According to a COLLOQUY study today’s avid social media users want to be surprised and delighted. They love, for example, receiving personalized deals that are relevant to them. Just be mindful of the “creepy factor.” Consumers of all stripes don’t enjoy feeling like they’re being stalked. Marketers can do their parts by making their messages highly relevant and interesting to their audiences. And acting like a real PERSON – that means being mindful of personal privacy and not continually trying to sell them, but it also means listening to them and understanding the true dynamics of a conversation.
Today’s consumers who sometimes or always recommend brands to others are still much more engaged in sharing brand information via face-to-face conversations (80%) or email (51%) than by broadcasting on social media networks (39%). In other words, the brand conversation has not yet migrated entirely online. While the majority of consumers is still having brand conversations offline, those discussions are decreasing, while social media exchanges are increasing. Social media brand recommendations have grown from 35% to 39% since 2010.
The COLLOQUY study indicates that..
- Social and mobile communications are now critical for businesses, but the marketplace is even more crowded.
- [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””] In an increasingly cluttered world full of competing brand messaging, WOM plays a crucial role in consumers’ decision making[/inlinetweet].
A marketing contrarian’s take….
First, let’s remember that COLLOQUY is in the business of loyalty programs. How much time do consumers really have to join loyalty programs and how many can they join? In addition, when was the last time you heard someone talk about the new flavor of Campbell’s soup? I’m sorry, but the majority of consumers are too damn busy to discuss everyday products with each other. However delight the owner of a new Subaru with a thank you packet that includes things like a Subaru travel coffee mug and shirt and you’re likely to have your customer talk about it.
Word of mouth is part of the conversation, but marketers have to be realistic about how important their products are to customers.
