Description
The report explains about the end of business as usual.
Contents
Foreword
Katie Couric
x
Introduction (R)evolution: How Internet Culture Has Created a New Era of Social Consumerism
This Is None of Your Business, So Make It Your Business
xiii
xiv
Chapter 1
A Quiet Riot: The Information Divide and the Cultural Revolution
The Human Genome Meets Digital DNA Don’t Blame It on the Youth Ch-Ch-Changes
1
4 5 6
Chapter 2
Youthquake: Millennials Shake Up the Digital Lifestyle
Boom Digital Darwinism: Controlling Your Way to Obsolescence
8
10 12
Chapter 3
The Medium Is No Longer the Message
Social Networks as Your Personal Operating System (OS) Don’t Google Me, Facebook Me Twitter Me This . . . The Facebook Generation
15
17 19 19
Chapter 4
The Attention De?cit Crises and Information Scarcity
Remorse and Social Network Fatigue Poster’s Remorse Does Attention Bankruptcy Loom Behind the Thin Veil of Popularity?
22
23 24 25
v
vi
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
?
CONTENTS
If You Can’t Tweet ’Em, Join Them The Progress of Progress 27 29
The Evolution of the Network Economy and the Human Network
Content Was King Context Is King: De?ning Our Experiences The Shift in Networking: Nicheworks Bridge Social and Interest Graphs Recognizing the Value of Nicheworks Interest Graphs Are the Constructs of Maturing Information Networks
32
33 35 36 43 45
The Nextwork: De?ning Tomorrow’s Information Network
Do I Know You? Oh Yes, You’re Friends with Their Friends Who Are Friends with Those Who Are Friends of Mine It’s a Smaller World, after All Information at the Speed of Tweets
48
50 51 53
Your Audience Is Now an Audience of Audiences with Audiences
Short Attention Span Theater An Audience with an Audience of Audiences The People Formerly Known as the Audience The Psychology of the Audiences with Audiences Zuckerberg’s Law Interest Graph Theory On-Demand Networking: Investing in Narrow and Wide Experiences
56
57 60 61 62 63 64 68
Convergence: The Intersection of Media and the Human Network
The Digital Footprint I Want My Web TV. . . . Be Careful What You Wish For Channeling a Connected Audience The Living Room Is Alive and Clicking New Consumerism: From Clicks to Cliques An Audience of Information Ambassadors
72
73 75 77 78 79 81
Measures of Digital In?uence and Social Capital: From Nobody to Somebody
The Human Algorithm Digital In?uence Creates a New Media World Order
83
84 84
Contents
De?ning In?uence Seeking Relevance: The Social Consumer Hierarchy The Social Stock Market The Square Root of In?uence Is Social Capital The New Era of Endorsements: When Nobodies Become Somebodies In?uence Is Not Popularity and Popularity Is Not In?uence The Tools of the Trade In?uencing the In?uencer
?
vii
85 86 87 88 91 93 95 98
Chapter 10
The Dawn of Connected Consumerism
You Are Now Entering the Trust Zone A Day in the Life of the Connected Consumer Checking In to the New Reality of Geolocation Steering Action through Incentives When Purchases Become Social Objects It’s Not How You See Me, It’s How I Want You to See Me
100
101 103 106 111 112 113
Chapter 11
The Rise of Collective Commerce
On the Web, One Is a Lonely Number: Socializing Commerce The Fifth C of Community = Social Commerce Buy with Friends! The Savings of the Crowds Build It and They (Won’t) Come The Laws of Attraction and Af?nity ABC: Always Be Closing
117
118 121 123 126 127 132
Chapter 12
Creating Magical Experiences
m-Commerce: The Smartphone Makes Shoppers Smarter Reality Bytes Price Comparison Apps Lead to Purchases or Competitive Purchases Discounting Prices, but Not Loyalty Virtual Mirrors Re?ect the True Persona of the Connected Customer Excuse Me While I Check Out Designing Shareable Experiences
136
137 139 140 141 144 145 147
Chapter 13
Brands Are No Longer Created, They’re Co-Created
Branding the Customer Relationship If Ignorance Is Bliss, Awareness Is Awakening
151
151 152
viii
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
?
