Blog Marketing

Regardless of what type of business or organization you are engaged in, chances are, Social Media is affecting the way you operate right now. Currently, you may think that Social Media has no effect on your field. However, if it is not happening now, it will happen sooner or later. Therefore, you should care about Social Media because it has already affected every field or industry you can think of; and by being aware of its use and influence, you can use Social Media to your advantage.

The effects of Social Media are inevitable. People, in the real world, do not change instantly; perception and preference takes time and effort to completely change. However, it is a different story online, where people’s decisions can be influenced easily, especially when they see something better. With the way Social media works, this occurrence happens easily and frequently. The number of people involved combined with the rapid changes in technology make Social Media a force difficult to deal with.

For instance, look at how Social Media has changed the way we look at entertainment. In the movies and television, traditional advertising and promotional tactics rarely work. Instead, entertainment companies use the Internet to promote their goods. Movie producers feed trailers and “exclusive” movie clips to Social Media users to generate interest. The producers do not even have to lift a finger; thanks to Social Media, information such as movie clips, pictures, and videos can easily be sent to the end-user through a variety of ways. Television producers use websites to promote their shows. They promote these “real” websites based on the show to generate buzz, as in the case of NBC Television’s Heroes and ABC’s Ugly Betty and Lost.

Traditional Media outlets now have to compete with Social Media due to the existence of Google News and Digg and besides these they also have to compete indirectly with bloggers. Journalists have to contend with bloggers for scope and even though most professional journalists have the funds and the means to compete with bloggers, the blog authors still have the advantage. After all, bloggers simply need to write a story or create a video; and instantly post them online. Journalists, on the other hand, have their pieces edited with a fine-toothed comb - and then wait for their newscast to air or their newspapers to get published. Hence, we see the rise of Internet celebrities such as Perez Hilton or the famous/infamous website TMZ (which, ironically, spawned a television show thanks to the popularity of its site). Even mainstream entertainment media has to adjust; powerhouse publications such as People, Entertainment Weekly, and even the News York Times have entertainment blogs now.

If you own a brand, you should be on the lookout. Social Media users, who are also customers and consumers of various products, constantly talk about various services and consumer items. And most likely, they are talking about your brand, defining how other people will perceive your organization or your business. You may have spent millions on brand imaging, but this effort is futile against the words of Social Media users, who redefine image through blogs and discussion forums. They talk to each other about their ideas regarding your brand, affirming their opinions and, ultimately, adhering or disagreeing to how you see your own brand.

As a retailer, you do not only have to contend with online vendors; Social Media users can now buy items from each other. Social Media users can easily compare your prices with the prices of your competitors. They can easily see who provides the better service for a much reasonable price. Your shelf space, no matter how big it is, is no match against the infinite selection of online retailers.

Customers may see financial service companies as a useless luxury, since they can get free financial advice at Yahoo! Finance or Motley Fool. With PayPal, consumers do not need credit cards to order online. People are rating the services of businesses. Even the people inside your own organization are scrutinizing and comparing your every move through social networks.

As these examples show, Social Media has ultimately changed the balance of power in business. Now more than ever, it is truly the consumer who holds the power, who indirectly affects decisions and changes within various industries and fields. But it also works both ways. You can use Social Media to change the consumers. Specifically, you can change the way they perceive your brand. If you do not use Social Media, you will see the results sooner or later. Your brand will become less competitive. This, in turn, can eat your profits and diminish the source of your organization’s strength.

Needless to say, listening to Social Media (or, more specifically, Social Media users) is turning out to be an essential business practice. In essence, there are many ways to listen to Social Media and Social Media users. For one, you can simply search your brand’s name together with other keywords (such as “complaint,” “awesome,” “awful,” “great”) to see individual sentiments of involved people. You can check out tags on del-icio.us and other websites to see what people are saying about your brand. You can do a quick browse on discussion forums to see the general sentiment of people. But while these are effective ways to listen, these would not help you get real insight. To get real insight that can help your brand, you need to use professional tools. Information is useless, after all, if not properly categorized and analyzed.

First, if you want to properly listen to Social Media users, you can set up your own private community. Communispace is one of primary supplier of private communities, although you can also get similar products from the likes of MarketTools and Networked Insights. A private community is like getting an engaged focus group that provides simultaneous and continuous output, putting them in a setting where you can listen to what they have to say. The setting is natural, perhaps even more natural than the setting of focus groups. Although similar to a focus group, the nature of private communities is obviously different. Due to its size, which is significantly larger than a focus group, you can easily get valuable insight from critical members of the community. Quality of content is one of the limitations of getting a focus group. While you can ask anything to the members of the group, the quality of their response varies, making it a hit-or-miss process. With private communities, however, the chance to attract critical individuals is ongoing, since this is an ongoing and continuous process. You may not get valuable insight now, but you will sooner or later thanks to the nature of private communities.

