7. T-Mobile CEO John Legere on #bendgate
“This is an amazing supercomputer in your hand. What the f*ck
are you putting in your pants and sitting on it for?”
14. In an era when:
of consumers say:
“Shopping today is less about the
brands/products themselves and
more about me - what I’m feeling
or needing.”
68%
Source: Engagement study from About.com and Latitude, Feb. 2013
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/192778/consumers-seek-brand-engagement-personal-touches.html
15. We’re still seeing this:
Source: http://tomfishburne.com/2014/09/socialmedia.html
Trust is up slightly over last year, but it’s still down overall.
People don’t trust the government, business or the media.
This example just popped this week.
Comcast screwed up a customer’s bill for over a year, and he notified them repeatedly.
Their response was to deliver more equipment that he didn’t need or want, charge him $1800 and send it to collections.
When he showed up with a detailed spreadsheet and noted that he worked for a major accounting firm, Comcast looked him up, notified his boss and his company fired him.
Facebook ran afoul of users (again!) with its questionable tactics on experimenting with users’ News Feeds.
This was yet another violation in which Facebook made a transgression, hoping that users wouldn’t mind because they depend on the service.
After Steve Jobs passed away, Apple has gotten more scrutiny.
Bendgate gave Apple some PR headaches when people found that when the phone is placed in a front pocket (of a wedding attendee wearing a suit, no less – seriously, if you’re wearing a suit, use your big boy pockets) it may bend.
T-Mobile’s CEO took a more practical view of the matter.
Kit Kat managed to supplant Oreo as the king of real-time marketing with this one.
You can’t just sit there like nothing’s happening.
And you certainly can’t send the lawyers – the team that puts the ‘no’ in innovation.
The promise of social has always been two-way conversation, listening, learning and adapting, transparency and people.
Notice that YOU are at the center.
But that’s not the way it’s worked out. It’s all about brands.
Self-absorption isn’t just for celebrities; brands suffer the same affliction.
How quaint.
Back when we talked AT people.
But wait – we’re STILL talking at people.
We’ve taken the old broken way of advertising and transplanted it onto our existing platforms.
Social media: you’re doing it wrong.
But enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What do you think about me?
The Woody Allen social media theorem and the Yogi Berra corollary.
I found this in a Main Street store. It’s from years ago but it still rings true today.
The skills we knew and that mattered in Main Street USA – a firm handshake, a steady gaze in the eye, when your word was your bond – are the same behaviors we need today.
Classic marketing quote.
Or more accurately, classics marketing quote.
First said by Cicero, circa 60 B.C.
And it’s more true today than ever before.
A strategy should include:
Making great products – because if you don’t, there’s no sense in getting online
Having engaging content that adds value to customers’ days. Value can come in the form of education, debate, information, humor. Make them look smart and you win.
Platforms are two-way; give them the ability to talk back.
When you address them, don’t get caught up in jargon or legalese.
And above all, LISTEN. Follow the advice of your grandmother, who said, “You have two ears and one mouth; use them in that proportion.”
He also said, “You can have any color you want, as long as it’s black.”
If you need any proof that it’s going on, just pick a platform and listen in.
The challenge here is that there’s so much unstructured data out there that it can create confusion around decisions.
Back in 2003, customers of the F-150 complained that the bed of the truck was too small.
They wanted more space to haul around stuff.
Ford asked: “What would you have us do?”
Customers: “Raise the sides of the bed.”
So Ford did just that, giving them more cubic capacity.
But the problem was that customers now complained that the sides of the bed were too high to allow them to effectively get the stuff at the bottom of the bed.
“So what should the solution be?” Ford asked.
“Lower the sides of the bed!” – the very opposite of what they asked Ford to do to give them more space.
SMH
So, Ford engineers observed how people used their trucks and discovered that many of them were stepping up on the rear wheel in order to reach into the bed.
And thus, the side-step was born.
Not a marvel of engineering. And certainly not what the customers asked for.
But it met a need.
Ford has gone further by giving customers a place to offer ideas, transparently, and for other customers to vote on them.
View ideas by category, date or popularity.
Circulated with the product strategy team to integrate into product planning.
The lesson of putting the untrained to work without supervision.
Ref. The Simpsons Season 2, Episode 15 “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?”
Ultimately, if we’re listening to our customers and engaging with them on all of these wonderful platforms, we should be building relationships with them.
The Latin root of the word relationship is rel-a-tio, which means bringing or carrying back.
What if we brought back the way we used to do business?
By talking with people, getting to know them, understanding their needs and giving them what they need – even if it’s not what they ask for.
This can work in real life. But it takes time.
Trust is built by doing things consistently and repeatedly, over time.