CONTENTS
In the Human Network, Brands Become the Culmination of Shared Experiences The Awakening Flips the Switch The Poetry of Language and Media
154 159 163
Reinventing the Brand and Sales Cycle for a New Genre of Connected Commerce
Plug into the Grid of Decision Making Once More, This Time with Feeling I’m Not Just Listening to You, I Hear You; I See and Feel What You’re Saying Bring the Essence of Brand to Life Brand Essence Exercise A Model for Emotive Engagement Funneling Through Time The Collapse of the Funnel and Emergence of New Consumer Touchpoints The Decision-Making Circle
169
170 171 172 173 174 175 177 180 185
Aspiring to Reach beyond Conformity to Inspire Customers
Market Fragmentation Leads to Diversi?cation Behaviorgraphics The Interest Graph Is Alive: A Study of Starbucks’s Top Followers
190
192 197 201
The Last Mile: The Future of Business Is De?ned through Shared Experiences
The Apple of My Eye: Designing Magical (and Shareable) Experiences The Laws of Engagement Like a Virgin: Treating Customers Like They Were Touched for the Very First Time Distribution of Engagement Resources and Strategies A Market in Transition Begets a Business in Motion
212
213 216 219 224 227
The Culture Code: When Culture and Social Responsibility Become Market Differentiators
The Zappos Story: The Customer Service Shoe Is Now on the Other Foot Zappos: Putting the Customer in Customer Service Zappos: The Culture of Customer Advocacy Zappos: Delivering Happiness
229
231 232 233 233
Contents
The New CEO: Chief Experience Of?cer In Good Company: Philanthropic Capitalism and the New Era of Corporate Social Responsibility Giving Back Is the New . . . Red One Day without Shoes: A March toward Prosperity and Social Responsibility Empathy Loves Company
?
ix
235 237 238 239 241
Chapter 18
Adaptive Business Models: Uniting Customers and Employees to Build the Business of Tomorrow, Today
The Adaptive Business Learns through Re?ection and Leads through Projection The Dilemma’s Innovator Rethinking the Future of Business: Building the Framework From Bottom Up to Top Down and Outside In to Inside Out Dell’s Bells The Dellwether of Customer Sentiment The Future of Business Is Up to You
244
245 246 250 255 257 258 265
Chapter 19
Change Is in the Air: The Inevitable March toward Change Management
The Future of Business Starts with Change and Ends with Change Management The March toward Change Leads to Relevance: A Blueprint for Change Phase 1: Setting the Stage Phase 2: Managing Change Phase 3: Reinforcing Change Connecting Value Propositions to Personal Values This Is Your Time
269
270 271 272 273 274 274 278
Chapter 20 Notes Index
What’s Next? The Evolution of Business from Adaptive to Predictive
280 284 295
Introduction
(R)evolution: How Internet Culture Has Created a New Era of Social Consumerism
This is a book about the new era of business, consumerism, and your role in de?ning the future of everything. . . . Let me start by saying thank you for picking up this book. If you read only these few lines, realize that you are part of a consumer revolution that is changing the future of business, media, and culture. You did not intentionally enlist in this movement, but you are indeed part of it. Consumers are connecting with one another, creating a vast and ef?cient information network that shapes and steers experiences and markets. Whether you’re a business professional or a consumer, you are part of this new era of connected or social consumerism and individually and collectively, the effects of your actions and words are nothing short of extraordinary when concentrated. Together, you . . . me . . . we have the power to change things around us. Every day, we’re learning and practicing how to make sense of these emerging privileges. Businesses and consumers have the power to change the course of the economy and it’s nothing short of disruptive. People are now investors in and bene?ciaries of a new genre of collective intelligence that informs and guides people in real time. Information, whether we contribute or learn, is now a wonderful commodity that’s on demand. Needless to say, people are informing and are informed. In just a few short years, we witnessed how people-powered Wikipedia displaced industry giant Britannica as the world’s encyclopedia. The so-called wisdom of the crowds is now forming a power of the crowds, creating a new form of group buying to unlock amazing deals online and in the real world. Groupon, LivingSocial, Facebook Deals, and the countless others that are emerging empower groups of people to buy and save together, and in turn, share these opportunities with those to whom they’re connected online and of?ine.