Of course, you can also listen to the content found in blogs, forums, and YouTube, among others. But you will need someone to interpret the data for you. Therefore, you will need to hire or get a group who can do this for you. This is called brand monitoring. However, contrary to popular opinion, brand monitoring is best done by a separate entity, a company who specialize in analyzing such data. This company will do the listening for you; they will collect all the information found in various Social Media outlets and send you the report. However, instead of a collection of raw data (raw data being the information collected online), the company will deliver summary reports containing what’s happening online.

Hiring the services of such companies is essential, due to the nature of information you can get online. Information through listening can be overwhelming in volume, and anyone without experience will have difficult time segregating valuable information from trash. In order to make sense of this information, in order to make it useful, you need to get the essence of the information. Brand monitoring companies can do this for you. Services such as Nielsen’s BuzzMetrics or TNS’s Cynfony can monitor Social Media for you, giving you a concise idea of what you can do to improve your brand and your organization.

Of course, the most important part of listening is implementation. Listening is important, something that you probably should do, no questions asked. But listening per se will not help you improve your brand and your business. You need to act on what you learned through listening. Listening is a barren act if all the information you garnered through listening simply lay on your desk, collecting dust. Hence, this is another point why you should get someone to monitor your brand (the likes of Nielsen’s BuzzMetrics, for example). Services such pinpoint problem or concerned areas according to what was garnered online through Social Media networks.

These listening strategies are critical for a number of reasons. For one, these strategies enable you to properly listen to Social Media users. With the use of private communities, you know you are listening to the right source and the right people. With hiring brand monitoring companies, you relieve yourself of the responsibility of listening; the only thing you have to do is implement. As in any type of strategy, these have to be implemented in small scale first, to see how it would work given real life scenarios.

Undeniably, Social Media today is already an integral part of the lives of millions of people worldwide. In fact, it has become so popular that it is already integrated in many aspects of our lives, changing the way how we interact with people and how we communicate with one another. Likewise, Social Media made it possible for companies and brands to talk to their audience directly using several Internet tools and strategies. These tools make it possible for companies and brands to communicate with the right market easily with very minimal cost.

The appeal of Social Media is also clear; it is a venue for ideas, information, and values, formed by people who also want to share their knowledge through text, videos, and other related files and content. Social Media makes it easier for people to keep in touch with one another, or for people to make new friends. This is done in a venue where they can transmit and pass information to one another. But why do people use Social Media? What motivates a person to sign up in websites such as MySpace or Facebook, to visit sites such as YouTube? Here a number of reasons why people use Social Media. It should be noted, however, that the reasons are not limited to these; after all, there are as many reasons as there are people.

1.    Keep in touch with friends. Social Media websites such as Facebook and MySpace make it easier for you to keep in touch with a number of your friends who are also members of these websites. Not only do they have instant messaging functions which enables you to send messages instantly to your friends; these websites also have features such as Notes (where you can post content) and Journals (or blogs). These features let members write down and publish whatever is happening to them at the moment. If you want to let your friends know that you passed your examinations, you got your dream job, or you lost your mobile phone on your way to work, certain functions in Facebook or MySpace will enable you to inform your friends easily.

2.   Make new friends. Of course, members of Social Media websites are not limited to your friends; these websites have millions of members around the world, and their features make it easy for you to communicate and, in a way, mingle with them through a number of programs within the website. There are also Social Media websites that function especially as an online dating website.

3.    Peer pressure. If a number of your friends are members of these websites, it is apparently that you will be forced to join the Social Media website yourself sooner or later. This is especially true if your friends bombard you with several invites. After some time, you will give in to the pressure, especially if a lot of people in your immediate circle are members of these sites and you begin to feel left out since you cannot relate with their online activities.

4.    Determine if the rest of the site is worthwhile. According to a number of studies, many members of Social Media sites such as MySpace and Facebook spend countless of hours exploring the site just to see if the rest of the site is worth visiting. This applies when these members have stumbled upon a feature in the site which they think is worthwhile or useful. In the same way, although their use of the site is limited, they continue to be members because of this minor function. In essence, even if these Social Media sites have minimal usefulness for a number of people, they will continue to use the site no matter how minimal its usage is.

