The Power of Consumer Control – Social Network Marketing – part 2
In his book Always On: Advertising, Marketing, and Media in an Era of Consumer Control
The book also explains a little on why large corporations like Microsoft are throwing millions of dollars into social network sites like Facebook.
For many small businesses they see social networks and social media tools as mere toys or a waste of time. And they are so wrong, words can’t describe it.
An example.
Paul Colligan, whom I follow on Twitter recently posted updates about their experience with Orbitz. In his blog posting, Will Orbitz Rise to the Occasion Paul discusses how he used Twitter and his Blog to document his frustration with what his travel company had put his through. The story details the good, the bad, and the ugly. What’s important is that someone from Orbitz who had her own Twitter account stepped upto the plate to handle this problem, and Twitter played a key role in all of this. Now Paul has 3,082 people who follow his tweets on Twitter. And you can bet that each of those people have at least 10 people following them. Do the math. That’s an easy 30,820 people who have heard about how Orbitz first fscked up and later resolved the problem. How many follow Paul’s Blog, well only he can answer that question.
In marketing any exposure can be good. With a talented spin-doctor even a total cluster-fsck can be worked to one’s advantage. Hey, any press is better then no press, right? Wrong. When people share their experiences about your products or services they can help you gain sales, or loose sales. The era of “if you like something tell one friend, if you hate something tell ten friends” is over. Just like the Dinos, it is so dead. Today if I like something I can share that knowledge with a potential 100,000 people in under 10 days using social networks. And that’s if I like something. Think about what I might do, if I really don’t like something…
Consumer Control is about your clients having power of you. They don’t like the TV ad, they change the channel (hell with PVRs they can block commercials all together). They don’t like your Pop-Ups they use a Pop-up Blocker. They feel you ripped them off or they got bad service, and they start a XYZ Company Sucks Facebook Group. And in an era where trust relationship have HUGE value, your company suffers.
No the client isn’t always right. Hell, most of the time they don’t have a fscking clue. But they have the money in their pockets and they will decide how they will spend it. Think you have a monopoly on something? Guess what, I can find it online over seas and order from there if I don’t want you to have my business. Think testimonials aren’t worth the effort to gather and post online? Consider that another nail in the coffin.
Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace have change the face of business and marketing forever.
The question to ask yourself, is if you want to gain from this change, or be buried with the Dino’s in the past?
Twitter Related Links – pay attention before you screw up in front of 10 million people
50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business
40 Twitter Tips in 140 Characters or Less
The TwitterHandbook
Get the Book at Amazon
Always On: Advertising, Marketing, and Media in an Era of Consumer Control
