How Social Media is Making the Voice of the Customer Louder
A recent Forrester Research report by Josh Bernoff (co-author of Groundswell) states that we have moved from the Information Age to the Age of the Customer, where empowered customers are disrupting every industry. Josh states in his report that successful companies must become customer obsessed, mastering deep understanding and engagement with customers. At ListenLogic, we see examples of what Josh says occur every day. A recent CNN article looks at one dimension of the Age of The Customer, clearly illustrating the need for real-time listening and understanding of social customer data.
Social Media has changed business in many ways. Mobile devices, smartphones and iPads are now constant companions to over one billion consumers and they use them constantly to consume a constant stream of professional and social media data. Mobile consumers publish a constant stream of thoughts, opinions, reviews, recommendations, praises and complaints.
There are three key drivers that power the Amplification of Social Media in the Age of the Customer that brands need to understand:
- The average American has 634 ties in their social network (Pew http://bit.ly/lJdBPI). If a positive or negative issue resonates, it will travel from network to network and grow quickly and exponentially.
- The Press is always listening to social media, they have an insatiable appetite for controversy and publish 24/7. The bigger the brand and more negative the story, the more likely the Press will follow.
- Activists and individuals have learned how to “crank up” the Amplification to increase amount and velocity of spread. People have learned that what you post, where you post, and how you post makes a big difference. Carefully crafted messages posted to influential sites and posted to generally easy to monitor sites using company, brand, product, and stock symbol keywords and hashtags will be picked up quickly.
The most important thing for big brands to understand is that customer complaints amplified by social media will affect your brand and every brand with increasing frequency. It is a reality of the Age of the Customer. Some complaints will be false and intentionally malicious, some routine and minor, and a few will be embarrassing and damaging to your reputation and stock price. The response to these complaints can range from ignoring, to correcting, to apologizing. In every case a companies’ ability to quickly identify, understand, and respond appropriately is the key to minimizing the social spread and impact.
We hope you find the commentary and article helpful. Please feel free to contact me ListenLogic with any questions you may have. We would be happy to provide you and your team with an educational update on Best Practices Social for CRM and Social Reputation Management in the Age of the Customer.