xiii
xiv
Simply by discussing the experiences we’ve had with brands and businesses on review sites, in blogs, and in online communities, we’ve created a new world of consumer in?uence. People make decisions based on the shared experiences of others. And that in?uence is sweeping, as consumers are increasingly connecting to one another. Remember the Yellow Pages? Websites such as Yelp, Craigslist, Angie’s List, and even Foursquare collectively displaced what was once the community staple for local businesses and service providers by moving information and experiences to online communities and social networks. Once “too big to fail” businesses such as Borders, Tower Records, Wherehouse, Circuit City, and Blockbuster are now gone. Each business is a victim of Digital Darwinism, the evolution of consumer behavior when society and technology evolve faster than the ability to exploit it. Digital Darwinism does not discriminate. Every business is threatened. This is just a little taste of how consumer behavior has changed the landscape for buying and selling—and this transformation is just getting started. It’s nothing new. What is different, though, is that change forces just that: change. Those businesses that recognize disruption and develop a culture and process for innovation now and over time will survive the perpetual threat of Digital Darwinism. The consumer revolution is already underway. The question is: How do you better understand the role you play in this production as a connected or social consumer as well as a business professional? As a stakeholder, it’s now your obligation to study how, when, where, and why consumers are connecting and how they’re making and in?uencing decisions. Doing so brings clarity to your work to create and steer consumer experiences to your advantage. This book reveals how digital culture is changing the landscape of business, consumerism, and the workplace, and what you should do about it.
? THIS IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, SO MAKE IT YOUR BUSINESS
This book was written to groom a new generation of leaders, people who want to lead and are looking for the answers and inspiration necessary to guide others into uncharted territory. It’s an exploration of culture, society, and how to unravel trends and hype to ?nd the meaning in all of this. It’s how we’ll grow personally and
?
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
?
xv
professionally. For many of us, applying these insights at work will also teach us how to embrace new media in our personal lives. What are the pillars of a successful business? Competitive prices? Great service? Widespread distribution? Better products? Maybe. But experience has taught us that ambition, practicality, and achievements are the traits of successful leaders. As a result, we sometimes compromise consumer experiences for numbers . . . business goals, minimized expenses, and increases in ef?ciencies, forecasts, and sales. Find any business owner or executive and they’ll tell you that’s just good business. But is that enough to survive Digital Darwinism? If marketing and PR departments serve as the voices of companies, how are we to really know? It’s the difference between being market-driven and marketingdriven. The true voice and personality of a company is rarely heard unless a customer calls in to the service department or visits the business in person to demand personalized attention and resolution. Suddenly marking is no longer “the voice.” The front-line service representative is in charge of de?ning the consumer experience and the next steps a consumer may take, including sharing that experience with others. But how are representatives instructed to steer experiences today? How are they rewarded for cultivating memorable and satisfying engagements to encourage the sharing of positive experiences? Representatives are instead often motivated with incentives for increasing sales or churning through customer calls and emails faster than their peers, measured by time to resolution and transactional satisfaction. Following these interactions, customers would walk away percolating with emotion. Whether positive, negative, or ambivalent, it’s human nature to share these experiences with peers and quite honestly, anyone who’ll listen. Again, none of this is new. It’s human nature. Businesses have long known that a happy customer tells a few people, but an unhappy customer tells many, many more. But everything was business as usual, until it wasn’t. And, that’s where this story begins. Of course, no matter the business, the only factor as signi?cant as customer acquisition is customer retention. But it’s exponentially more expensive to acquire new customers than it is to retain them. Some businesses embrace this reality and hold it sacred. Others see the allure of saving money at the expense of positive experiences to placate customers rather than continually earn their af?nity and loyalty. The true character of any business is revealed in the collective experiences of its customers. It’s about what people say when you’re
xvi
not around. With the rise of social media, people are connecting with one another to create vast networks rich with interaction. The social graphs that people create as a result are increasingly becoming interconnected, creating an audience that, too, boasts an audience with audiences. And guess who’s in control of the information that circulates within each network? It’s not the brand or its clever messaging, attractive promotions, or creative gimmicks. People are in control. The choices they make and the experiences they share through their words, relationships, and actions, in?uence those around them. This book will introduce you to the connected consumer and how they search for, discover, and share information, and ultimately, make decisions. In many signi?cant ways, they’re not at all the customer you think you know. Some of us are becoming the very consumers we’re trying to reach and as a result, we are changing everything. By placing ourselves in the spotlight, we gain a more personal view of the change unfolding before us, without the obstruction of our business blinders we unknowingly wear in our professional lives. It’s this perspective that’s usually missing from today’s business approach and prevailing philosophy. Understanding this new connected consumer will help us gain two critical business traits long absent from the hallmark of typical business culture, the ability to feel and show empathy and the ability to change. To best earn residence in the minds and hearts of customers, we must invest in shaping exceptional experiences worth sharing. Understanding this new consumer and what moves them will help businesses compete for tomorrow, today. It’s the acceptance of this perspective that will allow us to uncover and affect the decisions that orbit and de?ne the brands we represent. The businesses that aspire to a higher purpose will outperform businesses that focus on the bottom line. People aspire to be part of something bigger than themselves. Give them something to align with to create a sense of belonging. Give them something to talk about. Give them a reason to share experiences. After all, you are part of the new digital culture that is de?ning the future of all of this. Change is upon us. Change is because of us.
