Enough Already! Listen and Respond, Remember You are Here for Me

As a consumer, when I am working through a product/service issue online (yes, it's me the customer working through it on my own time, while someone from the company better be listening. Listening = table stakes) - so anyway, I'm working through my product issue online, I definitely want to "speak" to an individual from the company...preferrably knowledgeable, but doesn't necessarily need to be an individual with her own online brand.

I just need someone from the company (that is capable of helping me resolve my product issue) actually listening and helping me. I can search on the person and the product, I can see what others have to say about their assistance. I want customer service from a human that will listen and is empowered to resolve - I don't want to talk to the man.

I'm not so concerned about the person's online brand.

Now I say that, but really their reputation really does matter to me, because I want to hear if others trust them. I'll ask people in my communities. The crowd will tell and I'll be listening. I figure, if they have helped others in my communities, they probably will be able to help me and I'm not going to waste my time or effort reaching out to a company that isn't listening and responding (yep, table stakes.)

I don't want someone focused on promoting their personal brand or cramming a corporate marketing message down my throat, I need help with my product NOW.

But's it complicated...I want someone that is cognizant that their actions actually speak louder than their words and that they realize the community sourced digital depictation of their online interactions matter more to me than any blog post they have keyed and most importantly, through that quick "online gut check" scan I do by asking Twitter, Googling, checking Get Satifaction, etc. that I consistently see their focus is me. So, is this company spokesperson "one of us"? Is he a trusted member of our community?

I'm looking for the company's Trust Agent. Because, Trust Agents* know it's all about me - the customer.

Done with my rant...

I'm just finishing up Chris Brogan(@chrisbrogan) and Julien Smith's (@julien) book: Trust Agents and it was the stimulus for this piece. I'll write a few posts on my thoughts about their insightful, timely book in the next few weeks. I definitely recommend it.

*Use Promo Code: BHB9149B for 30% off now through September 14.

Upcoming Events

Over the next couple of months, I'm fortunate enough to be attending several amazing social media events (some local to Kansas City, some not.) I hope I'm lucky enough to see you at a few of these shindigs, please let me (@zenaweist) know if you are going so we can definitely meet up.

The Quick-n-Dirty
This is the only virtual event slated. Aaron Strout asked me to talk about my day job as interactive brand strategy and marketing manager at Embarq on his (@aaronstrout) and Jennifer Leggio's (@mediaphyter) social media Quick-N-Dirty podcast (@quickndirty).
These two online marketing mavens discuss new social networks, social media case studies, new execs that are twittering/blogging and the hot topic of the week. Bryan Person (@bryanperson), one of my favorite social media practitioners, will be co-hosting with Jennifer.

Join the chat and listen in on Thursday, September 3 at 5pm CT. Every once in awhile, Jennifer will ask one of the listens to chime in, it would be great if it were you! If you miss it, you can listen to it shorty after it's live via Quick-n-Dirty's nifty On Demand Episodes.

Really "Way Too Early in The Morning" SMCKC Breakfast
On Friday, September 11 at 7:30am (I kid you not) if you dare, you will see mine and 60 of my closest cohorts yawning faces at our monthly Social Media Club of Kansas City's (@smckc) breakfast at the oh-so-yummy The Kansas City Cafe (@KansasCityCafe). Details on the "you will really want to wake up for this one" agenda will be posted on SMCKC's ning soon.

Kansas City Twestival 2009
In the evening of Friday, September 11, I'm definitely going to the KC Twestival (@kctwestival) at The Brooksider Bar & Grill. A plethora of my Kansas City friends are helping plan this incredible one night, one cause social web/IRL event for an amazing local, non-profit Wayside Waifs.

KC #Twestival 2009 from Judy-Anne Goldman on Vimeo.

Solis hashtag KC-style #solisinkc
woot! Thanks to The Greater Kansas City Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) (@kcprsa), Brian Solis (@briansolis) will be presenting The State of Social Media, an inside look at trends and ethics within the industry featuring current topics and statistics on Thursday, September 17 at AMC Mainstreet Theatre. Brian exhales the social web. If you haven't seen The Conversation Prism that he and Jesse Thomas (@jess3) developed, please take a look-see.

First Day of Autumn in NYC
Next up is OMMA Global New York on Tuesday, September 22. I just found out, I'm pinch hitting for my Embarq interactive brand partner in crime, Kevin Cobb (@kevinjcobb), on an online marketing panel with our strategic partners, Dax Hamman (@daxhamman), Vice President Display Media, iCrossing and Media6's CEO, Joe Doran (@doran_joe). When I can, I'll update this post with our OMMA topic details.

UPDATED OMMA Global NYC Panel details:
Our panel is on Tuesday, 9/22 at noon and the title is Leveraging the Power of Search Retargeting for Marketing Plans with Andrew Pancer, Founder and COO, Media6 Degrees; Dax Hamman, VP, Display Media, iCrossing;Ben Seslija, Senior Director, Acquisition and Analytics, Clickable; and Mitch Spolan, Yahoo! Inc.


IZEAFest 2009
Next stop is sunny Orlando at the beginning of October where I'll be experiencing my first IZEAFest (@izeafest). Here's my history on the how. I'll be speaking on the What Advertisers Want panel and I'm beyond excited about being part of this timely conversation. I can't wait to recap blog about the lively discussion around this topic.


And last but definitely not least, Kansas City's own IMS
On October 8, I will have the pleasure of walking through the Embarq social media case study with two of the company's key social web SMEs Kevin Cobb and Linda O'Neill (@lindaoneill) at The Kansas City Integrated Marketing Summit (@IMSummit. Unfortunately, Bryan Person is slated on an IMS panel at the same time as I'll be talking so we each are going to tape the other and we promise to share highlights. The great news is we both will be front and center live tweeting one of our favorite online savvy, witty Bostonians Doug Haslam's (@DougH) Effective PR in a Social World presentation later that afternoon. Do you have any fun ideas on a hashtag for Doug's preso?