Just because you are the only one talking does not mean that nobody is listening. If I have learned anything over the years I have realized that people are always watching. This goes for personal social networks and the social network of your app or product. These days I am sure we have all experienced a conversation in real life with a person who seemed to know a lot about us through the posts we make on Facebook or Twitter. In our mind we thought to ourselves, I didn’t even know that person was paying attention to what I post. We thought this because they never commented back or liked anything, they just observed.
Your customers or even potential customers may be watching what you or your company is doing with your products without interacting, and that is ok. In my experiences I have noticed that the 80/20 rule is in effect when it comes to customer interaction with your product. There are a solid 20% that have something to say about every update or change you make. They provide feedback often, both positive and negative. This often leads us to believe that we have a smaller audience than we really do. The fact is that there is likely around 80% of the rest of our users or observers who silently take in what we have to say and don’t respond with anything. There is nothing wrong with this, it’s simply human nature, which is why there is such a thing as the 80/20 rule.
So how do you keep the conversation going when 80% of your users are playing the silent type? I have a couple of ideas but let me start with the most practical one.
Talk More!
Because we are all busy marketers and many times have multiple things to focus on, we often aim broad and hope to reach as many people as possible. We are entering a world where customized messages are expected. People expect the messages they receive to have relevance and if not, they may ignore them or even unsubscribe from them. Keeping people engaged when they have a connection to your product is actually easier these days because you have the ability to keep them up to date with feature releases but you can also give them a look behind the curtain and show them a bit more about what goes into the app or product they are enjoying.
I also suggest that you narrow up your email updates and social media posts to be more specific. Instead of posting about a bunch of features at once, focus on one feature at a time and give it more attention to detail. You can also do a recap post or email that includes everything but for those who want more information, they will have it.
When I receive a general email with a list of new features and options I typically nod my head in agreement and move on to the next email. If there is a feature that I am excited finally arrived, I may jump to the app to try it out for myself, but if I had more information about that feature I may even share it on my social network with a short post containing my own thoughts. When I share to my social network, I like to make sure they understand what I am posting about. If there is nothing for me to give them to read, I likely won’t post about it because I don’t want to confuse anybody or make my posts seem irrelevant. I also most likely don’t have the time to write my own post about the new feature to explain it in my own words. I think you get what I am saying.
You have to provide the information if you want it to be shared. Give your users the information and tools they need to share about your app or product. When they share about your app or product it expands your reach. We all have too many inbound distractions coming our way to take the matter into our own hands.
On DailyAppShow, we do this with video. We find that video is the best way to showcase a certain feature or set of features. The time people have is limited so we keep our videos short. It is often that a viewer will pass right by a video if it is longer than they have time to spend consuming the content. Rather than watching what they do have time for, they don’t watch it at all.
Write about your features so the search engines will show them in search results. Make videos about your features so Youtube will show them in their search results.
Make content about everything you do available and give people a look behind the curtains so they can see what goes into the apps and products they enjoy. You can do all of this on a company blog or on the blog dedicated to your app or product. People don’t need daily updates but I would suggest posting something each week.
What are some of the things you do to keep the conversation going about your app, product or service? Share with us in the comment box below.
