Summary
These chapters follow through on the previous chapters’ arguments for a customer-centric rather than a brand-centric approach to marketing. Chapter 9 focuses on customer service using social media, which includes building relationships as well as putting out fires. Chapter 10 covers R&D, collaborating with and monitoring customers on social media to get ideas for new products/services as well as improvements. The authors argue that the customer knows your product better than you do and can offer insights you may not gain on your own. They argue that giving customers ownership in such a relationship can spread the brand and bring in more revenue.
These chapters follow through on the previous chapters’ arguments for a customer-centric rather than a brand-centric approach to marketing. Chapter 9 focuses on customer service using social media, which includes building relationships as well as putting out fires. Chapter 10 covers R&D, collaborating with and monitoring customers on social media to get ideas for new products/services as well as improvements. The authors argue that the customer knows your product better than you do and can offer insights you may not gain on your own. They argue that giving customers ownership in such a relationship can spread the brand and bring in more revenue.
Response
I thought chapter 9 was a little redundant after all the talk in previous chapters about dealing with customers’ demands and complaints, but chapter 10 was more useful. A couple points I wanted to take home:
There are two ways to perform R&D with social media: 1) monitoring online conversations to gather competitive intelligence that can inform decision making and make a better product, and 2) openly participating, building purposeful relationships with actual customers to turn them into de facto focus groups.
The paragraph after this, though, brings up a point that I was thinking: “As an active social media participant, however...you’re growing your focus group every day” (174). Right? I suppose my desire to say “duh” is because I perhaps know a lot more already about social media dynamics than the book’s ostensible audience does at this point in the book.... (I hope).
I thought chapter 9 was a little redundant after all the talk in previous chapters about dealing with customers’ demands and complaints, but chapter 10 was more useful. A couple points I wanted to take home:
There are two ways to perform R&D with social media: 1) monitoring online conversations to gather competitive intelligence that can inform decision making and make a better product, and 2) openly participating, building purposeful relationships with actual customers to turn them into de facto focus groups.
The paragraph after this, though, brings up a point that I was thinking: “As an active social media participant, however...you’re growing your focus group every day” (174). Right? I suppose my desire to say “duh” is because I perhaps know a lot more already about social media dynamics than the book’s ostensible audience does at this point in the book.... (I hope).
Questions
- What’s a lead?
- How can customer service and driving sales be useful to a non-buying audience (i.e., Modern Machine Shop)?