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The missing piece - with thanks to The Onion
Last week I had the pleasure of coming across what is perhaps the best-written and most accurate technology article I've ever read. It happens to be from The Onion: New Social Networking Site Changing The Way Oh, Forget It: Let Someone Else Report On This. With the caveat that the R-rated language is a little spicy, the thrust of the article is spot-on. In short, it's amusing to see article after article pumping up the latest, greatest "revolutionary" new online technology. Right now everything is centered on social media, but previous waves have been about Web 2.0, the long tail, APIs, crowdsourcing, wikis, disruption, content aggregation, portals, online community, dotcoms, and (reaching way back to 1996) the technology that was going to change everything, "push media." That was a good one.
Now. Innovation is vitally important, and we can all be glad that sites have developed to make use of the buzzwords listed above. (Thanks, Wikipedia!) But there's a certain obsessive quality in how these topics get promoted - in the press, at events, and (therefore) in conference rooms at companies worldwide. Many executives actually seem to believe that this latest thing, this one, this is the answer to their problems.
But something is missing. The obsession with the new thing obscures an essential item that most executives avoid or overlook for years - often throughout their entire career.
Example: I recently met with a VP of marketing who sat down and said, first thing, "We need to figure out how to leverage Twitter." Meanwhile untold numbers of prospective customers were bouncing off the company's website, confused and frustrated, never to return.
To be sure - yes, Twitter can be a help. And a "social media strategy," to use the current hot phrase, can be a help. But there's something missing. Simply put, most executives have never actually listened to their customer, really observed the real customer experience the company creates, warts and all, to understand what needs to improve.
To be provocative: how's this for a social media strategy - watch your customers flail around on your site, or app, or whatever, listen to what they need, and then go and build that. Regardless of whether it fits the latest headlines.
This is the key piece I've advocated for over a decade, via my consulting work at Creative Good: listen to your customers. Not to take away from interest in the "latest and greatest," but to add an essential ingredient in the decision-making process, which often goes missing.
Some companies get this. They tend to be the companies winning, succeeding, leaping forward by miles - excuse me, kilometers - even in a recession. Most other companies read the headlines and say, "Dunno what to do, certainly don't want to listen to our customers, so let's follow this trend." Maybe they should read The Onion instead.
I thought an xkcd from a few days ago summed it up pretty well, in a single panel:
http://xkcd.com/741/
Mark,
Your point is well taken, but please give some credit to the social media practitioners who ARE doing things right. Having a social media strategy may sound like chasing yet another flavor of the month, but there is a real method to the madness. Having a strategy in place means doing things right and not just jumping into the fray because it's what your competitors are doing or because it's "cool."
In my view, developing a social media strategy means doing a lot of listening, educating and embedding social media into the corporate culture, and building a customer service operation to be able to support and respond in real time. None of that is easy or trivial when you are talking about very large corporations.
At your service,
Michael
-- Michael E. Rubin | http://flavors.me/merubin75
Disclosure: I work for Fifth Third Bank and this is my personal opinion.
@Michael - certainly there are social media practitioners doing good work. If social media is the new face of customer service, perhaps that's a more efficient way of getting customer feedback on the service (though I'd argue that a prominently displayed 1-800 number where humans actually answer the phone is at least as effective)... but even if it is, what if the organization has no eye toward the customer experience - and the current experience is poor? Here I'm thinking of some prominent players that are making social media investments but have an atrocious online experience.
The point is well made. So many businesses are drawn, like a moth to a flame, by buzzwords & band wagons. It is up to good user experience consultants to navigate this space and give good advice (rather than nod and smile at the VP who knows enough to be dangerous).
I like @Michael's point as well. Social media, used well, can be great listening & customer service channel.
If social media is used for acquisition and/or drive to site purposes then I think your point is most pertinent. Why take a horse to water if they have nothing good to drink?
I agree with everything said the problem is the internet culture, Its a lot like the hip hop culture. Its full "innovators" simply copying ideas, tweaking it and calling it their own when in reality they don't even know what they are copying or how to apply it to the scope of their project. Simply put they just do it cause its cool and whats hot, not understanding that a tool with no strategy or defined function has a negative impact. It is just as important to filter all the media chatter and focus on applied sciences eventually if your successful you will hit the social network realm and by then you should understand how to use or apply it correctly with your project.