5.    Interact with and to observe different types of people. This is different from item number two, where the site is used mainly to make friends. Here, people use these Social Media sites to watch people. Due to the characteristics of online networking sites, it is possible to do a number of things people may not be able to do in real life. This can be considered as a form of exhibitionism, and the inner voyeur in us can’t help but look, stare, watch, and follow the happenings in the lives of other people. This is usually why a number of blogs have huge followings, even if these sites are very personal in nature.

6.    Express creativity. Not everyone can be a photographer or a graphic designer in real life. It takes a certain amount of talent to become a published writer. And it certainly takes a lot more than guts to become a musician. But Social Media websites make it easier for members to post their creative photographs, literary or any written work, or musical compositions, bypassing certain gatekeepers such as editors and the likes.

7.    Receive validation. In relation to the previous item, people use Social Media sites to get praises and validation for their work, their knowledge, and even their lives. Other members can post comments on videos posted on YouTube, or pictures posted of Flickr, and those responsible for the content relish on these comments, something they cannot easily get in real life, outside the realms of the Internet.

8.    Be part of a community. Normally, if you’re a fan of a television show or musical band, or a basketball team, you want to interact with other people with the same interest or affinity. This is made easier with Social Media sites. Members can create groups and start discussions related to their interest and affinity. This gives the members a sense of affinity, since they are part of community or a circle where they know they belong, although only online.

Listening to the customers is the first among the number of things you do using Social Media. It is also one of the most important, if not singularly the most important of them all. Once you have succeeded in listening to your customers, you can then proceed in talking, embracing, and energizing them. All these functions and actions are essential and can help you improve your brand. However, the progression has to be natural. This is because you cannot talk to the customers if you do not first listen to them. As in a normal conversation, when you want to talk to a group of people deep in conversation, you first have to know what they are talking about before you barge in. Otherwise, they will either ignore you or, worse, think you are rude and simply out of placed. This is also how it works when you listen to Social Media; if you do not know what the people are saying about your brand and your product online, you might end up swimming against a very strong current.

In any case, listening using Social Media will definitely change your organization. This is become even more evident especially once your company begins actively listening to your customers using Social Media.. Here are some ways listening can change your company, the impact it can cause, and how you can remedy any negative effects it can have:

1.    Change in power structure. Before the use of Social Media as a means to listen to the customers, companies use their market research department to know the pulse of their consumers. They do this through a number of means, mainly through surveys. With the use of Social Media, it can be expected that the market research department’s role will be sequestered to the side in favor of the information garnered through Social Media. On the other hand, the department involved with listening to the Social Media will have a more central role in the company, especially in the development and marketing departments. Social Media will not entirely replace market research. All you have to do is use the information acquired in the Social Media in the proper venues.

2.    Add resources. The information acquired in the Social Media should be integrated in the corporate decision making. Hence, this information is an additional resource, giving the decision makers more choices and more materials to work with. The person involved in the listening process should now play a more active role in the other departments of the company due to the additional resources. The person involved and responsible for listening to the customers using Social Media should be more active in strategizing the marketing and advertising plans; after all, this person is aware of several factors other people in the organization may not even know. In a retailing business, the one involved in the listening should be part of the buying and merchandising efforts.

3.    Become more aware. Listening to your customers will make your company become aware about the preference of the consumers. This means you and your organization will instantly know if you are doing anything inefficient or inappropriate; in other words, you will know if you are doing something stupid thanks to the additional resources and information brought by the Social Media. Every company has a particular product that is considered stupid by the customers, or a particular rule or policy that consumers consider inappropriate to the business. These ill-advised products, policies, and quirks may seem so obvious to the outsider, but not to the people inside the company. Other times, they remain in the company because of the biases within the organization, or because they have been in the company for so long no one dared change it. Social Media gives you the opportunity to know about these blind spots and make necessary changes, which can surely cause a lot of reactions inside the company, especially if listening to the customers helped you realize what you think was effective is actually driving away new consumers. When customers complain, it can reveal your ineffectiveness. And when this happens, take the chance to measure the complaint and quantify it. Once you do it, it will be harder to deny your and your company’s flaws. It will be painful, but making changes is essential.

4.    Talk. Many think that using Social Media to listen is very easy. After all, you are not making your presence felt to the customers. But listening to the customers will naturally lead to talking to the customers. Talking may take form in many mediums, such as discussion boards or blogs. You might even set up your own blog too in order to address the pressing issues brought up in the Social Media because of your listening. If you are listening, or have started to listen, expect to talk to consumers soon, although it is always wise to talk within the Social Media. While you can respond to online concerns through traditional means, the results may not be as positive. Listening and talking through Social Media is like conversing with the customers in an orderly setting; using traditional means to respond to what you learned in Social Media is like using a bullhorn to respond to a whisper.

