Fansumers, viral videos and social computing -- these are just some of the many buzzwords pinging around the marketing world today. Making sense of them is not easy, since new practices evolve rapidly and often overlap with one another. Indeed, according to Wharton marketing professor Christophe Van den Bulte, many may be nothing more than marketing gimmicks.
But the concept behind the buzzwords is clear: Online technologies allow customers to communicate in new ways with one another, and companies must decide whether to ignore, co-opt or dive into these new waters of interactivity. "Consumers want to feel they are being heard, and they love having an impact on the future development of products. To the extent that they can air grievances, or understand the company's position, that can be beneficial for the company itself," says Jonah Berger, Wharton marketing professor.
Jeremiah Owyang, senior analyst at Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Ma.-based technology and market research firm, points to several companies that have led the way in embracing change.Southwest Airlines, for example, has a blog where customers can not only comment but also have their own postings published, notes Owyang, who blogs at web-strategist.com.
Another "case study," says Owyang, is Dell. After "the blogging community had revolted" against the company's products, Dell "figured out that power had shifted. Dell embraced its customers, and now it listens to them."
For evidence, Owyang points not only to Dell's corporate blog, Direct2Dell.com, but also to the online platform IdeaStorm.com, where customers make suggestions to Dell and then vote on one another's ideas. As a result of customer feedback on IdeaStorm earlier this year, Dell started offering Linux-based Ubuntu operating systems, rather than that of their longstanding partner, Microsoft, on some of its desktop and notebook products.
[continue]
Page 1 of 8
> >>