will self-regulate communities to the level guidelines suggest and that the collective group they comprise will accept.
- will disconnect with a brand that silences them and will align with brands that give them a voice.
- (This one is the hardest) consumers are people and people are inherently good.
If you’re ready to accept that trust is the foundation of any functional relationship, you’ll achieve unbelievable accomplishments.
Do you know why?
Consumers have no reason to trust you, so it is you who must open the relationship by placing your trust in them.
Let me say it again: Consumers have no reason to trust you – particularly in conquest. That we even call it “conquest” should be an indication as to why we’ve never really earned trust in the first place.
When you open the relationship by trusting your consumer, you may actually earn their trust in return.
Is that concept so radical?
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7 Responses to “Are You Ready to Radically Trust Your Consumers?”
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February 19th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Are You Ready to Radically Trust Your Consumers?…
Have you been open to the idea of social media for some time now, but are still unsure whether youre ready to go all the way? Frankly, you are not alone. The conflicting reports are numerous, arguing both for and against letting go of brand control. Wh…
February 19th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
[...] Colin over at Radicaltrust.ca really hit on an important point: that marketers have (and continue) to give people little to no reason to trust them. Although I bet the words “the most trusted…” occurs at least once in most brand footprint or mission statements. Trust however is the basis of any real connection or relationship, trust and ethics also happens to be the basis of the entire social media movement. [...]
February 19th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
[...] Collin Douma is brilliant…even if he’s not a PR guy! His post today on radically trusting consumers should be mandatory reading for all brand managers, MBAs, CEOs and corporate comms flacks. [...]
February 19th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Thanks for the pings Webwalker and PR Works. I am greatful to see the trust message spread.
collin
February 20th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
[...] Collin at RadicalTrust.ca has a good post up about, well, radically trusting your customers. I have another post noodling around in my head regarding community, anonymity, behaviour, etc. but in the meantime, I really am stuck on the “trust” factor as Collin describes it. Granted, I get his point that – Consumers have no reason to trust you – and I for the most part agree. But the conclusion from that – When you open the relationship by trusting your consumer, you may actually earn their trust in return. – opens a slew of questions for me about what consumers/ people actually want from a business. Do they want to trust them as individuals, or in the aggregate? I trust American Airlines that their planes will stay in the air. I trust they have hired qualified mechanics and that the gov’t has systems in place for quality assurance. Do I trust them not to raise airfares, lose my bags, or cut back on flight routes? Not really. And only one of those do I believe is directly within their power to control (the bags). The rest are the results of the competitive business landscape they operate in. [...]
March 4th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
[...] Collin Douma sums up radical trust for companies so well in this infographic. We’ll have to get him out to the next VizThink. [...]
May 17th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
[...] Are you Ready to Trust? [...]