Are You Being Antisocial?

Whether they’re blogging on Google, friending on Facebook, tweeting on Twitter or channel surfing on YouTube, your customers are flocking to social networks in record numbers.

As of August, Facebook had 250 million users – a 250 percent increase in a single year, and a total rapidly approaching the Census Bureau’s estimate of the entire U.S. population. Twitter visits are up a staggering 1,500 percent year over year, and YouTube now has 71 million unique users each month, giving it the sixth-largest audience on the Internet.

Social media can no longer be chalked up to a fleeting fad among the so-called Net generation: its fastest-growing demographic is over the age of 35. Consumers of all ages and socio-demographic profiles are participating in online blogging and social media at rapidly growing rates.

I’ve recently spent significant time researching and educating retail executives about the profound impact of social media. A handful of “socially savvy” retailers have engaged in social media with dynamic enterprise-wide strategies; others are dipping their toes into the water and experimenting with a social media presence, primarily through their marketing departments.

But the vast majority of retailers are watching from the sidelines, perhaps not yet comprehending the significant impact and opportunities this phenomenon presents.

The social consumer
It’s no longer acceptable to expect your customers to come to your store; it’s now necessary to bring the store to your customers. In today’s world, consumers are technology-savvy, more skeptical of mass marketing and expect personalized treatment.

Successful retailers seek out new and better ways to understand customer preferences: They not only find ways to differentiate themselves within their stores, but also to engage with customers where they spend a lot of time already — blogging, friending, tweeting and surfing.

There are many promising ways a retailer can benefit from embracing social media: improving brand awareness, listening to customer sentiments, creating incentives to drive cross-channel traffic and purchases, building content-focused communities to improve loyalty, enticing fans to try new products, understanding assortment preferences and improving customer service.

Even if you haven’t yet engaged in social media, chances are good that your customers are already sharing their sentiments about you online. Consider one nationally known retailer I recently advised.

Until last month, it had no social media presence beyond its website and questioned the value of social media altogether. In doing a quick customer sentiment analysis study on that retailer and its competition, we discovered thousands of recent comments on social media sites regarding customer satisfaction, service, product preferences and reviews, pricing, the loyalty program, store cleanliness and formats, employees, investor relations and brand image.

Despite not having an official Facebook fan page, thousands of fans were commenting on dozens of customer- and employee-created Facebook pages devoted to discussions about this retailer; customer and employee tweets also were prolific. This analysis offered the retailer valuable customer insights it would not otherwise have – and it has since developed a social media strategy.

Business analytics plays key role
As with most things, the keys to the kingdom are in the analysis of the data. Analytical tools exist for retailers to engage with, learn from and react to customers within and across social media and other channels. Analytical technology allows retailers to mine unstructured data, segment it by category and filter “noise” so that they can quickly get a cross-functional view of customers’ perceptions. The more a retailer engages with these tools, the savvier it becomes about its customers and their preferences.

Social media already is impacting your business, and it’s here to stay. The technologies involved may change over time, but consumers’ desires to connect with people online will not. Spending time creating a workable social media strategy, including the analytical toolset to mine and react to the data, will pay big dividends.

Now is the time to jump into the conversation that’s already going on about your company: it’s the least expensive, most effective focus group you’ll ever find.