Is Social Media the New Marketing Research?

Consumer behavior has significantly changed over the past five years. Technological tools, primarily on the social web and on mobile phones, have given consumers more power in becoming a partner in creating the brand narrative than ever before. It no longer matters what you tell consumers your product can do in an ad. What matters today, is what their peers (or the average user, say a peer representative) tell them your product can do. And for the most part, marketing gets that. Read more of my first post for MediaBizBloggers.

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Guest Blog Bob Barocci, ARF President: Why Is Listening So Scary?

Most marketing people “listen” to organic, naturally occurring online conversation because if they don’t, some boss is likely to criticize them.  Or, they are afraid that when they look in the mirror, they see someone that is “out-of-it." So, what do marketers and agencies do? They put “listening” on their to-do list. And then, they go off and do some listening. Good. It’s a start.

But....the problem begins here because there are so many easy ways to get “listening” checked off your list without really taking the opportunity seriously. All one needs to do is check out Google Trends, or talk to Nielsen BuzzMetrics or TNS Cymfony about sentiment, set up a community or two, or get IT involved looking into Clarabridge or Lexalytics.

But is this “listening”? Is this consistent with the unprecedented opportunity to hear your customers talk honestly about your brand? Or, recognizing, as Chris Brogan said recently, that “Twitter is free mind-reading!”? I think not.

The ARF convened a Listening Workshop in New York City in November, 2009. Listening is exploding, right? Well, it is, if you consider all those “check-list” projects listening.

The disturbing thing to me about the talk at this event was that many speakers were preoccupied with the obstacles to effective listening –“no budget…nobody in charge…where is the statistical rigor?... is it projectable?... tough organizational issues… hard to sell internally…ROI tough to determine…legal has major issues....etc.

So, what’s up with this? True listening is scary, that’s what’s up. It’s a big change from our traditional way of thinking.

So, the single biggest opportunity in the history of consumer marketing lays dormant. The singular opportunity to tap into the brain of today’s newly empowered consumer in such a natural way that what we hear is the purest “research” ever is buried in nay-saying.

The purposes of the ARF Listening Playbook and our January 28 San Francisco Industry Leader Forum – Putting Listening to Work -  are to change that. To get you so excited about the promise of listening, the essentialness of listening, the unequaled power of the insight potential of listening that you will not go another day without taking your important first step.

That little first step? – implement a continuous, 24/7, listening program in your company tomorrow.  Not project listening...that’s checklist stuff. Welcome to a new world.

In September, 2004, Bob Barocci was named President/CEO of The ARF.  Just prior to joining the ARF, Bob was the director of communications of New School University and part of Bob Kerrey’s leadership team. Before that, Bob, as he says it, was privileged to enjoy a very satisfying advertising career including 21 years with Leo Burnett culminating in the position of President of Leo Burnett International.  After he left Leo Burnett, he was founder/CEO of McConnaughy Barocci Brown and then invited by Alex Kroll to become Director of Central/East Europe for Young and Rubicam.  He holds an M.B.A. from Harvard University and a Phi Beta Kappa mathematics degree from the University of Wisconsin.

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Video: The Implications of Augmented Reality for Advertising

Porter Novelli and Augmented Reality - Lynne D. Johnson presentation



Porter Novelli and Augmented Reality - Lynne D. Johnson from Advertising Research Foundation

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Presentation: Listening to the Consumer: Is Social Media the New Market Research?

Hear the Webcast on demand, register at MyARF

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January 2010 Speak Dates

January 29, 2010
"Leveraging Online Money Makers as we Reinvent Publishing" and "Where is the Media Revolution Now?" Panelist
WIPP 2010 Women's Leadership Conference | San Francisco, CA

January 28, 2010
"The Future of Research" Moderator
ARF Industry Leader Forum – Putting Listening to Work | San Francisco, CA

January 26, 2010
"Blogging 101" Panelist
AD Council Blogging 101 | New York, NY

To follow past and future speaking events visit my speaking page

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Call for Women In Technology Nominations

Last year, I helped put together a package of The Most Influential Women In Technology for Fast Company. Well, they're doing it again, and they've enlisted my help. As an advisory board member of Girls In Tech-New York, and with close relationships with Women Who Tech and BlogHer, I'm steeped with resources and really knowledgeable of who's who and who made the most impact in 2009. But I also want to make sure that the people weigh in, and not just an editorial board.

Who would you say are The Most Influential Women In Technology? Especially, who really turned it up in 2009 as far as impact? Feel free to leave a comment here or send me a tweet @lynneluvah.

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Listening to the Consumer: Is Social Media the New Market Research?

I'm doing the following Webcast for the ARF next Tuesday at 12:00 in preparation for a major listening event we're having in SF at the end of the month.

Listening to the Consumer: Is Social Media the New Market Research?
Social Media is free marketing research—people are using blogs, Twitter, video, Facebook, forums, and other social networking sites to talk about brands without companies having to pay them to find out what they like or dislike. Because of this, social media monitoring of your brand offers real-time feedback for conducting brand and customer satisfaction research, as well as competitive intelligence. In this webcast learn how brands successfully mine online activity to:

• Gain customer insights
  
• Test new product ideas
  
• Improve existing products
  
• Drive brand growth

To learn more and register for this Webcast (for free) visit The ARF.

As for the ARF Industry Leader Forum - Putting Listening to Work, it takes place Jan. 28 at the Bentley Reserve in San Francisco. Speakers include:

• Keynote Speaker: Jeremiah Owyang, digital media strategy superstar and blogger and Partner, Customer Strategy, Altimeter Group
• Steve Patrizi, Vice President, Advertising Sales & Operations, LinkedIn
• Doug Frisbie, National Social Media & Product Integration Manager, Toyota Motor Sales
• Johanna Skilling, EVP, Director of Strategic Planning, Saatchi and Saatchi Wellness
• Vishal Pandya, Market Insights, Client Research Analyst, IBM
• Ann Barlow, Partner and President, Peppercom West Coast
• Paul Banas, Senior Category Insights Manager, Kraft Foods
• Stephen Kim, Senior Director, Microsoft Branded Experiences and Entertainment, Microsoft
• Chance Parker, VP and GM,  J.D. Power and Associates
• Rich Ullman, SVP Marketing, Ripple 6

To learn more about the ARF Industry Leader Forum and register visit The ARF.

We know that Social Media and consumer behavior online has completely changed how we think about marketing research. But there are still so many unanswered questions. Who are we listening to? What are we listening for? What are the best tools to help us serve our listening needs? The list is endless. I think Jeremiah Owyang's, "Evolution: The Eight Stages of Listening," helps companies plan an approach to listening that not only uses listening as a market research tool or simply for marketing purposes--it helps companies think about how to change the DNA of their business, where listening becomes holistic and not just a siloed or one-off activity.

Follow me on Twitter @lynneluvah

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