I attended an association fundraiser a while ago that included a screening of a documentary.
During the Q&A, the producer said we could follow the documentary on Facebook.
He said, “Just do a search. You’ll find it.” Many of us pulled out our smart phones to take immediate action but none of us could find it – and a few people raised their hands to say, “What’s the URL?”
The producer didn’t know. He just looked at us and repeated, “Do a search. You’ll find it.” Uh no.
In that instant, he lost a couple hundred fans. Why? He didn’t make it easy for us to connect.
Contrast this experience with another association – also showing a documentary.
At the completion, the association director came back to the microphone to make his pitch and at the end said, “Learn more stories like the few you just heard. Follow us on Facebook.” You could see the URL and the Facebook icon on the screen.
Out came the phones and in that instant, the association gained a few hundred fans.
Multiply both instances by a couple dozen screenings . . . and you get the picture.
Make it easy to keep in touch
The second step of the Engagement Marketing cycle is to entice people to keep in touch with you. To do this, you have to make it really, really easy.
The producer in the first instance could easily change his scenario by:
1. Adding the URL at the end of the documentary credits.
2. Listing social media URLs on the program and other printed materials.
3. Creating an easy-to-remember Facebook URL (i.e. facebook.com/name) that he can rattle off instantly.
Make keeping in touch part of your service
There’s a restaurant my husband and I like where, along with the tab, the food servers bring an iPod touch to the table (glued onto a big wooden board) at the end of the meal. They ask diners if they are willing to complete a quick survey about the food and their experience.
Once the survey is complete, the diner is asked, “Do you want to join our mailing list to receive notices of menu specials and discounts?” Sure! And the diners enter their email addresses directly on the iPod touch.
Think about how many people the restaurant adds to its list . . . every hour, every day, every month. Keeping in touch has to be that easy – for you and your customers / members.
When possible, make it instantaneous
In both examples above, the connections were made instantaneously and without any need for the business or producers to do any work to fulfill. That’s great!
Lots of businesses collect data offline through the exchange of business cards or by having people write their contact info and email addresses on a sign-up sheet. That works, but it requires the business to take the extra step of manually entering the information to make sure those connections get made. This also has to be done quickly while the person connecting still remembers the interaction.
Technology is making it easier than ever to close the loop quickly. Think about how you can make sure you get every connection possible. Give your customers self-serve ways to connect with their smart phones – like using QR codes or a text-to-join feature. Or use a mounted iPad or iPod touch where they can sign up directly.
Do you make it easy for people to keep in touch? Tell us how in the comments.
I always want to make it easy for people to keep in contact with me. I keep my lines of communication open via my blog and social media options. I also love to speak to people in person, so I do make myself accessible.