As CEO of an Industry Partner in ASAE, sales doesn’t come easily to me. I’m not comfortable with being promotional. So when I attended the annual conference in Dallas, I struggled with engaging attendees in conversation. It wasn’t until the last day of the conference that I realized it wasn’t about me but about finding out what attendees were struggling with and how Slice-Works could help.
Last week, ASAE #Tech12, I took a different approach. Since my trip to Dallas, I’ve been participating in #assnchat on Twitter. #assnchat is moderated by KikiLitalien every Tuesday afternoon at 2PM EST. It has been a great way to connect with ASAE members from across the US and made the transition to hanging out in real life (IRL) at #Tech12 easier and something to look forward to.
I approached conversations asking my #assnchat friends and other attendees questions like—why did they come to the conference, what are they hoping to get out of the conference, what’s one good thing that they learned, or what was one actionable item they were going to implement when they went back to their organization? After spending time online, finally meeting folks IRL is really fun; and ASAE is full of really great folks! In the end, it’s still all about relationships.
Brian Solis: ASAE #Tech12 Keynote
~ ”First and last, it’s about relationships.”
Interestingly, Brian Solis had the same message! He explained that social media is different than other media channels because it’s all about relationships, recognition, engagement, value and help.
- You may embrace technology
- You may adapt to new technology
- You may target your audience
- You may be using all the right tools
(But) “First and last, it’s about relationships.”
He went on to define social business as the alignment of teams, processes, and channels around a common vision to deliver desired experiences and outcomes to members. This leads to social enterprise as the integration of technologies to support the evolution of a social business and cross-functional engagement collaboration.
Moments of Truth
Brian Solis identified an iterative series of members’ online behaviors, calling them “moments of truth.” A moment of truth starts with some kind of stimulus, some type of awareness of your organization’s existence. Every moment of truth becomes a member touch point.
At Zero Moment of Truth your member is considering and researching something about your organization—membership, volunteerism, donations, sponsorships, other purchase actions. That research can be influenced by social proof or be impulse-driven. Multiple channels contribute to and drive each action.
The First Moment of Truth is some Point of Action. Online transactions are motivated by an emotional connection of some kind. Therefore, it’s important to use technology, messaging, design and people influence to drive this point of action.
The Second Moment of Truth is the Experience — that assurance on a gut level that this feels right. This sets the stage for the Ultimate Moment of Truth. Again the Experience requires thought and must be designed in some way.
The Ultimate Moment of Truth is the post commerce experience that builds on the foundation of trust. This is the customer service experience and must be personal and social.
These shared experiences, where the member begins to see that they are part of something bigger—a cause, purpose and mission—leads to the next Zero Moment of Truth. Organizations need to develop processes for creating and managing shared experiences. That’s how community happens.
Where do you get the ideas to create and perpetuate an engagement strategy and iterative trajectory of Moments of Truth? Digital breadcrumbs left in social streams and online behavior give us the ability to “know our customers better than they know themselves.” Think Amazon here. Big Data = Big Opportunity. The goal is the deliver the right message to the right person at the right time in the right channel.
Isn’t that what a friend does? A true friend really listens, knows when to speak, when to ask questions and when to keep silent, walking quietly alongside just to be there. We all need those IRL experiences to feel connected. But there’s no question that technology has the power to facilitate that experience as well. What are you doing to find the right “mix” for your association?