It was late in the evening when Mathew McCoy was going
through his Facebook updates. As usual, he only took a fleeting glance at the
updates and was about to log out when something struck him. It was the name of
his start-up and a stream of comments about its services. The comments were
constructive, he thought, as many in the network commented on their wonderful
experience as well as areas of improvement. For McCoy, this was a highly
credible channel and that too at low cost. An hour later, as he logged out, he
was determined to continuously leverage the network and its member’s comments
to the hilt.
Business
leaders and marketers, across the world, unequivocally agree about the
inevitable focus they have to maintain on social networks as well as its power
in generating and leveraging deep customer insights. According to a recent IBM
study, ‘the
customer activated enterprise,’ nearly seven in ten CxOs recognize the new
imperative — a shift to social and digital interaction. Over half expect to
meet an even more difficult demand: understanding and engaging the customer as
an individual rather than as a category or market segment.
As McCoy
hit the bed that night, several questions flashed across his mind. Who are
these members? What could be their motivation? How can the company identify and
engage them on an ongoing basis? Can their experience influence the
others? If yes, how can the company
capitalize on the same?
According to Jonah Berger, author of
Contagious: Why Things Catch On, there are six drivers for people to talk about a specific brand/product
on the networks. The drivers are
social currency,
triggers, emotions, public, practical value, and stories. He further elucidates
on the drivers. Social currency is the idea that people are more likely to talk
about something the better and smarter it makes them look, and the more special
it makes them feel. Triggers are why peanut butter makes us think of jelly—linking
products and ideas to cues in the environment increases word of mouth. The more
you can get people fired up, excited, or even feeling negative about something,
the more likely they’ll be to pass it on: That’s emotion. Public refers to the
idea that by making behavior more observable, so that it can be imitated, you
make it more likely that your idea will catch on. When something has practical
value—when it is useful—people share it with others to help them. And finally, stories
enable you to wrap your product or idea in a narrative that carries your brand
along for the ride.
Now, the next question. How can
companies identify and engage them? IBM Research announced a product called Vibes
that helps in narrowing down the target to 'Like-Minded Communities'. These communities
are found by analyzing social interaction amongst digital natives (e.g., being
connected on social networks like Facebook, twitter, etc, or calling each
other) as well as the purchase history of the digital natives, together. Such
communities have a unique characteristic with members being socially
well-connected and having similar tastes. And, hence provide marketers with an
alternative to the traditional micro-segments, with the added power of strong
social interaction amongst the members.
For marketers keen on keeping a
continuous tab on their brand, there is the power of Google to leverage. According
to an article
published in Forbes by Nate Elliot from Forrester, Google tracks what 800 million YouTube
visitors watch and what they like; it also sees the most important social
connections of its nearly 500 million Gmail users and tracks what
they share. And crucially, the Google search index includes almost every review
posted on any site online; the contents of billions of blog posts; and nearly
everything posted on Twitter.
In
its CEO study carried out in 2004, IBM had found that leaders ranked their own
customers sixth on the list of all market factors they believed would drive the
most change in their organizations. Today, digitally enfranchised and empowered
customers lead the agenda for every CxO profession. Forward looking leaders are known to actively encourage
customers and citizens to influence the decisions they make. Are you?
