In a world dominated by social media and the Facebook generation, brands are – naturally enough – focused on making sure they are in front of people. Search techniques are sophisticated and complex. Billions in revenue has flowed into Google.
Behind all this activity, however, lies a huge shift in how we use media. Profound in its consequences, the shift from the broadcast age of ‘the big shout’ to the digitally enabled, always-on narrowcast ‘big conversation’ is with us. Even a cursory consideration of what is going down points to huge changes in the way any brand needs to reach out to customers and encourage their purchasing behaviour.
Much search activity is driven by ‘big shout’ thinking: testosterone-fuelled, high energy masculine ‘make them buy this’ thinking. But if we accept that we live in a world of a ‘big conversation’ where power is flowing to the savvy, demanding consumer then we must be ready to earn respect through how we behave as much as how we succeed in getting in front of people. We must tell the story of our brand with passion and honesty. We must allow our customers to participate, and listen to them with skill, attention and deep understanding.
As any author will tell you, good stories demand an innate, even intimate understanding of the audience. Then the story can be told with passion and intrigue. The audience can participate, question and feel that they are receiving special attention – that they are party to a little magic. Brands have to learn this skill. Rather than so much emphasis on the ‘shout’ perhaps we will see more time, energy and resource devoted to the ‘listen’ part of the conversation. Who is saying what, to whom, and are they being listened to? Who is influential, and who is merely shouting into a bucket? Search can be used to answer these questions, too.
Might we see the telescope of traditional search being turned around? Isn’t it about time the skills of effective search are harnessed by brands to listen to and interpret what is being said about them? And wouldn’t that put a premium on intelligent search practitioners?
Blog post by Mary Keane-Dawson, non-Executive Director of Reform