One of Tuesday more fascinating panels at the Broadway League Conference was one entitled, Equip Your Army; Why Content is King, and featured a troop of social media experts from YouTube, Giphy,  BuzzFeed, and more.

One of the biggest takeaways I got from the panel was a simple one:

To stand out in the social space, you’ve got to be speedy.

Your audience tweets you a kudos or a complaint, you can’t wait a day to get back to them.  You’ve got to find a way to respond right away.

Think about it this way.  Social media is SOCIAL by nature.  You have “friends.”  Imagine if a friend of yours came up to you, slapped you on the back and said, “It was great seeing you the other day at So-And-So’s birthday party.  Boy did we have fun.  Look forward to doing it again!”

And then you said nothing.  Zippo.  You just went about your business and left your friend hanging there with a compliment dripping from his open mouth.

Odds are he won’t compliment you again to your face, or behind your back.

Or imagine that same friend saying, “Dude.  My feelings were really hurt at So-And-So’s birthday party.  You didn’t talk to me all night and I heard you were making fun of my new Hawaiian shirt.  What’s up with that?”

And you don’t respond.

Now here’s the scary part.  When someone doesn’t listen to someone’s complaint, they complain louder until someone, anyone, does.  So odds are, they’ll trash you again to your face, and behind your back.

Twenty years ago, people didn’t have a way to compliment or complain as quickly as they do now.  Maybe they wrote you a letter.  Maybe.

And you didn’t have a way to respond.  Maybe you responded with a letter.  But most likely you didn’t.  And either the customer, or the potential advocate just went away.

Today, for better or for better (!), you must not only respond when your audience speaks up, you must respond fast.

But speedy social and traditional marketing response doesn’t just end with compliments and complaints.  A quick Twitter trigger finger could have you reaching a brand new audience.

See tomorrow’s post to see how.

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