Book Post #2
These last
few chapters in the book Groundswell have all been about what to do with the
groundswell of individuals once they have been identified. From these chapters,
two overarching themes stood out to me.
1. 1. Listen
Time and time again the authors say in different ways to
listen to your consumers. Being heard is a basic human need, and when a forum
like the internet exists, can be done so easily.
Li and
Bernoff speak about Jim Nobel and his work with Ebags. Ebags listened to
Nobel’s complaint about the zippers on their bags, and fixed this complaint.
Ebags has increased their profits exponentially by listening to complaints, and
more importantly, fixing them.
Dell
computers has also done an excellent job of listening to the consumer. They
have created a forum (www.dellcommunity.com)
where individuals can post questions about their computers and be answered by
knowledgable , (but not Dell employed) individuals. In this way, Dell saves a
great deal of money, and consumers are able to build a community with each
other. Dell saw that their official site was not working for some people, and
created this offshoot to allow consumers to share knowledge. This creates a
community, and allows individuals to be heard and answered.
Twitter has
emerged out of the groundswell and is now a force to be reckoned with. Twitter
is so easy to use that it spread like wildfire, and now companies use it as
something to listen to. Twitter, like most social media, allows individuals to
be heard: the difference being that these individuals can direct their tweets
to the companies or brands they may be tweeting about in contrast to simply
blogging or posting about these brands.
2. 2. Use the
groundswell wisely
The groundswell is a very powerful
tool. Unfortunately, this power can be both good and bad for company’s images.
Brands should think very carefully before unleashing this power, because once
something is on the internet, it is very difficult to remove it entirely, and
even more difficult to remove it’s message from the minds of consumers.
The power of negative press is enormous. Companies should be very careful when energizing the groundswell, because things like those may come in retaliation.
The authors recommend making sure
“the whole management team can answer with an unequivocal yes” to the questions
of wanting to hear from, respond to, and have the public know the opinion of
their consumers.
I was impressed how Dell users help each other on social media. I think it's a good idea because it reinforces customer to stick with Dell's products. For Dell's marketers, they can still improve to build up the website(social media) more useful, so that they will gain more customers.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, like wal-mart, I think they have to work on the groundswell more because I feel that anti-Wal Mart is getting bigger since every body can speak up on social media nowadays. From this case, I learned that how it is important to engage with the community.
There are many companies that are aware of the groundswell but still don't know how to listen to customers and ignore how to properly use social media tell us there is an abundance of jobs and opportunities to those of us who decide to look for jobs in social media. Walmart, the Boston Red Sox, the New England Patriots are some of many organizations that could use good blog editors, conversation managers, new media specialists, or multimedia coordinator.
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