How customer power can help your business Verve workshop, Common Purpose leadership forum, 16th March 2010 With the proliferation of social networking and social media tools such as online bulletin boards, blogs and opinion forums, customers have more power than ever to be vocal about the brands and services they use and consume. If a customer has a bad experience, their complaints are no longer just heard by an immediate circle of friends, but can be read by a global audience. In extreme cases, customer power can make or break a brand. Companies are beginning to learn
the impact a more networked world can have on a brand. Rather than having to be reactive and seeing customer power as a negative force, companies are now looking at ways to turn this into something more positive.
Instead of dreading a
negative online publicity campaign, companies are taking a more proactive approach to turn the power of the customer into something powerful for their business.
Using online brand communities to have more constructive customer dialogue Online brand communities are places where companies and their customers can come together to have a conversation about a brand or service.
They are often private, log-in only places,
created by brands themselves, which utilise the tools of the social web to network members. They work on the principle of two-way dialogue (in contrast to the “official” brand communication channels such as a company website where the information flow is more oneway). They are effectively a “shared space” for the brand and its customers to come together and talk to each other frankly and openly. This allows companies to be to be more informed, faster and means that they are then better equipped to serve the customer's needs. This is a powerful way of working with customers to improve the overall brand experience.