Social Media: The Customers are in Control

Many companies have stated before that when it comes to social media, the customer is in charge. Well new research from the Aberdeen Group  (as mentioned in a recent eMarketer post)  has found that more than half of the retailers who are currently involved in social media felt like they were “pushed” into it by their target audience. According to retailers, because their audiences were choosing to use social media as a “primary shopping vehicle” and their competition was adopting it quickly for that reason, they felt like they had no choice but to get involved.

While we’re big social media advocates, getting involved in social media based on pressure rather than understanding can be a very risky strategy. We recently published a post on, “9 Social Media Errors to Understand before Jumping In,”and we think that many people overlook issues like these when they feel intense pressure from an outside source to explore a new marketing channel.



A second part of the study showed that while many retailers were getting involved in social media, few of them understood what key performance indicators (KPIs) they should be using or were the most important, making it almost impossible for them to measure their efforts successfully.



While it’s important to stay relevant by ensuring that you’re focusing your marketing efforts on the channels that your target audience uses, you need to make sure you have a clear understanding of the channel itself before you get involved. Misunderstanding how to use social media effectively (a platform which allows public and consumer opinion to spread and travel faster than ever before) can have extremely detrimental effects on your overall brand.

How do you feel about this issue?

Have you seen examples of company’s jumping into social media because of pressure, without really understanding what they should be doing?

Posted by Amberlie Denny at October 7, 2010 8:00 AM

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