E-MailHelping Organizations Harness Social Networks to Boost Sales and Customer Loyalty
As important as the impacts of social networks on employee performance are the emerging impacts of social networks and community content on consumer purchasing behavior. Online social networks are being treated as the next new thing in advertising and marketing. What do they mean for traditional media and traditional entertainment? What are the investment potentials of different forms of social networks? What do they mean for advertisers, for the promotion of existing products, or for new product introductions? The topic is not only hot, but controversial, with strongly held opinions backed up by little or no analysis and even less real data.
The Cutter team is uniquely positioned to combine technology insights and strategic planning, with an understanding of human behavior in a range of social settings, from everyday peer interactions to professional performing arts. Their research skills encompass technological development, economic modeling, scenario analysis and planning in the presence of strategic uncertainty, ethnographic observation and documentation, and the quantitative analysis of consumer research data.
Some trends are clear, and provide the context in which our study will be performed:
- Over the next 10 years, traditional paid, pushed-by-the-seller, advertising will continue to erode. It will lose viewers, it will lose viewers in the most critical demographics, and it will lose its impact. Ads simply will lose their power.
- Organic informedness, consumers' "just knowing" based upon reviews from blogs, user-generated content in websites like TripAdvisor for travel, or professional content like DPReview for digital cameras, will replace advertising.
- Organic informedness will facilitate new product introductions, as it has in powerbars, soft drinks, premium ice creams and coffees, and craft brewing. The power of scale, advertising, and brand history will be consistently eroded.
- New entrants, historically limited by the cost of advertising and the cost of establishing a brand, will be empowered as never before. Together, these drive a transition from high volume mass market fat spots (Budweiser, Honda Civic) to high margin niche market sweet spots (Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada, Toyota Prius and Porsche Cayenne).
Cutter will answer questions such as:
- How do your customers shop now?
- How do they use information to make their shopping decisions?
- How do they obtain this information?
- How can your firm harness existing social networking websites? How can you manage your operations so that the content that results spontaneously on community content social websites supports the firm's self image and the perceptions of the firm that you wishes consumers to share?
- How can your firm communicate with its customers through a social community website of its own? How can a range of technologies, from social search to social networks for mobile (text message) advertising, be harnessed?
- What are the unmet networking opportunities that are relevant to consumers in your industry that could impact your customers' shopping experiences and beyond?
The Cutter Social Networking team will assist your firm in learning how to harness the new technologies and the ongoing trends in consumer behavior to grow, strengthen, and solidify your company and your portfolio of brands.
Deliverables include:
- A description of how customers view the experience of shopping for your product, as one of price-based selection for adequacy, or feature based selection for perfect fit and delight
- A description of what information your customers use when making purchasing decisions
- A description of where and how consumers get the information they use when making purchasing decisions, and a set of opportunities to influence these decisions
- An assessment of how well your operations support the image and the perception that you want consumers to have, to share, and to post when they think of your company and its products and services
- A set of strategic opportunities to exploit online social content, and strategies to achieve your objectives
Consulting, training, coaching and mentoring service span all of Cutter's practice areas, plus additional areas of expertise.
For more information on customizing a consulting engagement for your organization, contact Jack Wainwright, +1 781-641-5122 or jwainwright@cutter.com.