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change. —Charles Darwin
?
INTRODUCTION
doc_252942726.pdf
The report explains about the end of business as usual.
Contents
Foreword
Katie Couric
x
Introduction (R)evolution: How Internet Culture Has Created a New Era of Social Consumerism
This Is None of Your Business, So Make It Your Business
xiii
xiv
Chapter 1
A Quiet Riot: The Information Divide and the Cultural Revolution
The Human Genome Meets Digital DNA Don’t Blame It on the Youth Ch-Ch-Changes
1
4 5 6
Chapter 2
Youthquake: Millennials Shake Up the Digital Lifestyle
Boom Digital Darwinism: Controlling Your Way to Obsolescence
8
10 12
Chapter 3
The Medium Is No Longer the Message
Social Networks as Your Personal Operating System (OS) Don’t Google Me, Facebook Me Twitter Me This . . . The Facebook Generation
15
17 19 19
Chapter 4
The Attention De?cit Crises and Information Scarcity
Remorse and Social Network Fatigue Poster’s Remorse Does Attention Bankruptcy Loom Behind the Thin Veil of Popularity?
22
23 24 25
v
vi
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
?
CONTENTS
If You Can’t Tweet ’Em, Join Them The Progress of Progress 27 29
The Evolution of the Network Economy and the Human Network
Content Was King Context Is King: De?ning Our Experiences The Shift in Networking: Nicheworks Bridge Social and Interest Graphs Recognizing the Value of Nicheworks Interest Graphs Are the Constructs of Maturing Information Networks
32
33 35 36 43 45
The Nextwork: De?ning Tomorrow’s Information Network
Do I Know You? Oh Yes, You’re Friends with Their Friends Who Are Friends with Those Who Are Friends of Mine It’s a Smaller World, after All Information at the Speed of Tweets
48
50 51 53
Your Audience Is Now an Audience of Audiences with Audiences
Short Attention Span Theater An Audience with an Audience of Audiences The People Formerly Known as the Audience The Psychology of the Audiences with Audiences Zuckerberg’s Law Interest Graph Theory On-Demand Networking: Investing in Narrow and Wide Experiences
56
57 60 61 62 63 64 68
Convergence: The Intersection of Media and the Human Network
The Digital Footprint I Want My Web TV. . . . Be Careful What You Wish For Channeling a Connected Audience The Living Room Is Alive and Clicking New Consumerism: From Clicks to Cliques An Audience of Information Ambassadors
72
73 75 77 78 79 81
Measures of Digital In?uence and Social Capital: From Nobody to Somebody
The Human Algorithm Digital In?uence Creates a New Media World Order
83
84 84
Contents
De?ning In?uence Seeking Relevance: The Social Consumer Hierarchy The Social Stock Market The Square Root of In?uence Is Social Capital The New Era of Endorsements: When Nobodies Become Somebodies In?uence Is Not Popularity and Popularity Is Not In?uence The Tools of the Trade In?uencing the In?uencer
?
