Effective communication in the 'age of social media'

The rise and rise of social media has brought with it new 'levels' of communication, each with its own purpose and etiquette. Understanding how to use them can help companies attract and engage new customers.

In the past we had a set of contacts, all of whom generally knew how to reach us via telephone, letter or e-mail. Today, thanks in large part to social media, there are many different levels of communicating. Our networks are larger than they've ever been, and we've more ways to communicate with those in them. Even if you're not active on Facebook or Twitter, who you communicate with and how you communicate will probably have changed dramatically in the last year or two. This new connected era brings with it both opportunities and challenges, and it pays to know how to use each.

Public replies and direct messages

The public reply is just that - an open and transparent channel for people to interact with public figures, brands and each other without the same pressure to respond that one has with e-mail. Public interactions are a great starting point for engagement. Twitter's ‘@replies' function allows visitors to send and receive short, publicly viewable messages and is therefore probably the most powerful medium for the public reply, although people can also leave comments on Facebook Fan Pages and via its groups.

Once a relationship has been established through public communication, the next step is often the direct message delivered via a social network. A direct message creates a private connection without opening the floodgates of fully-fledged email correspondence. That said, Twitter restricts both message length and who you can receive direct messages from – confining them to people you follow – so it has its limitations as a method of communicating with new prospects. However, once you've made a connection via a direct message and received permission to follow up via email, your email will often be better received.

Email

Email is now so firmly established in our business psyche that many choose only to see its downside. Yet the fact remains that it's cheap, quick, accessible, allows in-depth communication, is easily forwarded and can be sent to numerous people all at once!

The key to successful email marketing is to be succinct and relevant. Obtaining your recipients' explicit permission to communicate with them via email is not only a bonus – it's a legal requirement. RIBA Enterprises' free monthly email newsletter select ticks all nine boxes. Read by over 9,000 architects, engineers, building facilities managers and other specifiers – all of whom have requested to receive it – select keeps readers up to speed on product updates, company news and case studies.

Telephone

As anyone who has worked with call centre staff knows, the telephone allows people to get a better sense of one another simply by the use of tone and inflection. Written communication can be carefully crafted to present oneself and one's products in exactly the right light, but the immediate back-and-forth of a telephone conversation is far more powerful where the topic being discussed is complex, or both sides are working towards developing a more in-depth relationship.

Face-to-face

At one time face-to-face meetings were our first point of business interaction. Today, they often represent the final stage in the hierarchy set out above. Meeting someone in person enables you to connect with them on a deeper level. Some contend that Skype and other video chat media provide enough stimuli to experience this, but communication is not simply about words and inflection. Our bodies communicate as well. They communicate how comfortable or uncomfortable we are discussing something, our level of passion for a subject, and our hopes and fears. Meeting with someone in person allows for communication to occur on multiple levels, and people often come away with a much better sense of each other.

Summary

Social media allows us to reach out and engage with more and more people. As a consequence, the question on every marketers lips should be, "How can I use social media to build engagement one step at a time?"

The more we understand the importance of each level of communication, the more we can effectively use each one.

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