PRSA T3 Conference

Last week I presented at the PRSA T3 Conference in NYC on the topic of Micromedia.  I was the last presentation of the day, which is always difficult.  Most of the attendees either leave early, or they get to your session and have complete information overload.  I found that even at the very end of the day, the topic of micromedia was a hot topic, and I had a very captive audience.

When I began my presentation, I had no idea whether or not the people in the audience had any experience with micromedia or microblogging.  So, I immediately explained that there was an entire micromedia value spectrum and it was broken down into four buckets which included the following:

1.    I’ve been microblogging and I’ve found value either personally or professionally.
2.    I’ve been microblogging and it’s too soon to see if there’s any value.
3.    I’ve been microblogging and I don’t find any value at all personally or professionally.
4.    I’ve never tried microblogging

I was very surprised to find out that there was only one person in bucket #1 who found value.  There wasn’t anyone in bucket #2.  Most of the people were in bucket #3 and a there were a couple of people in the last bucket who were social networking but haven’t tried microblogging. I thought that this was going to be a tough group. So, I quickly explained that I was not there to prove the value of micromedia or that they should be microblogging.  I was hoping by the end of the session that they may have a new perspective.

I think the conversation really started to get interesting when I broached the topic of research and customer service.  Many of the participants in my session did not realize that micromedia provides a forum for research and that companies including FedEx, Comcast and JetBlue were using microblogging forums to listen and then answer their customers questions.  We discussed how micromedia could be used as an outbound customer service approach and companies can take a position of sympathy and/or empathy by listening to their customers.

According to the Society of New Communications Research when making purchase decisions, affluent online consumers are using social media channels to share their own customer-service experiences and learn about their peers’ experiences.  Micromedia is another opportunity to connect directly with customers and to listen and learn how to make your product or service better.  Unfortunately, the same survey said that the 33% of the participants didn’t think that businesses take customers’ opinions seriously.

The information is out there and the conversations will take place whether you choose to listen and learn, or not.  I can only hope that my presentation made the conference participants think twice about micromedia and its value for businesses.