vii
85 86 87 88 91 93 95 98
Chapter 10
The Dawn of Connected Consumerism
You Are Now Entering the Trust Zone A Day in the Life of the Connected Consumer Checking In to the New Reality of Geolocation Steering Action through Incentives When Purchases Become Social Objects It’s Not How You See Me, It’s How I Want You to See Me
100
101 103 106 111 112 113
Chapter 11
The Rise of Collective Commerce
On the Web, One Is a Lonely Number: Socializing Commerce The Fifth C of Community = Social Commerce Buy with Friends! The Savings of the Crowds Build It and They (Won’t) Come The Laws of Attraction and Af?nity ABC: Always Be Closing
117
118 121 123 126 127 132
Chapter 12
Creating Magical Experiences
m-Commerce: The Smartphone Makes Shoppers Smarter Reality Bytes Price Comparison Apps Lead to Purchases or Competitive Purchases Discounting Prices, but Not Loyalty Virtual Mirrors Re?ect the True Persona of the Connected Customer Excuse Me While I Check Out Designing Shareable Experiences
136
137 139 140 141 144 145 147
Chapter 13
Brands Are No Longer Created, They’re Co-Created
Branding the Customer Relationship If Ignorance Is Bliss, Awareness Is Awakening
151
151 152
viii
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
?
CONTENTS
In the Human Network, Brands Become the Culmination of Shared Experiences The Awakening Flips the Switch The Poetry of Language and Media
154 159 163
Reinventing the Brand and Sales Cycle for a New Genre of Connected Commerce
Plug into the Grid of Decision Making Once More, This Time with Feeling I’m Not Just Listening to You, I Hear You; I See and Feel What You’re Saying Bring the Essence of Brand to Life Brand Essence Exercise A Model for Emotive Engagement Funneling Through Time The Collapse of the Funnel and Emergence of New Consumer Touchpoints The Decision-Making Circle
169
170 171 172 173 174 175 177 180 185
Aspiring to Reach beyond Conformity to Inspire Customers
Market Fragmentation Leads to Diversi?cation Behaviorgraphics The Interest Graph Is Alive: A Study of Starbucks’s Top Followers
190
192 197 201
The Last Mile: The Future of Business Is De?ned through Shared Experiences
The Apple of My Eye: Designing Magical (and Shareable) Experiences The Laws of Engagement Like a Virgin: Treating Customers Like They Were Touched for the Very First Time Distribution of Engagement Resources and Strategies A Market in Transition Begets a Business in Motion
212
213 216 219 224 227
The Culture Code: When Culture and Social Responsibility Become Market Differentiators
The Zappos Story: The Customer Service Shoe Is Now on the Other Foot Zappos: Putting the Customer in Customer Service Zappos: The Culture of Customer Advocacy Zappos: Delivering Happiness
229
231 232 233 233
Contents
The New CEO: Chief Experience Of?cer In Good Company: Philanthropic Capitalism and the New Era of Corporate Social Responsibility Giving Back Is the New . . . Red One Day without Shoes: A March toward Prosperity and Social Responsibility Empathy Loves Company
?
ix
235 237 238 239 241
Chapter 18
Adaptive Business Models: Uniting Customers and Employees to Build the Business of Tomorrow, Today
The Adaptive Business Learns through Re?ection and Leads through Projection The Dilemma’s Innovator Rethinking the Future of Business: Building the Framework From Bottom Up to Top Down and Outside In to Inside Out Dell’s Bells The Dellwether of Customer Sentiment The Future of Business Is Up to You
244
245 246 250 255 257 258 265
Chapter 19
Change Is in the Air: The Inevitable March toward Change Management
The Future of Business Starts with Change and Ends with Change Management The March toward Change Leads to Relevance: A Blueprint for Change Phase 1: Setting the Stage Phase 2: Managing Change Phase 3: Reinforcing Change Connecting Value Propositions to Personal Values This Is Your Time
269
270 271 272 273 274 274 278
Chapter 20 Notes Index
What’s Next? The Evolution of Business from Adaptive to Predictive
280 284 295
Introduction
(R)evolution: How Internet Culture Has Created a New Era of Social Consumerism
This is a book about the new era of business, consumerism, and your role in de?ning the future of everything. . . . Let me start by saying thank you for picking up this book. If you read only these few lines, realize that you are part of a consumer revolution that is changing the future of business, media, and culture. You did not intentionally enlist in this movement, but you are indeed part of it. Consumers are connecting with one another, creating a vast and ef?cient information network that shapes and steers experiences and markets. Whether you’re a business professional or a consumer, you are part of this new era of connected or social consumerism and individually and collectively, the effects of your actions and words are nothing short of extraordinary when concentrated. Together, you . . . me . . . we have the power to change things around us. Every day, we’re learning and practicing how to make sense of these emerging privileges. Businesses and consumers have the power to change the course of the economy and it’s nothing short of disruptive. People are now investors in and bene?ciaries of a new genre of collective intelligence that informs and guides people in real time. Information, whether we contribute or learn, is now a wonderful commodity that’s on demand. Needless to say, people are informing and are informed. In just a few short years, we witnessed how people-powered Wikipedia displaced industry giant Britannica as the world’s encyclopedia. The so-called wisdom of the crowds is now forming a power of the crowds, creating a new form of group buying to unlock amazing deals online and in the real world. Groupon, LivingSocial, Facebook Deals, and the countless others that are emerging empower groups of people to buy and save together, and in turn, share these opportunities with those to whom they’re connected online and of?ine.
