This week I read, “The Origins of Social Media” in The New
Influencers and “The Death of Segmentation: IBM VP talks segments of one
consumer”. The concept behind “The
Origins of Social Media” is that blogs have given way for regular people to
have voices, that, in the past were either not possible or not respected (by
companies). The article mentions how
companies have to be prepared for both the positives and negatives that
accompany social media; consumers have the immediate ability to either praise
or trash your company/product. This
change is going to take place regardless of whether companies like it or not
but its best to be proactive in this type of a situation rather than reactive.
In “The Death of Segmentation: IBN VP talks segments of one
consumer”, Ginni Rometty talks about how marketers have to adapt to a new way
of thinking because dividing customers into segments will no longer work due to
the emergence of “big data”. She argues
that because of the influx of “big data”, customers will need to be treated as
individuals rather than as part of a segment.
My thoughts on this are that I am inclined to agree with Rometty. As more and more data becomes available,
businesses will have no choice but to treat their customers as
individuals. There will be too much data
available to point to each specific customer’s needs vs. taking them as a whole
with their industry or segment as was done in the past.
I also watch Seth Godin’s Ted Talk on “How to Get Your Ideas Spread”. I loved “The Idea Virus” so I enjoyed
watching this video the most out of all this week’s material. What resonated with me most was towards the
end when he got really specific about how to get ideas to spread - make sure you
have something remarkable and focus on those who are interested in what you’re
selling or talking about, or your “otaku.
This was interesting because it was something that I felt intuitively
but to hear Seth explicitly say it let me know that I am on the right path.
I am working with a recording artist who recently released
his first EP. As a promotional tool, we
have been offering reloadable MP3 players with his music pre-loaded. We have gotten excellent feedback on the
concept and idea and I think that it is safe to say that we have identified our
something “remarkable”. Our next step is
to identify our otaku. This is something
that we are currently working on but, takes time to achieve. I do think, however, that I learned a while
ago to only focus on those that are interested in what we have to offer. I was talking to my boyfriend about the EP
recently and he was telling me how there were two songs on it that he doesn’t
like. I told him that I was ok with that
because those songs weren’t meant for him.
His argument was that music should be universal and I shouldn’t be
grouping off certain songs for certain individuals. I do agree that music is universal but my
grouping was not specific to him, as a person, it was simply to say that if you
don’t like a particular song, then it was not made for you, and I feel that
this speaks to Seth’s Otaku concept.
"South Side" EP MP3 Player - Available for sale @ JukeRelated.com
I also read the HBR article, “Community Relations 2.0”. I think this article picks up where “The
Origins of Social Media” left off. What
I liked most about it was the outline on page 7 that basically mandates how
companies should utilize their social media team. I liked it because it gave real steps and
instructions on how they should operate and what things to be on the lookout
for.
I tried to listen to the Gil Frisbie and Frank podcast on “The
Long Tail", but it didn’t capture my interest. I was familiar with the concept because it
was covered in my undergrad Strategic Management course so I decided to read
Chapter 1 of “The Long Tail” to refresh my memory. It’s easy to see why so many brick and mortar
book and music stores have gone out of business. They can’t compete with online retailers who
are capturing a significant portion of their revenue from sales that brick and
mortar locations don’t have. It would be
impossible for an actual store to house thousands and thousands of CDs that
might not be of interest to people in a certain locale.
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