Talk less, listen more! Speak less, speak wise!

With rapidly increasing online space, consumers are finding new venues to share their thoughts, feelings, views about products, services, experiences, etc. This trend has made the task of managing their brands extensively difficult for companies. What is generated in these social spaces or forums is referred as user generated content (UGC). UGC is the next big thing that businesses across industries are paying special attention on as a part of their customer-focused-approach. UGC is usually of two types: content which is generated by the consumer called consumer generated content and content which is generated by the firm itself called firm generated content. Firm generated content is often referred as editor’s review.

Academic researches have echoed over the years about the relative importance of consumer generated content and firm generated content. Firm generated content or the editor’s review, as against the usual thought, is often less important for consumers in making a purchase decision or developing perception about a brand or a product. So what should businesses do? Should they just sit quietly and let consumers talk? The answer to that is a subtle NO! Many businesses have successfully managed the firm generated content in a way that drives greater customer engagement and sometimes translating into positive brand perception. The key here is to drive your customers to talk more and at the same time talk positive. This involves addressing their concerns and listening to their feedback as and when it appears. Remember, accepting mistake is not a SIN!  The recent American Airlines tweet incident led to huge uproar on twitter and Facebook but nevertheless the American Airlines officials were generous enough to accept their mistake and apologize for the same. Then, there are companies who have a strange policy of not replying to their customer’s concern or feedback for 24 hours. This policy is aimed at letting other fellow customers reply, resolve the problem themselves and thereby generate a conversation. Higher the conversation, higher will be the brand visibility. Greater customer engagement is not about tweeting and posting extensively on social media sites. It is all about Talk less, listen more! Speak less, speak wise!