So… don’t get me wrong, I like Groundswell, I really do. The book definitely serves as a great introduction to the new and ever-expanding phenomenon of the social media and the impact it has on our lives as individuals and professionals. While I am not a newbie to the concept of social media marketing, its impact and the ever-changing nature are endless sources of fascination for me. The “Groundswell” phenomenon, defined by Li and Bernoff as “a social trend in which people use technologies to get things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations, (Groundswell, 9)” is both a blessing and curse for the traditional businesses as it means companies no longer fully control their brand. All of a sudden millions of people around the world have the power to influence how it is perceived in both positive and a negative ways.
One point that the authors make that resonated with me strongly is that the technologies within this space evolve at an incredibly fast phase; so even though the book was first published in 2008 and most of the material it deals with comes from the past 5-6 years some aspects of it already start feeling somewhat outdated. For instance, social media interactions (i.e. SNS, blogs) were once the playground for the young; that is no longer the case. Most people with internet access have some sort of an involvement with the social media (my mom being on Facebook is one example of that); which means that companies not only have to involve themselves with social media but also potential develop multiple strategies targeting various demographic groups. Thus the psychographic and technographic profiling become paramount. Teens, students, young professionals, power executives, moms, retirees are all online and interacting with each other but in different ways and in different places and the challenge thus becomes finding out where and how (this point is also echoed by the concept of “involvement breakdown”). Luckily for the businesses out there they don’t have to do all that figuring out by themselves: a host of companies (including the one I work for) provide market research and consulting advice to help companies figure those things out.
Compete, for instance, has a product called Behavior Match, that allows companies to see where online do people in their custom created target segments (e.g. moms with kids under 3 that are involved in the social media and buy childcare products online) hangout.
Further on, Groundswell has the power to impact not only brand perception but also distribution. Social “deal hunting” sites, e.g. Sleakdeals.com unleash the power of collective bargaining as well as enable consumers to find good deals a lot faster than was ever possible thus impacting not only distribution but pricing as well. This made me think of a recent example where AT&T decided to pull it’s offers from 3rd party agent retailer sites like LetsTalk.com and Wirefly.com (http://www.phonearena.com/news/AT-T-phones-and-plans-start-disappearing-from-3rd-party-retailers-like-Wirefly-and-LetsTalk_id16998 ) and instead focus on offering better deals from AT&T directly by promoting “direct to consumer” outreach (through social media and targeted marketing).
Finally the last point that the authors bring up is the importance of cultural differences. Social media is not created equal across the globe; different countries have different levels of involvement/interaction and participation. Thus companies have to adjust not only to different geographies but also to the peculiarities of the media usage in those geographies/countries. The importance of “ground and/or “native”” teams thus becomes paramount as native users are much more likely to be in-tune with local customs/sentiments etc.
All in all, the book's been a good read so far and am looking forward to find out more.
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