Media and communications habits of people have and will continue to rapidly change. Consumption of media is moving towards social media, where people can converse and collaborate, and away from traditional media which is more of a one way conversation. This is no longer the realm of teenagers, businesses need to reframe this very quickly or will be left behind.

Historically a lot of money has been poured into market research to understand consumers and their drivers. Now, with social media channels this information is much more freely available and beyond this companies can invisibly find out more about peeves and positives about their product and services and refine as such.

Communities are formed around specific interest areas so these kinds of insights companies can gain are now available at their fingertips, in much higher volumes and are likely to be of greater quality and relevance.

I. Why?

  • Powerful, cost efficient communication tools.
  • Reaching fragmented, targeted audiences.
  • Understand consumer behaviors.
  • Knowing shifts, trends and being up to date with news.
  • Building  interactive networks.
  • Listening to consumers.

II. Who?

Globally, businesses are appointing people specifically for this critical function for example:
Head of Social Media, Director of Consumer Generated Media, Head of Online Brand Equity, Consumer Insights Manager, Director of Social Media, Director of Social Media Analysis, Voice of the Customer, Director of Social Networking, Head of Interactive Content, Director of Online Customer Relations, Chief Networking Officer, Director of Social Marketing, Chief Relationship Officer, Marketing Director Emerging Media, Chief Media Officer, Social Media Officer, Manager of Online Contact, User Created Content Guru. * - TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony.

An example, see today: BBC’s Huggers Confirmed Future Media & Technology Director
“He will control a 2008/09 budget of £114.4 million ($228 million) for BBC.co.uk alone, but Huggers’ responsibilities encompass all internet, interactive TV, mobile, broadband and emerging platforms operations, including iPlayer, totaling around £400 million ($797 million).”
Read more @ Paidcontent.org here

III. What?

-A Company blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Diigo, FriendFeed, Ning, Mixx, Bebo, Get Satisfaction, Google and Yahoo Groups….. And by tomorrow, or in an hour, more would have emerged.

IV. How?

I think a good way to do this is:

  • Firstly start reading blogs and social media channels where your consumers interact (listening to conversations).
  • Then start commenting & responding within these channels. This is if agreed with management that this is the right social media policy for your company & benefits outweigh risks (participating in conversations).
  • Next step is creating content, whether on a company blog or within other social media channels (initiating conversations)

But in saying the above there is no prescribed method. If you have something to stay straight away and you understand the audience then this is right for your business. Some may prefer just to listen, gain insights and feedback and silently implement solutions based on this.

V. When?

If last week didn’t work then now is good!