Online Brand-Based Communities – A Customer Engagement Tool
Aug 8th, 2008 by Paul Miser
As we move through the power transition from companies and brands ‘pushing’ marketing messages to consumers to consumer generated content ‘pulling’ information from other consumers as well as the company/brand, we see some tremendous opportunities to engage consumers on an individualized basis. But what are customers actually posting online? What are they saying about your brand/company/product?
Below are some figures about consumer generated media (CGM), according to Nielsen:
• 55% of consumers said they posted CGM because they had used and liked the product
• 28% because they had used a product and didn’t like it
• 18% cited seeing a promotion for the product/brand
• 12% cited seeing and ad in TV or print
• 7% cited seeing an ad or video on the Internet
In an article titled, “Creating a Brand-Based Community,” Deborah Eastman, CMO of Satmetrix, discusses the key findings of this study is the keyword “used.” She says, “That’s a key distinction, demonstrating that customer experience versus buzz marketing is the key driver of word of mouth.”
Understanding this distinction and the communication power transition, marketers are creating, what’s called, Online Brand/Product-Based Communities to give consumers a platform to discuss the product or service (whether good or bad) with other consumers and prospects as well as the brand/product itself. This platform creates a continuous dialog that engages every customer on an individualized basis, appealing to their own particular interests, needs, and behaviors.
This dialog gives the company an opportunity to actually listen to the individual consumer and create a marketing strategy that is personalized to that individual utilizing this active data created through the dialog. This type of 1:1 Marketing will become an extension and continuance of the conversation already in progress between the brand/product and the consumer, continually appealing to the individual interests, needs and behaviors.
As I’ve mentioned many times before on SPURspectives, customer engagement is the new marketing. Ms. Eastman said it best, “Consumers have grown immune to traditional forms of mass marketing and advertising, depending more on input from other consumers when making buying decisions.” The marketing power is switching hands, now is the time to engage each individual customer in a lifelong, meaningful conversation.
