Social media will be adopted by more than 60 percent of Fortune 1,000 companies with a Web site by 2010, according to research firm Gartner.
"A key benefit of establishing a community is the amount of information an organization can gain about its customer base, which can be used for short-and long-term customer relationships," said Adam Sarner, principal research analyst at Gartner.
"Data can be collected and used for product development, customer feedback, loyalty management, customer segmentation, campaign targeting, and individual or group customer satisfaction management. This wealth of data can be used for marketing, in particular, as well as an entire customer-focused organization."
Gartner says that creating an online community has its challenges. It predicts that by 2010, more than 50 percent of companies that have an online community will fail to establish a mutual purpose leading to eroding customer and company values.
To prevent that, marketing organizations will need new skills to meet the needs of what Gartner calls Generation Virtual (Generation V).
"Companies will be challenged with what applications to use, who ultimately 'owns' an application or interaction and the management of socialization itself, from measuring success and mitigating negative interactions to sourcing and cultural restraints," said Sarner.
Unlike previous generations, Generational Virtual is not defined by age, gender, social demographic or geography. It is based on proven achievement, accomplishments and an increasing preference for the use of digital media channels to find and share information.
To do business with Generation V, marketers will need to attract online personas by creating multiple, engaging online destinations and provide tools for individual populations to socialize and express their different personas. By doing that marketers will have a better understanding of Generation V.
"To dive deeply into what different personas want, what and who they are influenced by, and for help on predicting future behavior, marketers will need to rely heavily on the social sciences for insight into the evolving needs of their customer base," said Sarner.
"They also will need proficiency in game design to create highly engaging, highly relevant environments to promote customer interaction. The Chief Marketing Officer should plan to attract these skill sets today, because, in less than 10 years, they will comprise much of what the marketing organization will look like."
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Social Media Works
Many of America's largest companies from Amazon to Verizon are actively participating in social media and seeing both branding and acquisition benefits. It's no surprise that this trend is continuing since social media is as main stream as television itself and the cost is free.
Forum
I agree with Staysure a Forum can accomplish all of these tasks especially for a business. If you enjoy wasting your time with people who have nothing better to do, then social networking is what you'll get.
thanks
thanks
Forum
All you really need is a forum to accomplish all of the mentioned items : product development, customer feedback, loyalty management, customer segmentation, campaign targeting, and individual or group customer satisfaction management.
Perhaps the best company I have purchased products from (Blizzard Entertainment) has been accomplishing all of that mostly through an excellent forum that a great part of their customer base uses.
Social Media Integration
I'm wondering if this adoption of Social Media Advertising will manifest itself on company-branded and owned websites or more on the social media community in general. Some companies have had great success with business blogs, like GM, and have managed to control the content. If businesses spread out across the web, it leaves them more vulnerable to damaging material.
And do Fortune 1000 companies really have the know-how and expertise to appropriately represent themselves in these new mediums? Generation V is much smarter and savvy than the average consumer or user. I think these companies will have to completely re-think their marketing departments and start integrating new campaign fundamentals, aspects like viral marketing, social profiling, credibility management, product placement and news media.
Bottom line, it's a whole new ball game, and those who learn the ropes first are gonna be the dynasties of Social Media.
Kris | iePlexus.com/blog
social media is used
yes offcourse, this new digital era, you can not escape from promoting through social media like we use in our campany http://www.daxell.biz
The need to co-create with Gen C/V by 2010
Good post, thanks!
I agree with the above comments but take it much further... companies need to look closely at their internal brand before they can even start listening. If they're not listening to their own people what makes you think they'll listen to Gen V?
Who's going to listen to Gen V? Your frontline people not the marketing, advertising or PR the staff members working on the grassroot level.
Yes, I agree listening and partnering with Gen V will be the norm of the future. But, now is the time to start looking closely at your internal cultural and ask How can we prepare for Gen V? What changes need to take place within your Company?
Companies will benefit from
Companies will benefit from Generation Virtual by listening and acting on feedback costumers supply through the online communities. The information supplied by the comments should form a company's marketing plan. With constant feedback, the marketing plan should constantly change to meet the needs of the consumers.
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