The Importance Of Being A Good Listener

In essence, social media content is just an extension of the personal conversations we already have, it's just that they occur more frequently and on more platforms. But despite the enormous increase in the scale of this communication, the fundamental concept of a conversation remains the same: listen more than you talk. Listening is one of the most important facets of a successful social media project. Unfortunately it's also the first to be forgotten as marketers try to replicate the one-way messages being published through their traditional media campaigns.

In this week's Thumbs Up Award I thought it would be fun to look at an excellent example of social media listening and how some some basic monitoring skills can pay dividends for your business.

It all started with this comment made by US President and self confessed Slurpee-lover Barack Obama, when he entertained the idea of serving Slurpees at a meeting with the Republicans. At that point one of the journalists at the conference yelled out the term "Slurpee Summit", the crowd laughed, and everyone thought that was the end of it.

Not 7-Eleven. They picked up on the joke, gathered their marketing team and put together an entire campaign around the idea of a Slurpee Summit, which was then promoted through their Facebook page. The entire campaign culminated on the 24th November when the Slurpee Summit tour hit Washington D.C and the company threw a free concert for the public, including as many free Slurpees as the crowd could handle.



What We Like
In a world where flexibility in marketing is becoming a rare treat for consumers, 7-Eleven has had the intelligence to do something out of the box that really appealed to their audience. In the end it was a simple combination of listening to what was being said about the product, and some savvy social media minds to bring the concept to life.

Why It Works
The beauty of this campaign is that all three elements -- Slurpees, Barack Obama and social media -- align perfectly with 7-Eleven's target audience. In this case, Slurpees provide the interest in the market, Obama provides the high profile and social media provides the platform. The simplicity is quite ingenious when you think about it.

Ideas You Can Use
Conversations are 80% listening and 20% talking, so listen to what is being said about your brand, your products, and your business. There are various free tools that are easy to use and will save you heaps of time in tracking the social media buzz within your industry.


7-Eleven has listened to the conversations about their product and produced a clever campaign with brilliant execution. We're pleased to award them this week's Thumbs Up Award. Well done guys!