Coffee Brake! Where are they now? (Your consumers, I mean).

On Tuesday, I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak to current students at my alma mater, Florida State University, and to meet with Dean of the College of Communication & Information, Larry Dennis, and Director of the School of Communication, Dr. Steve McDowell.  The conversation was about what comes next.  We could have talked for days.

Every organization, large or small, has to stay in touch with its audience.  But never before has the means to do that changed so rapidly and so constantly.  So how do you not only keep up, but also stay ahead of current communication needs and anticipate future ones?  And how do you know your audience is listening?  Well, when’s the last time you asked them?

All over the place, we’re seeing changes come in droves.  In last month’s Mileage Report we featured the Salvation Army’s use of a multimedia annual report to truly raise the bar on engaging, interactive communication, and lower printing costs and waste.

Brands are creating content that engages and builds relationships with consumers in new ways, the way Nike did in the Nike Plus Human Race episodes we co-edited alongside MTV.  Fans were invited to participate in the largest one-day running event in history, and were able to submit their own content and become brand ambassadors.

Florida A&M, the university where I received my minor in Broadcast Journalism, is one of the first HBCU’s to use text messaging to fundraise (text FAMU to 50555), giving students an easy, relevant way to stay connected.  It also provides information for the school to use as a way of staying connected with students.

FSU has evolved, merging its communication and information technology programs to provide students with a more fitting skill set for an era we’re probably not fully aware of yet.  Simultaneously the challenge is staying in touch with those students upon graduation, as they become future donors and contributors to the school.  How do you track where they go, both physically and online?

The question isn’t whether to use or not use social and mobile media anymore.  Clearly that’s a yes.  It’s which of the dozens of choices do you employ?  There are all sorts of articles and webinars measuring the effectiveness of Twitter versus Facebook, and Facebook versus LinkedIn, of whether video on your site is a good thing.  But the effectiveness can only start being measured by whether your audience is there or not in the first place.

So the constant question to pose is, Where are they now?  The answer will change in 3 years, or maybe in 3 months.  Keep asking it if you want to keep up.

It’s a new decade, with a tasty, ever-evolving selection at the digital communications buffet.  It’s easy to get overwhelmed; we help our clients focus.  I say eat up, but don’t get full on the first thing you see.