Questions are great. With questions — the right questions — you can communicate your opinion while also seeking input. Of course, if you’re conducting legit market research, you don’t want leading questions.
But, if you’re in an online or social media community manager-type role, questions are a great way to obtain community input and feedback while giving the individuals in your community the opportunity to be heard and make an impact.
I’ve said all along that, in social media, you need to buy into others’ ego and that inherent need we all have to feel important. If operated correctly, an online community allows just that — while still accomplishing marketing objectives.
While all social media is about community, there are, of course, more community-focused platforms than others: Twitter, Facebook, and discussion boards* to name a few. If you’re a business or association, your followers and fans usually have some connection to you, and have accepted the marketing side of your involvement on these platforms. So, a little promotion is expected — but don’t over do it.
Below are 10 questions a business or organization can ask to give individuals in your community a voice while obtaining valuable feedback — and spurring positive branding as well. These are general and should be customize to your particular business, product, service, offering or whatever you’re trying to sell. Please add any other types of questions or feedback you have in the comments.
- Invite community members to submit a design using your product/service/logo/etc., and then periodically use a submission for your profile or account icon. It’s a great way to see how community members visualize your brand and what they associate it with.
- What tips do you have to share with other community members — could be tied to Brand XYZ or in general? This type of question is good if you have a cleaning product, weight-managment product, or other item where people can share their expertise on a topic wrapped around your market focus.
- What do like best about Brand XYZ?
- What is your favorite flavor, type, variety, meal, etc.
- When was your first experience with Brand XYZ? How or why did you first learn of us?
- What are suggestions do you have for improving Brand XYZ, i.e., add or get new location, flavor, design, color, functionality, etc.?
- What could we do to get you to visit or buy more of Brand XYZ? Of course, price is always a main consideration but other than price, what? If price is the only consideration, feel free to say so.
- When do you use or visit Brand XYZ? Does your use tie in to a particular time of day, when you first awake or are working on something late at night, when you are celebrating something, etc.?
- What memories do you have tied to Brand XYZ?
- Is there anyone associated with Brand XYZ — an employee or even another community member — that you’d like to give a shout-out to, helped you, made an impact, etc.
Of course, these are general questions and, as I said above, should be customized to your product, service, organization or whatever you are trying to market.
For other online community resources, I encourage you check out and follow:
- Connie Bensen, well-known community strategist who current works at Alterian-Techrigy
- Amber Naslund, who is director of community for Radian6
- Mashable’s 10 Rules for Increasing Community Engagement
- Chris Brogan’s Essential Skills for a Community Manager
Thank you!
-Mike
*On many discussion boards, unless you started it, there are limitations to the level of promotion you have. Some boards have threads dedicated for company news and such. For most threads, you have to be more generic to engage the community, but it’s still possible.
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelinlibrarian/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
