Instead of one-way interruption, Web marketing is about delivering useful content at just the precise moment that a buyer needs it. – David
Meerman Scott
Seth Godin quipped that engagement is hitting people with the right message at the right time so as to have them take action [engage]. I think we have to take that word engage and thus precise moment further. To truly engage, at least in my head, you have to be enchanted, you have to be moved, you have to yearn for more so much so that you have no choice but to act on your desires. It the deepest throes of emotion. Words like love, anger and the many nuances of each come to mind. It’s not just a like, unlike, +1 or the such. It’s deeper.
Mr. Apartment Manager Man; “I am done.”
It’s not unlike the gentleman I met with last Friday evening. He, unfortunately, was moving out of our Central West End Community. Reason? In his words, “I am done.”
You see about three weeks ago, the entire roof of his five story building blew off and landed in the parking lot beside and the street in front. Thank the one that governs it all that no one was hurt as it could have been really bad.
In response to the situation; our team entered every apartment in the building and place plastic over beds, electronics and the such. Most were thankful. Not the gentleman I met on Friday. His beef? We did not leave him a note to let him know we had been in his apartment.
Engage
Somewhere in the wake of the roof being pulled off the building by straight lined winds; his attention got engaged. The premise aside; he was moved by an aggressive deep seated emotion. He engaged with some ill language and barbed personal remarks for the onsite team and the rest of our Mills management team. He got so engaged that he ended up leaving the property.
The Point
I think we are headed toward true engagement – we are not there yet. We use the word but in it’s loosest of senses. We are in the early innings of a very long ball game that is frankly destined for infinite extra innings. Think in terms of singularity. Think in terms of love, hate and other extremes. That’s engagement. For now we are just courting. Or, at best out on a blind date and liking our mate because our friends suggested we should. Now it’s up to us and the million other people out there participating with brands to fall in love or fall in hate.
What do you think?
Photo tip to: Online Ninja Blog
0 Responses
Here’s what I think … I don’t get it. “True engagement”? Am I lost here? I don’t see how your example story relates to your point, and then nothing really ties into the title. I’m just confused I guess.
Not slamming the post, but I’m just not following you. I started writing a comment 5 different times, have reread your post at least that many times, and still don’t see where you’re going with it and how it all ties together.
So I’m hanging onto your final paragraph I guess. I’ll disregard the rest of the post. I guess my question back is: Why extremes? Can’t some people just be “satisfied”. There are LOTS of things I’m just satisfied with. I think many people (maybe even the majority) would like to avoid extremes and fly below the radar. As marketers, however, we definitely pay attention to the extremes. Sure, they grab our attention, but I wouldn’t define those segments as “true engagement” or believe that’s where we’re headed in general.
Those are my thoughts, but, again, I’m a bit lost with your post. Was compelled to comment though as you have me thinking. 🙂
Thanks for taking the time M –
I will say that I am really good at confushion. 😉 And, this blog more times than not ends up being my way of thinking through the concepts and ideas that run through my head.
The gist is that I struggle with the way the word engagement is used as it relates to marketing. I think words like participation, satisfaction and the such are good words that have more appropriate application. Engaged, Engagement or Engaging just sounds cooler so we use it liberally.
That said and to tie back to the title; I think there are thousands of messages flying at us everyday in every way. As marketers we have to compete in that jungle and to some extent we can get away with good participation and or to use your word, satisfied. And, that is okay. It’s even profitable. But, I think to truly differentiate ourselves; we have to take a strict interpretation of the word engagement. Enter – love, commitment, loyalty or on the other end – hate, disinfranchisement, or outright brand assassination.
The story I used, while negative in nature, is meant to demonstrate the strict interpretation of engagement. That man was moved – his attention was cuaght and he acted.
I think as the bar continues to get pushed and as mass collaboration catches real wind, society as a whole will expect and demand prompts for true engagement for even the trivial of goods and services. You see it in the way of uprisings in the Middle East to the halls of Apple stores in the mall.
Not sure I added any clarity to the discussion but it is helping me in the way of fleshing out my thoughts. For that, I really thank you for taking the time to add to the discussion.
M
I saw this post last night and it had me thinking about yours. I guess I still don’t think we have to focus on the extremes. Maybe it’s just really about not ignoring people anymore and assuming the majority is “satisfied”.
http://www.buyerpersonainsights.com/2011/07/the-future-of-buyer-personas-is-social-part-1.html
I think I am following you but to be honest I came up with a completely different word for the move out fellow. I do no wish to incriminate myself so I will keep the word unpublished 🙂 In all seriousness I have always believed that emotional words will always have their own unique definitions to all of us personally. Two people can say they love something but their depth can be completely different. In the original Greek language there are actually 4 different words defining love. English gets a bit tricky at times since it can get lost in translation. The gentleman mentioned is obviously just engaged in himself and not his community. Thought provoking post sir.