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Social marketing: How companies are generating value from customer input

March 06, 2008 | Internet Marketing

Many marketing professionals and analysts are insisting that a new era of customer-company relations has dawned. "Brands are not in control any longer, and those that let go and put the power in the hands of the user will do well," says Forrester's Jeremiah Owyang.

Fansumers, viral videos and social computing—these are just some of the many buzzwords pinging around the marketing world today. Making sense of them is not easy, since new practices evolve rapidly and often overlap with one another. Indeed, according to Wharton marketing professor Christophe Van den Bulte, many may be nothing more than marketing gimmicks. 

But the concept behind the buzzwords is clear: Online technologies allow customers to communicate in new ways with one another, and companies must decide whether to ignore, co-opt or dive into these new waters of interactivity. “Consumers want to feel they are being heard, and they love having an impact on the future development of products. To the extent that they can air grievances, or understand the company’s position, that can be beneficial for the company itself,” says Jonah Berger, Wharton marketing professor.

Jeremiah Owyang, senior analyst at Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Ma.-based technology and market research firm, points to several companies that have led the way in embracing change.Southwest Airlines, for example, has a blog where customers can not only comment but also have their own postings published, notes Owyang, who blogs at web-strategist.com.

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