So simple but so complicated, Listening

Hello class and welcome to week three of this class and with a new week comes a new blog. This week we have several readings and videos that we went over such as videos going viral and how to engineer them, public relations and journalism, social media and having a strategy for your organization in this new world of technology driven people and the one that I will be talking about mostly on this blog (and probably the most important) listening and what to do if your skills are lacking.

Take a look at the chart above. Listening accounts for 45% of communicating. More that speaking, reading and writing. If your listening skills are lacking, then your other skills will suffer as well. How can communicate back to someone about some thing they said if you can't listen? Fortunately there is someone that can help. Dr. Kline wrote a book entitled Listening Effectively. In our first communication leadership assignment we were tasked with discussing how communication professionals can use listening skills to help communicate in internal, external and government environments. (This also applies to anyone that lacks in listening skills)

Before you can improve your listening skills you must first come to accept the fallacies about listening. Never assume you have the best listening skills around. I have thought this about myself as well only to discover that I didn't listen as effectively as I could, missing out on critical components during lectures as an undergraduate and having to ask my classmates what I missed. After recognizing the fallacies of listening you can then come to understanding the process.That process comes in three steps receiving, attending and understanding. One thing that I really like and have come to understand from Dr. Kline's book is that listening and hearing are not one in the same. Having excellent hearing does not mean you have great listening skills. To be an effective listener in the communication profession, you must be able to get the important parts of conversation out. You most be able to communicate to each level of the corporate ladder from the CEO to the lowest level employee.

Companies "Listening" to their customers

There has never been a time such as now that customers have such a prominent voice in the direction a company takes. Take a look at the chart above. It states that by 2020, companies using social media to respond to customer inquires will increase to 90% Listening to customers on social media and on their own websites has saved some companies from going out of business.  This embrace of social media has taught brands that listening to what is being said about them online is crucial for guiding decisions about their services, marketing, operations and budget. A perfect example is Gatorade. They opened the Gatorade Mission Control Center in the middle of their marketing department. This allows them to monitor conversations about Gatorade and topics relevant it in real time. In our discussion points this week I mentioned this mentioned the same thing about real time. Being able to monitor and speak on issues that customers may be having in real time has changed the way companies handle their public relations. This also increased their product education by 250 percent and reduced their exit rate from 25 to 9 percent.
Another of my favorite companies, Best Buy has began focusing on its customer reviews. They are now sharing feedback with vendors and are rewarding some customers with special points to use toward future purchases.
Not ever company has success with social media. One of our readings this week is titled, Corporate Facebook pages: when "fans" attack. It talks about an incident that occurred in 2010 when Nestle began to get linked to companies involved in the destruction of forests and peat lands in the southeast Asia. Nestle committed to stop using products that come from rainforest destruction but their response on Facebook was anything but sympathetic. Their moderator gave back sarcastic immature banter about customers comments and deleted customers comments and pictures. This sent people into a frenzy and let the moderator have it. He finally apologized but the damage had already been done. I'm sure their public relations departments was up all night figuring out how to fix that situation.  

Going Viral

First of all, let me start off by saying that sites such as YouTube have come a very long way. I remember when YouTube first got started and people started sharing videos. Who would have known that it would grow into the monster that it is now. I wasn't surprised that Google purchased it. Anyway, what is going viral you ask? Going viral is when a video becomes popular through internet sharing which is why I just named YouTube because it is the biggest video sharing site. I started my YouTube page back in 2008 and a few years ago when it became integrated with Google, I had to sign up an email account. I still have that original page where I have shared hundreds of videos, mostly music and video game related being that was my only interests at the time. One example of finding success from YouTube is Justin Bieber. He posted videos on YouTube and got discovered by Usher. Rumor has it that Ne-Yo actually discovered him first but thought he was too young at the time to get into the music industry.

Conclusion

Listening is so simple but so complicated right? I've caught myself going into my own little world before and have to snap out of it. Everything that I have discussed today goes back to that simple concept. Listening to your audience, listening to your customers, going viral, etc. It all goes back to somebody listening and spreading the message. Things have changed so much even from just a few years ago. One other off topic but kinda on topic thing has to do with the WWE. I don't know who all watches WWE programming but there is a wrestler named Daniel Bryan, who is one of the biggest stars on the roster but was continuously held back in WWE even with his "Yes" chant taking the world by storm. From not being in the royal rumble match last year to being taken out of main even caliber matches the fans had had enough and voiced their opinion every night by chanting Daniel's name during the entire program or during boring matches and segments. The Randy Orton, Batista main event was going to get booed out of the building at Wrestlemania 30. The WWE finally caved,listened to the fans and gave them Daniel Bryan in two matches one against Triple H which he won to get inserted into the main event in a triple threat match which he won to become the champion. So, you see fans, consumers, etc, have more power than ever. Knowing how to satisfy your consumers goes back to one thing, listening. Hope you all enjoyed my lastest blog and look out for more interesting blogs to come.