Capitalizing on “You”: How Business Should React to the Consumer-Generated Hype
As we all know, TIME Magazine awarded its coveted Person of the Year recognition not to one powerful or famous person, but to the collective “You”, meaning Joe Six Pack, Jane Doe, John Q. Public and the rest of us average folks. The editors see the dawning of a new era as “the small contributions of millions of people” result in You “seizing the reigns of global media…founding and framing the new digital democracy.” Powering all of this is, of course, “consumer-generated media”, “social media”, “Web 2.0″ — pick your favorite buzzword from the debate about the changing media landscape.
But TIME’s selection elevates this trend from the hot story of the day to a full-fledged social movement. TIME has recognized a momentous social fissure relatively early in its lifecycle as they did with “The Under-25 Generation” (1966), and “American Women” (1975). Unlike those movements, “You” is not limited to a demographic segment of the country, but open to all.
This is high-powered stuff that has already impacted the careers of politicians, network newscasters, up-and-coming musicians, and increasingly, companies and their brands. I’ll leave speculation about the impact on politics and government to the Beltway pundits, and stick to the realm of business, marketing, and advertising.
Initially, businesses responded by using tools like blogs as a new corporate communications channel. It was hard to let go of the old “We’re going to tell consumers more about us….” mindset of traditional brand strategists. Boeing, Dell, and others started their blogs without accepting comments, and have since corrected course.
Even worse, a handful of brands have attempted to use social media as a new tool to manipulate gullible consumers, creating fake blogs such as McDonalds’ Lincoln Fry blog, Wal-Mart’s “Wal-Marting Across America”, and more recently Sony’s widely-panned “alliwantforxmasisapsp.com” blog. In each case, though, these corporations learned that the blogosphere is closely policed by zealous ethicists who abhor disingenuous marketing tactics.
As this social movement gains momentum, business must learn new skills, a daunting prospect, but one filled with opportunity.
Listen to people’s voices, not their wallets. “Consumer-centric marketing” has been a trend for most of my marketing career. But the advances in database marketing, predictive modeling, and lifetime value segmentation are really a wallet-centric approach, not consumer-centric. Tracking purchases focuses marketers on the next product to push, but ignores the relationship the person wants to have with the brand. The collective “You” is demanding business listen to gripes and admit mistakes, be open to suggestions and participate in a collaborative process of brand building.
As the age of “You” dawns, these needs, demands and dissatisfactions are becoming more visible to other consumers and even competitors; it is also more visible to business leaders. Smart brands like Intuit’s Quickbooks software open their doors, invite their users to come have a cup of tea and a chat, then take the feedback to heart.
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