In yesterday’s New York
Times, Target was reported to ignore the feedback of a blogger. A Target PR
representative explained, “unfortunately, […] Target does not
participate with nontraditional media outlets”. The blogosphere
soon reacted by showing solidarity to the independent writer and wondered our loud, if Target isn't listening to its consumers, wherever they may be, whose input are they considering? The story quickly received coverage on a huge number of blogs and eventually in the New York Times, where it was the most emailed and blogged piece of the day. The impact furthers: a simple Google search with the keywords "target" and "NY Times" yields the Times article in the third organic position.
Levi previously wrote
about the tricky reliability of focus groups when gauging consumer
trends and gathering comments. It's time to recognize that there is
an emerging alternative – you can listen and engage those people who express
opinions freely through blogs/social media. Out of the 70
million blogs and counting, many are dedicated
to passionately analyzing news and events related to a particular topic. The
added benefit is that, unlike traditional
media, bloggers
are usually extremely timely with their feedback. For on-line
initiatives, the implication is that you can react faster and get extra props for embracing criticism.
If your company isn't already thinking
about including social media as an integral part of what it does on
the web (PR, Customer Service, Marketing, etc.), here's one key thing
to keep in mind: all information on the web is consolidated through
a user's window into the digital space. The search
engine is that window. Bloggers' reviews of products and
campaigns, as well as relevant forum posts and YouTube videos, are all indexed by
search engines – the same ones you work with in your marketing projects. If you're thinking (as you should) about
spreading a consistent brand message through all media, then social
media must be a piece of that strategy.