Innovating and developing your brand with the help of your customers is a goal every company wants to achieve. This concept is so popular many materials have been published about it, emphasizing that a business, company, or brand should embrace their customers and place them in the core of their company. Obviously, the customers are the heart and soul of every operation. They are brand’s lifeline; without them, a product or service will cease to exist. Hence, books like Democratizing Innovation, Outside Innovation: How Your Customers Will Co-Design Your Company’s Future, and Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything have more or less explained how and why direct customer participation in any business is essential, regardless what the business is, no matter what the product or service is.

But no matter what these books say, the truth remains: collaborating with the customers is challenging. The challenge lies in the fact that companies have been created and organized to think by themselves, without putting premium on what the customers say. Putting the customers into the development of a product and the product innovation process was simply an alien concept. Instead, companies have departments to handle these. Your company probably has product development department who handles the production of these items, headed and manned by capable engineers. Also, your company probably has a market research department too, with people who are in charge of knowing what the people (specifically your customers) want. The results of the efforts of this department will probably support the decisions of the people in the company regarding product development and innovation. These departments are essential, of course, but they have limitations and are usually blindsided due to the nature of their operations. The market research department is especially limited to their research tools, mostly which could not capture what the consumers want to say. The department is also limited by what they think is important to customers. Hence, they really have no idea what matters to customers.

But Social Media has changed all of this. Thanks to the various channels and space available, customers can now say what they want to say regarding your product; and it does not concern them if your provide them the opportunity or not. With or without you, they will talk about their concerns, their comments, and their unsolicited suggestions. Without your prodding, your customers are practically providing you with the essential information. Your customers are practically telling you what to do. And they are doing this through Social Media. They are blogging about their concerns, discussing comments at discussion forums. They are even making videos and other materials about your brand, passing these to other customers.

If you use the Social Media to listen, talk, energize, and support your customers, then you will probably have no problems using them to innovate and develop products. The end result of these efforts is to give a place to the customers in your company. How you give them the proper venue for their discussions, you can use the information they provide to help you in product development and innovation. By listening, talking, energizing, and supporting your customers, you are creating a bond between them and your company. Through this, you are embracing your customers, giving them a place in your operations.

But why is this essential? Or is it even essential at all? The fact is, you can innovate or develop products faster by embracing your customers. And faster innovation is beneficial and powerful because you can move quickly, employing changes without damaging the brand and the product due to previous wrong choices. Embracing customers help you innovate faster due to the nature of Social Media.

Embracing the customers is essential because they can tell you what they want and what they do not want. This is essential information; after all, they are your consumers—they pay for your products, they use your products, and they consume your products. They know what parts work and what doesn’t. Your customers can tell you exactly what they think about your product on the proper venue—the venue you have created for them—once you have already established your relationship with them.

Most of your customers have valuable insights regarding the changes that you should make in order to make your product more effective. They also have ideas on what makes your product work. You can easily learn from these ideas if you embrace them your customers. But you need to make them feel you value their input in order to make it work. Because these ideas are generated faster (at least when compared to the insight from surveys), you can instantly incorporate them in your product. This isn’t to say companies take their consumers for granted before the advent of Social Media; however, due to limited technology and resources, the opportunities were slimmer. Today, however, you can incorporate their ideas into your brand and your product, supercharging your production.

You can also iterate to your customers once you have successfully embraced your customers. This will make innovation faster because you can instantly ask them succeeding questions regarding your product. Not only can they provide you with insight if you already have an existing connection with your customers; you can also ask them for insight regarding matters they may not have originally discussed but are essential to your operations.

For example, your company has figured out through embracing the customers that most of your customers think the present design of your product is too inconvenient. So you know that a number of your customers are unsatisfied with this factor, and you should make necessary changes. Still, this insight is not enough. This is why you should iterate and ask what part of the design makes using the product inconvenient. This is advantage of this process: since the response is quick, you can instantly process any information the customers give you. Furthermore, you can ask them new questions once you have processed the previous information collected. This process is like replacing letters with emails; emails are faster, so can say more things in little time.

But this isn’t to say embracing the customers can replace established departments in your company. Embracing your customers can help involved departments in their functions. Since the exchange of information is fast, it can instantly help development and innovation while keeping in touch with present trends and changes in the market.