Social Media, and The End of Control

How do you market what you sell when you no longer control the narrative?

Last week, I wrote an article I titled Rethinking Compete, in which I began to explore the premise that the changes that have happened in marketing over the last 100 years, and particularly the last 30, due (mostly) to technology, and the resulting changes in buyers’ behavior, have turned what we (I, anyway) all believed about effective marketing on its ear.?For someone like me who eats, breathes, and dreams about competitive strategy in my sleep, the implications for competing effectively in whatever market you’re in are intriguing, to say the least.

I was inspired to dive into this by a day spent with Mark Schaefer, the author of Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins.?Mark lays out the three big rebellions that have happened in marketing over the last 100 years, The End of Lies, The End of Secrets, and the one which has set the table for how we (must) market today, The End of Control.[1]?

In a nutshell, the ubiquity of the internet and social media (it’s on my computer, of course, and also on TV, my phone, and even on my wrist!) has led to a world in which I no longer need (nor want, necessarily) to be advertised or marketed to.?While traditional outbound marketing still plays a role in generating awareness of a product or service, a buyer’s progression from awareness to consideration and purchase is entirely driven by the buyer, not the seller.?Let me give you a personal example…

A couple of years ago, I was looking for wireless earbuds for the first time.?Even though I’m an Apple junkie, I didn’t even consider Apple AirPods, because the part that goes in your ear was the same shape as the wired earphones that came with my iPhone, and they didn’t stay in my ears.?I’m also a big Bose fanboy, but I didn’t consider them, either, because my first set of in-ear noise canceling (wired) earphones from Bose also did not fit well in my ear.?So, I went online to research wireless earbuds.?There were all kinds to choose from, ranging in price from less than $100 to well over $300, many from manufacturers with longstanding reputations for premium audio equipment.?Some had built-in noise cancelation, some did not.?I talked to friends who’d purchased one or another of the available choices to learn from them what they liked and didn’t about theirs.?I went on Amazon, where I figured I could find the best earbuds for me at the best price.?I read online reviews by customers.?I read reviews on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube by influencers whose opinions about technology I follow.?I finally settled on a pair that cost about $85 by a manufacturer I’d never heard of who’d not advertised to me, but who had overwhelmingly positive reviews from customers.?And I figured that, at $85, if I ended up not really liking them, at least I hadn’t spent several hundred dollars, and wouldn’t have to go through the hassle of returning them for a refund less the cost of shipping.

This has become a pattern for me.?I buy a lot of things on Amazon (my sweetie characterizes it as an addiction), and I almost never buy something I’m not thoroughly familiar with without reading the customer reviews, and if they’re not overwhelmingly positive, I’ll look for a similar product from another manufacturer that has better reviews.?

And this is a pattern that isn’t limited to (relatively) inexpensive purchases.?Last summer, I bought a BMW motorcycle from a friend.?I hadn’t been on a motorcycle, much less considered buying one in more than thirty years, and even though I trusted my friend thoroughly, I looked up reviews, watched YouTube videos comparing it to other bikes in its class, and so on, to get comfortable with the idea of buying it.?My favorite cars that I’ve owned in my life have been BMWs, and each has been fabulous until it’s gotten older, at which point it has become fairly expensive to maintain, and I didn’t want to repeat that experience with the motorcycle.?I didn’t look at BMW ads, or go to a dealer to inquire about the model.?Instead, I read forums of BMW motorcycle owners, I watched reviews on YouTube, I researched long-term customer satisfaction on various sites dedicated to motorcycles and the people who love them.?When I was satisfied that I was making a good decision, I agreed to buy it from him.?Great purchase, by the way – I love it!!

If you’ve read this far and you’re a digital native (mostly people born in the 1980s and later, who’ve grown up using computers and technology), you may be thinking “Duh!?What’s your point??Everybody buys this way!”?I’m part of another group, sometimes referred to as “digital immigrants,” which I prefer as an identifier over “baby boomer” (another social grouping that I am a part of, much to my chagrin).?That fact that I, an old guy, have taken to the internet and social media as my go-to source for information on things I want to buy makes me believe that its use is likely far more ubiquitous among digital natives.?A 2013 United Nations report measuring information and communication technology development across countries estimated the percentage of digital natives in the US at more than 13%, and we only ranked 6th in the world!?By 2019, the number of people in the world with internet access and using social media (including on mobile devices) has grown to nearly 4 billion people, or virtually half of the world’s population.?

If I’m going to reach and influence an audience that is buying products or services from my competitors and convince them to buy from me instead, and I’m not paying attention to ensuring that my existing customers are speaking positively about my company on their social media pages, I’m in trouble.?And if I’m in business selling to businesses, and I’m not investing in getting happy customers to tell their story on my website or my social media pages, well, as I said, I’m in trouble.

How do I tell a compelling story that captures my potential customers’ attention, convinces them that the status quo has a cost (pain), and that only my product or service can alleviate that pain??Next week (stay tuned!) I’ll start to explore this, and dive into the importance of customer experience and compelling storytelling and how to use those things to capture the imagination of potential new customers and get them to consider switching from my competitors’ offerings to mine.

Jim Bernardo is a Principal at Bridge Partners

[1] If you want to understand these three rebellions in a little more depth, read my article, or if you’re really interested in understanding it thoroughly, read Mark’s book!