Do You Know Where Your Customers Are?
I’m not pointing fingers or ranting today, I’m just sort of perplexed. Three times this week I spoke to marketing research and/or loyalty marketing people at major corporations who said something like “Not sure about social media/social networks. We don’t think our core customers are on there.”
My response was usually, oh I see, well what percentage of your customers are on there? The answer was invariably “Uh, don’t know”.
I’m kind of having a hard time understanding how this simple piece of information is missing from the “Insights” departments of so many companies. Can anyone help me out?
OK, so you have some CIO or CMO who isn’t on social media and hasn’t bought into it yet (not uncommon actually). She/He says, “those facebooks” or “those Tweeps or whatever they’re called”, that’s just for kids. And then what… everyone around the table just nods in agreement?
How easy is it to go out and do a short survey just on social media (especially social networking) among your customers or an online panel? Or for God’s sake at least add 1-2 questions into a survey you’re doing on some other topic.
To me this is like saying my customers aren’t on the internet. It’s simply crazy. It’s proven that people who are connected/know each other, tend to have similar attitudes and opinions and also purchase similar products/brands. If you think even one of your customers are on SNS you can bet there’s more!
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11 responses so far ↓
1 Michel Floyd // Jun 26, 2009 at 5:34 pm
It seems to me that they are either self-referential (every business person’s fatal flaw) and since they aren’t on social networks they are not important OR they have no clue about what they would do on a social network. Admitting that their customers are there and that interacting with them in a social networking context might be beneficial would highlight their own personal lack of knowledge and allow younger/more SNS-aware executives to out-shine them. I think we’ve seen this movie before.
2 Segismundo // Jun 27, 2009 at 7:09 am
Hi Tom.
My sensation, here in Málaga, south Spain is the following:
My customer and prospect want to be in social media but they don´t know why or how. They only hear a the big fuzz and they think that could be a good idea be part of it…but when you ask to them simply question about the goals and strategy to develope they crash-up their minds, looking to the infinity, thinkin: “What hell is asking me this guy??”
3 Heidi Foreman // Jun 27, 2009 at 12:39 pm
For the same reason that:
– in the mid-1980’s a division president in a large CPG company had no interest in a direct marketing campaign because “his wife doesn’t buy through catalogs.” Hard for this product manager to swallow, especially since the concept wasn’t a catalog.
– in the mid-1990’s many non-tech oriented companies couldn’t understand why they should have a website because “no one will buy toothpaste or cereal online” or “no one will ever book their honeymoon trip on the internet.”
Just part of the adoption curve (to Michel’s point above, yes, we have seen this movie before).
They’ll get there once the fear subsides and they see some “proof” of benefit to the business. Some get there early, others get there late.
4 Tom H C Anderson // Jun 28, 2009 at 11:10 am
OK, RE Yesterday’s Post, I decided that I never want to hear this excuse again. So if you’re in MR at a fortune 1000 co. and don’t know the answer to this question, contact me. We’ll be happy to program and host a survey to 1,000 of your customers pro bono to ask this one question.
(But if between 25%-90% of your best customers say they’ve been on a SNS within the past 30 days you’ll owe me lunch)
5 Standing Offer: If You Don’t Know - Find Out! // Jun 28, 2009 at 11:26 am
[...] “Our Customers Don’t Use Stuff like Facebook and Twitter” // Jun 28, 2009 at 11:09 [...]
6 Heidi Foreman // Jun 28, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Tom -
Good for you…curious to hear how it turns out!
7 Ahmed Mahmoud // Jul 1, 2009 at 6:58 am
the point is, where we will be next after Facebook, Twitter, ………….., people take it as a fashion or style for some time , then no activity
8 Harris Segel // Jul 1, 2009 at 9:10 am
Mea Culpa.
Thanks for the wake up call. I have to admit I’m guilty of not thinking of getting the TV stations I work with to ask this (although I have been pushing them to use social media). I’m correcting that error right now.
9 Randi Stillman // Jul 8, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I think the first, more important question to pose to a client is not, “How many of your customers use social media?” but rather, “Do you know what social media can do for your business?”
Obviously, many clients need to be educated. The best way to get their attention to even care & listen is to demonstrate via a few noteworthy cases the impact that social media, as a marketing tool, has already made (both positively & negatively) on other businesses, ideally in the client’s industry.
Tom, it looks like you’re already doing this, at least to group audiences.
10 laurent // Jul 8, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Late comment
I’m puzzled but not surprised by what you heard.
Yesterday, I was talking with a market research mgr at one of top 3 enterprise high tech co.
He said “in marketing, we’ve been talking to ourselves”. I think it illustrates the state of marketers who, in general, fail to talk/listen to their market directly. Social media is their opportunity to break down the barriers. Their customers are on them and having great conversations full of insights.
As a matter of fact, the research department of a partner agency of us just did an amazing report on Android, proving that a solid research can be performed on top of relevant social media conversations.
Laurent
11 kcneon // Jul 12, 2009 at 8:21 pm
I guess, as with anything else, they need to be shown potential ROI. Amazing how in this current age so many decision-makers still have their heads in the sand.
I feel for the folks within their company who understand the value social networking holds but feel like they are talking to a brick wall. (Not that I’ve ever experienced that or anything!)
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