How social consumers reshape recycled marketing

In a sense, because of social networks, consumers are creating themselves, forming consumers ' real identities, interactions and relationships on the web. Consumers are becoming socialized consumers, and this fundamental change is driving marketing from concept to implementation.

From the historical point of view, the theoretical framework of marketing is based on the television media as the main symbol of the mass media. For more than half a century, television has dominated the main role of mass media and the media that consumers spend most of their time. The advent of the internet has gradually shifted the time and attention of consumers from television screens to computer screens. The Web 2.0 and the social network wave have changed the consumer profoundly. This change is another revolutionary change following television. This change not only affects consumer behavior, but more importantly, social networking has become a part of consumers, changing consumers themselves.

On the surface, consumers are always living in a specific social environment, where there are not socialized consumers? Yet because of the social network, today's consumers are linked with an unprecedented degree of sophistication and breadth, and because of such links, social consumers have a distinctly different character from the past.

If we describe social consumers in one sentence, I would say that they are "connected consumers" linked Consumer. To describe them more fully, I would like to cite four keywords: links (linked), tribes (tribe), Expressions (Expressions) and loneliness (Alone up). (* see note)

Social consumers

Social networks link consumers together

The most fundamental reason why social consumers are different is that they have been linked to social networks as never before. The breadth and depth of this connection is unprecedented in any kind of media, and has had a greater impact on consumers than ever before. The link changes everyone's identity, and everyone in the social network is reinventing themselves by the state of the link.

Weibo, for example, after the emergence of micro-blog in the country, there have been many people who have not known in the past suddenly become a field of super cattle.

For example, Shire, before the social network, Shire influence, the appeal is within a certain range. However, due to the emergence of micro-blog, because Shire actively engaged in the content of micro-Bo production, initiated and participated in a lot of activities, creating a wide range of links, to a certain extent, to reshape the Shire. Although he is still the investor, he is not the former social network. Because today his link to the social network is quite different from what he was at the time, his influence is quite different from what it was before. From the point of view of brand marketing, because the link state is different, each consumer has different meanings to the brand. A consumer with a link center and a consumer at the edge of a link is not the same for the brand's potential value or potential threat.

Linked consumers can also make it easier to generate group intelligence, while also allowing everyone's intelligence to expand. Consumers are linked together, enabling them to collaborate effectively on a particular issue in a deep and thoughtful way, accumulating wisdom, as is known in Wikipedia. At the same time, social networking makes it easier for everyone to get in touch with other people's thinking, forming the wisdom that everyone has to stretch. In a sense is to share the wisdom of others.

On the surface, modern humans have become smarter than ever, but scientific research has shown that the human brain has not changed or evolved in nature from 40,000 years ago to the present. People are more intelligent than ever because humans have more tools to share knowledge and wisdom, and the brain can set aside more space to deal with other things.

Linked consumers make the explosive spread possible. Social networks let consumers link together, so every consumer on a node can become the source of information.

Whether it's a bullet train event or a cousin event, it comes from a micro-blogging from an ordinary person, and eventually causes a stir. These propagation events are unpredictable. Therefore, in the social age, always listen to the voice of consumers, understand the people behind the voice, timely response is essential. Because the consumer's voice is likely to go through several tipping points at any time to become an explosive event. Links have become a part of consumers, in addition to demographic, link times to understand consumers social Graphic. When the link age is to study consumers, the relationship of consumer link itself becomes a very important research content.

Social networking allows consumers to form a new era of social tribes based on interests and hobbies

Because of social networks, the cost of showing consumers ' interests is lower, and the cost is reduced, and geography will no longer be an obstacle to the gathering of consumers who have the same interests and interests. Let consumers based on interests and hobbies, forming a new era of social tribes.

In the debate between Fang and Han, Fang's fans and Han's fans formed two completely different "organizations" that did not have the usual characteristics of "organization", but were created online because of interest, hobbies and values.

Because of social networking, we've seen a lot of new tribal groups like science squirrels, Socialbeta. They have only loose organizations, but they can organize various activities across geographies. In fact, many brands of users also formed a brand tribe, they are keen on their favorite brand, and even because of defending their own tribes, and other brand tribe of people controversy. These tribes are entirely based on interests and hobbies and have no relationship with age, occupation or gender.

From the point of view of brand and consumer, brand can make the consumer become the member of the brand tribe, rather than have the "target consumer" that is opposite to the brand. When consumers recognize a brand, become a brand of tribal members, they are not just brand consumers, they will also become brand ambassadors, spontaneous maintenance of the brand, help the brand to solve other consumer problems, and even help the brand to comfort the consumers are complaining. On some more extreme occasions, brand ambassadors are even standing on the front line defending the brand's position directly!

Tribes make it easier for consumers to become members of their tribe by making brands with unique and strong values. Most brands are as active in social networks as one person, and his or her behavior is more clearly expressive of their values. A brand with clear values can easily be found in social networks. At the same time, because consumers ' interests are more easily embodied in social networks, brands need to define target consumers further from demographic to acquires Graphic, thus defining brand target consumers more precisely.

