Josh Bernoff: Five Objectives in the Groundswell
(Listening) -- Forrester's Consumer Forum 2007
Chicago, IL -- October 11, 2007
This has HUGE ramifications for the types of relationships we build. In the old model, public relations and marketing was very much a "top-down" effort, with companies deciding what they wanted to say in order to increase sales and then "shouting" (p. 101) this information at the public through repetitive advertisements or other forms of media. These strategies were often based on what companies thought they knew about their customers, or what they wanted to convince their customers they needed to buy. But social media has changed all that and put the power back in the hands of the people.
Today, instead of companies telling customers what they should want, customers are telling companies what sorts of products and services they should give them. In the process, these customers are not only reclaiming their power, but they're giving companies valuable product ideas for free that these companies might never have thought of otherwise.
This development just confirms the theories of Ricardo Guimarães, founder of Thymus Branding, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, who has declared that "brands belong to customers, not companies" (p. 78) and that companies are just tools for creating value for a brand. In this sense, brands live "outside the company," not within it. The brand is an "open structure" and harder for traditional media types to manipulate, whereas a company is a "closed structure" (p. 79).
Thinking in this way is revolutionary and opens a world filled with possibilities. Because of social media, companies no longer need to use costly surveys that can only provide answers to the questions they ask or focus groups that occur in artificial environments. Instead, they can observe consumers in their natural habitat through social media and hear their often surprising and ground breaking ideas.
Li and Bernoff highlight two caveats about the new media. The first is that the people you hear from are not a representative sample, and, secondly, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the VOLUME of responses you receive. Help can be found, however, from the technology companies that have arisen to help users of social media solve just these types of problems (p. 81).
So even though I'm excited about all the opportunities social media has created, I now understand why so many marketing folks lost their jobs during the Great Recession. Social media made them obsolete. I am still astonished at how quickly the PR and marketing landscape has changed over the past 5+ years. It will be a challenge for all of us to remain relevant.
Today, instead of companies telling customers what they should want, customers are telling companies what sorts of products and services they should give them. In the process, these customers are not only reclaiming their power, but they're giving companies valuable product ideas for free that these companies might never have thought of otherwise.
This development just confirms the theories of Ricardo Guimarães, founder of Thymus Branding, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, who has declared that "brands belong to customers, not companies" (p. 78) and that companies are just tools for creating value for a brand. In this sense, brands live "outside the company," not within it. The brand is an "open structure" and harder for traditional media types to manipulate, whereas a company is a "closed structure" (p. 79).
Thinking in this way is revolutionary and opens a world filled with possibilities. Because of social media, companies no longer need to use costly surveys that can only provide answers to the questions they ask or focus groups that occur in artificial environments. Instead, they can observe consumers in their natural habitat through social media and hear their often surprising and ground breaking ideas.
Li and Bernoff highlight two caveats about the new media. The first is that the people you hear from are not a representative sample, and, secondly, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the VOLUME of responses you receive. Help can be found, however, from the technology companies that have arisen to help users of social media solve just these types of problems (p. 81).
So even though I'm excited about all the opportunities social media has created, I now understand why so many marketing folks lost their jobs during the Great Recession. Social media made them obsolete. I am still astonished at how quickly the PR and marketing landscape has changed over the past 5+ years. It will be a challenge for all of us to remain relevant.
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