We business students like to use terms like “Business Intelligence” and “Customer Relationship Management” but at their core they are about understanding what customers want and need and using this information to connect with customers in a way that will help us to grow our business. In the context of groundswell movements in social media, listening is more than conducting market research to gain insights (Li & Bernoff, 2011, p.79). There are two strategies identified in Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. They are either setting up private communities and monitoring the content, or hiring someone to monitor online content on your behalf (Li & Bernoff, 2011, p.82).
The case studies used in this chapter reveal valuable information gained by corporate researchers through the use of an online environment in which users candidly reveal details to each other. These communities provide a safe place for users to share ideas, questions, and concerns with one another while simultaneously letting corporate marketing and research divisions monitor the discussions.
What Ellen Sonet, VP of marketing for Sloan & Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, found was that she and her team didn’t really understand what was important to their clients. These same clients did have interesting ideas, insight, and contributions to offer though. By employing Communispace, a provider of private online communities, Sloan-Kettering learned that they were targeting their marketing efforts in the wrong places. As a result of the detailed information sharing gained through the private online community, Sonet came to the realization that she needed to develop, among other things, a better relationship with primary care physicians since they were key players in the provision of referrals to her facility (Li & Bernoff, 2011, pp. 86-87).
The other case study provided readers the social technographics of Mini, Honda, and Volkswagon customers. In this study, Trudy Hardy, head of marketing for Mini USA, engaged MotiveQuest, another company that provides analysis of consumer motives and concerns. MotiveQuest evaluated and analyzed the numerous online references to Mini brand cars. What they were able to glean was that Mini drivers identified as a community of like-minded people, more so than most of their competitors. They also learned that Mini motorists were posting predominantly positive comments. This information led Hardy and her team to break with traditional marketing approaches and focus efforts on Mini drivers rather than Mini buyers. This led them to the conclusion that positive online discussion led to increased sales. (Li & Bernoff, 2011, pp. 90-91).
Brazilian brand theorist Ricardo Guimaraes postulates that your brand is whatever people say it is (Li & Bernoff, 2011, p. 79). If this is the case then it behooves companies to listen to what people are saying. Changes in consumer perceptions can be mined from these tools in real time, ideas can be generated, influencers can be identified and influenced, and companies can get in front of potential PR issues buzzing online. Technology can provide easier, cheaper access to a wide variety of customers and companies only need to use this tech to connect and listen (Li & Bernoff, 2011, pp. 93-95).
In the context of WIN House, private online communities can be established for past and potential clients. Although safety is the primary concern for these clients, a network set up with careful security measures in place may help WIN House to get the candid conversations started in much the same way as Sloan-Kettering did. This anonymous forum may lead to greater insights which would not only benefit the clients but provide the feedback WIN House could use to provide better service.
When I was still working I used to say that I wasn’t the keeper of all the good ideas, recognizing that two heads were better than one, that four heads better than two. A group, even if unbeknownst to the members, can solve problems and provide solutions with a much wider perspective. Tools like MotiveQuest and Communispace provide the tools for executives to monitor how well they’re doing and what they can do differently by actively listening to what the clients are saying and not simply noting that the clients are talking.
The WIN House website doesn’t offer any online forum for talking to others. While this is obviously a very sensitive topic, a closed online community could help to provide answers, as well as provide a group sharing dynamic which would benefit WIN House as well as the women in need. The Contact Us image below, taken from the WIN House website, shows that technology could be used to offer additional resources to both groups.
Reference:
Li, C., & Bernoff, J., (2011). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press
Image:
WIN House. Contact Us. Retrieved from http://www.winhouse.org/contact-us-2/
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