Consumer's social network expression has formed the consumer's second living space

The development of social networks and the rapid popularization of hand-held intelligent terminals have greatly stimulated the willingness of consumers to express and reduce the threshold of expression. Data and a lot of people have learned that there are more and more people sharing their ideas and status through social networks. A lot of people will take pictures and share them on the internet before eating, which is basically a common behavior in the present. The rich expression of the consumer has already formed the consumer's second living space, this is also the consumer's real life part, but the consumer's this part's life is not in the socialization time nobody or only very few people know. This part of life also constitutes an important part of the consumer. Because of the social network, many people have this experience, once familiar with the other side of the friend has never known, or about his hobbies, values, ideological stance. If you do not understand the consumer's second living space, in fact, the understanding and understanding of consumers is not comprehensive.

The rich expression of consumers provides a good opportunity for the brand to understand the consumer's ideas. In the mass media-led era, research through questionnaires is the most important way to understand consumers. However, the rich consumer expression in the social network allows the brand to understand their attitudes to the brand according to the consumer's expression, to show their inner preferences, values, and to reveal the social map (Social Graphic) of the Consumer interest map (acquires Graphic). Traditional consumer division also emphasizes the segmentation of psychology and behavior in addition to demographic subdivision, however, due to the limitations of the means. In the understanding of consumer psychology and behavior, can only be inferred through a variety of mapping methods. In the social network, consumers have fully expressed their behavior and attitude, directly to tell the brand, who I am, I like what I do not like, I took a vacation to Japan or home to sleep.

Coca-Cola Global CMO Joseph Tripodi published an article in the Harvard Business Review--marketing shifts from impressions to Expression. At its core, Coca-Cola is fully aware that consumers have a lot of spontaneous expressions about Coca-Cola, so Coca-Cola's marketing mindset shifts from boosting the brand's impression of consumers to encouraging consumers to spontaneously express their understanding of the brand. In the process of this transformation, the role of the brand is no longer the role of the traditional director, but a moderator, coordinator, promoter role, through the integration of consumer expression, to encourage consumers to interpret the understanding of the brand. Through its global innovation platform, Procter and Gamble has recently issued an innovative research program on how to tap consumer insights through consumer expression, looking to quickly get consumer feedback on the brand from consumers ' expressions through social networking.

Social networking links Create a weak environment that makes people lonely

While consumers are socially linked, there is a common phenomenon. A lot of people in one place, but he passes through intelligent terminals and other topics elsewhere, and on the other hand, consumers are left alone in a corner, but they are in contact with people all over the world through social networks; they are together, but they are not together, they are alone, but they are with others. The state of Alone up (alone), Sherry Turkle, a psychologist at MIT, embodies a unique state of the Internet. Social networking allows more people to be alone, work and live alone, without having to face the loneliness of social disconnection, because social networking links create a ubiquitous social context where you can keep in touch with the world wherever you want.

The state of being alone is actually the "weak relationship" that the social network has extended to the social circle, and it is the "shallow exchange" state of the Internet that makes knowledge and communication shallow and brittle. To put it another way, social networking makes everyone have more "nodding acquaintances" in real-world relationships and provides a wealth of tools to maintain these "nodding acquaintances". Sherry Turkle a big concern in his TED speech-people because of technology, because the Internet is becoming unwilling to face face-to-face conversations and exchanges. One day, she says, people will need to learn to talk. To put it another way, people may have to be accustomed to the state of shallow communication now or in the future, learn to manage the social circles that have been expanded, and redefine the people who need to communicate with them in depth.

In terms of the relationship between brand and consumer, "weak relations" and "shallow communication" means that the brand wants to build a loyal relationship with consumers more and more unrealistic, perhaps only a handful of brands can establish a loyal relationship between consumers, most of the most realistic expectations of the brand is to become consumers most often consider a brand. Accustomed to "shallow communication" consumers, they may be more expected from the brand "weak care", consumers are looking forward to when they need the brand to appear in time, do not bother them when not needed. In fact, many of the good brands on Weibo have been rerouted to the impression that they have been transmitted. The beginning of the first thought may feel deviated from the brand personality. Think carefully, in fact, these brands are facing the brand and consumers "nodding acquaintance" of the shallow exchange of facts, adjust their brand personality. They are more relaxed and humorous in their expression, more proactive and interactive with consumers, not only as physical products for consumers, but in fact their brand communication is also a social network of content products, they also hope that their content products can also provide consumers with a pleasant consumer experience.

Conclusion

Today in the face of social marketing, and the previous era has just faced the concept of modern camp is very similar. In those days, many brand managers were surprised when they heard in the face of consumer research that consumers were fgd about their brands and products when they were in the picture:

Why do consumers look at things like that?

Why is it different from what you think?

This kind of shock often promotes their worry, such way is reliable?

At that point, the answer to such questions was clearly fraught with controversy, and often even negative. Of course, the time has been given the right answer, those who respect consumers, willing to understand consumers, and understand the effective way and communication, to provide consumer satisfaction with products and services of the brand in the past days has been a great development.

In history books, every new era usually comes with an iconic event. In reality, the advent of a new age, at least in the present, is usually silently occurring. From a marketing perspective, social consumers are rising, and their rise is reshaping marketing. New marketing ideas and operating methods are brewing.

In fact, the new marketing era has gradually opened up the big curtain.

(* Note: "Linked link", the author is Barabasi, "tribe Tribe", author Gaoting, "Marketing shifts from impressions to Expressions", author Joseph Tripodi, " Alone up "author Sherry Turkle)