I know what you must be thinking…

What’s the difference between your thoughts and your customer’s thoughts? Context.

And your customers context of thought could very well be the key to businesses discovering what it is that they’ve been missing. Or what it is that they should be doing. Or, what it is that they have done, but should now change.

As part of a business, your context of thought is centered within the context of business – production, pricing, sales, marketing, profits and such. There’s always some overlap, but do you really think your customers are thinking about your sales and profits? Not unless they already own stock.

No. Your customers have their own context. Their context includes hopes and desires, and the need to complete their immediate world. We can all relate, as we all have these desires and the need to feel our own world is complete. But when we go to work we often change hats and put on our business context and set aside our consumer context in order to address the immediate need to complete our business world. And when we have the business hat on, we sometimes lose sight of the customers’ context.

It’s a daily challenge to stay connected with the customers context. But this is one area that social media can add huge value. Social media is a  window into the context of customers. And their conversations will reveal their wants and needs, and the truth about your brand. And if you can handle the truth. The truth will set you free!

Sorry for the bible reference. But it’s true. If you are smart enough to really listen to the global conversation, and participate when you can deliver value, you’ll have the information you need to satisfy customers. And that’s got to be good for business.