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Digital Marketing: Using Social Media to Listen to Consumers – Advertising Age – Digital

The internet has made it easier than ever for consumers to get their opinions heard — and for marketers to listen. But it also creates real challenges: Do marketers know who they’re listening to? And at what point does the echo chamber of social media drown out the real opinions of the people who buy your brand?

“The data is a really compelling reminder that a lot of our target consumers are not the people who are sitting on Twitter freaking out over a packaging design that they don’t like,” said Diane Hessan, CEO of Communispace. She added, “These are people online, having conversations, and yet they are totally out of the loop on stuff us marketing junkies love to obsess over.”

Out of the loop

For example, in the past month, the Twitter community has been titillated by South by Southwest, AT&T, “Lost” and the redesign of Skittles.com. Missing from the list are things the Communispace and Lightspeed surveys, both separately commissioned on Ad Age’s behalf, found that the general population is fired up about, such as the AIG bonuses and the bank-bailout plans.

How to listen and respond more effectively

KNOW YOUR CONSUMERS’ SOCIAL-MEDIA HABITS. “What you see is not necessarily representative of people using the social technologies, but the people using those social technologies and like to talk,” said Forrester’s Josh Bernoff.

HAVE A RESPONSE MECHANISM IN PLACE. Don’t wait until you have vocal critics to design a response plan. Rather than pulling its ad and issuing an apology on its site that confused the 90% of people who weren’t aware of the criticism, Motrin could have engaged the angry mob.

LOOK FOR CHANGES IN CHATTER. If suddenly the conversation doubles, or if people start talking about your brand in a way they weren’t the day before, something important is happening. “Changes in attitudes are more significant about attitudes themselves,” Mr. Bernoff said.

PINPOINT PASSION. Your critics can provide you with insight into a base you didn’t know existed. Who, for example, were these “attachment parenting” moms so outraged by Motrin? Not all criticism is cause for action, but it is cause to dig deeper.