In social media, “conversation” is a big buzz word. People at their keyboards “chatting” away on blogs, networks, Twitter, and etc.

While social media offers opportunity for these so-called conversations, I think another “C word” is much more important and at the core of anything social.

That word is connecting.

Whether you just want to make friends, suggest a story idea or blog post, or want them to think positively of you (and use or buy your products/services), you generally need to connect with them.

Find something or someone in common. Know something about them. Be relatable.

People are much more comfortable working with other people they know or have some connection to. It goes to the heart of our innate desire to belong. You don’t need to be soul brothers or sisters with a person, but you do have to have some level of connection.

Let’s look at an example in traditional media relations. To have any chance of successfully pitching a story to a media outlet, you have to know what it covers, who its audience is, how it likes to receive stories, deadlines, etc. And you have to use at least one bit of that knowledge in your pitch to in order to connect with an editor and show that what you have can really be of benefit to the outlet — because you’ve done your homework on the outlet and you are familiar with it. (You can see more what I mean at this post from October.)

If you believe connecting is key to traditional media relations, you have to believe that it’s imperative in social media and in the online world — where the connecting can be more personal. Often, you’re not dealing with people who are paid “media.” Often, you’re trying to connect to people who blog because they have a passion about a topic, or are involved in a community or network due to a personal interest, etc.

So, connecting to your fellow human — someone you hope will help spread the word about your product, or just use your product or service, to note a couple examples — is soooo much more important. And, it needs to be sincere.

That level of connecting with your audience was clearly exemplified by Pandora. Last week, I had the great opportunity to travel to Cincinnati for a Social Media Breakfast, and listen to Pandora’s Tim Westergren.

During his talk, one key point he noted was that every email sent to Pandora, whether to him, someone else or via general address was replied to by a person. Not an automated response. Pandora management and personnel took and still take the time to reply.

Yes, every one. During the SMB, Westergren said seven Pandora employees do nothing more than respond to emails.

And, Westergren travels across the country in “town hall” meetings to talk with Pandora users and other music fans.

You could say that’s great customer service. And, you definitely could say that, by doing so, Pandora made a personal connection with each and every person who showed the least bit of interest in the service. Think of it in the same vein as Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban responding directly to comments in his blog.

I’m sure the effort to make those connectings has been paid in more ways than Pandora can know about.

But, one way that those connectings definitely paid off was in August 2008. Essentially, in early 2007, Web radio sites like Pandora were ordered by the U.S. government to triple the royalty per song they were required to pay. That, according to Westergren, would’ve sounded the death knell for Pandora.

However, after an email to users requesting they contact their congressman to protest, the panel that made the recommendation backed down. Two million people responded to that call to action, including flooding the committee with 400,000 faxes in two days. Now, Pandora and others are in a second round of negotiation on the change in the royalty fee.

Social media isn’t easy. It requires time and the right know-how. And, it requires connecting — not just conversation.

-Mike

For other posts and information about the Feb. 2 Social Media Breakfast Cincinnati event, see:

Is Customer Interaction An Opportunity Or a Cost? (There, you also can see links to other posts about Westergren’s SMB-Cincinnati stop.)

You can see Westergren’s talk and the entire event at Ustream.