The
social web is creating a reversal in the process of managing customers.
People learn from people and subsequently are avoiding influence from
institutions rather the conversations of people, one to one to
millions, have become the power of influence.
These conversations are creating “social markers” on brands. “Social markers” is a term created by Hugh MacLeod whose blog, GapingVoid, defines social markers as “ a prime form of social shorthand, that people use to STAKE OUT the ecosystem they’re occupying”.
A brands social marker can be either good or bad. It is tagged by the
conversations of those that have experienced the brands product,
service or culture.
Every business has an ecosystem forming within the social web. The
ecosystem is driven by the people who have experience with your brand.
Whether suppliers, employees or customers the relational experience
with your brand is what influences your brands “social marker“.
The social web is an “ecosystem” that enables conversations to spread
like wildfire and the more conversations the more attention the
conversations create.
If your brand is a positive “social marker”, within this ecosystem,
you will have a competitive advantage on the other hand if your brand
is a negative social marker well just think about the implications.
Is Social Markers creating a Shift?
Theo Papadakis wrote a post which first appeared in the 2nd Online Customer Engagement Survey Report, and his ending comment states “The
first questions for would be customer-engagers should not be “what
technology should we deploy?”, nor “how can we engage our audience?”,
but instead: “What is it that our customers are currently doing, where
are they doing it and what do they want to achieve.” And guess what –
the best person to ask is … your customer.”
While agreeing with the context of Mr. Papadakis post the train may
have already left the station. The train we’re referring to is a shift
in control from the brands desire to engage the customer to the
customer taking control over the engagement.
Today business relies on CRM products designed to facilitate
customer needs into a framework designed by the supplier. It is like
telling your spouse or children “I want your feedback but only within this context”.
The feedback system is not designed to listen rather to control the
context into “frames” the supplier thinks are important to us rather
than “open conversations” that are important to us, the customer. Most
corporations would consider the thought of having “open conversations”
with a large audience of customers a nightmare of uncontrollable cost.
When they consider the “technological tools” of the social web they
think of it as tools to control and manage, the customer.
The flaw in this thinking is that people would rather simply be
heard than managed. Managing and acting on the intelligence gained from
conversations is a much more effective way of building stronger
relations. The outcomes should scream “I heard you” and subsequent
actions should demonstrate that we’ve changed or learned something as a
result of what we heard. Automated conversations are not real
conversations.
The Old Methods Have Failed The New is in Control
People are now empowered to influence brands by the reach and
influence of conversations, one to one to millions. These conversations
are becoming social markers. Frustrated by brand promises not
fulfilled, old sales and marketing tactics, dysfunctional corporate
cultures, the people are speaking out and are managing, creating and
influencing markets. Instead of businesses managing customer, customers will influence how businesses are managed.
Which method are you prepared for? The old or the new?
What say you?
Image in this post originated from http://www.conversationagent.com/, owner, Valeria Maltoni