The Science of Social Media

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?