xiii
xiv
Simply by discussing the experiences we’ve had with brands and businesses on review sites, in blogs, and in online communities, we’ve created a new world of consumer in?uence. People make decisions based on the shared experiences of others. And that in?uence is sweeping, as consumers are increasingly connecting to one another. Remember the Yellow Pages? Websites such as Yelp, Craigslist, Angie’s List, and even Foursquare collectively displaced what was once the community staple for local businesses and service providers by moving information and experiences to online communities and social networks. Once “too big to fail” businesses such as Borders, Tower Records, Wherehouse, Circuit City, and Blockbuster are now gone. Each business is a victim of Digital Darwinism, the evolution of consumer behavior when society and technology evolve faster than the ability to exploit it. Digital Darwinism does not discriminate. Every business is threatened. This is just a little taste of how consumer behavior has changed the landscape for buying and selling—and this transformation is just getting started. It’s nothing new. What is different, though, is that change forces just that: change. Those businesses that recognize disruption and develop a culture and process for innovation now and over time will survive the perpetual threat of Digital Darwinism. The consumer revolution is already underway. The question is: How do you better understand the role you play in this production as a connected or social consumer as well as a business professional? As a stakeholder, it’s now your obligation to study how, when, where, and why consumers are connecting and how they’re making and in?uencing decisions. Doing so brings clarity to your work to create and steer consumer experiences to your advantage. This book reveals how digital culture is changing the landscape of business, consumerism, and the workplace, and what you should do about it.
? THIS IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, SO MAKE IT YOUR BUSINESS
This book was written to groom a new generation of leaders, people who want to lead and are looking for the answers and inspiration necessary to guide others into uncharted territory. It’s an exploration of culture, society, and how to unravel trends and hype to ?nd the meaning in all of this. It’s how we’ll grow personally and
?
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
?
xv
professionally. For many of us, applying these insights at work will also teach us how to embrace new media in our personal lives. What are the pillars of a successful business? Competitive prices? Great service? Widespread distribution? Better products? Maybe. But experience has taught us that ambition, practicality, and achievements are the traits of successful leaders. As a result, we sometimes compromise consumer experiences for numbers . . . business goals, minimized expenses, and increases in ef?ciencies, forecasts, and sales. Find any business owner or executive and they’ll tell you that’s just good business. But is that enough to survive Digital Darwinism? If marketing and PR departments serve as the voices of companies, how are we to really know? It’s the difference between being market-driven and marketingdriven. The true voice and personality of a company is rarely heard unless a customer calls in to the service department or visits the business in person to demand personalized attention and resolution. Suddenly marking is no longer “the voice.” The front-line service representative is in charge of de?ning the consumer experience and the next steps a consumer may take, including sharing that experience with others. But how are representatives instructed to steer experiences today? How are they rewarded for cultivating memorable and satisfying engagements to encourage the sharing of positive experiences? Representatives are instead often motivated with incentives for increasing sales or churning through customer calls and emails faster than their peers, measured by time to resolution and transactional satisfaction. Following these interactions, customers would walk away percolating with emotion. Whether positive, negative, or ambivalent, it’s human nature to share these experiences with peers and quite honestly, anyone who’ll listen. Again, none of this is new. It’s human nature. Businesses have long known that a happy customer tells a few people, but an unhappy customer tells many, many more. But everything was business as usual, until it wasn’t. And, that’s where this story begins. Of course, no matter the business, the only factor as signi?cant as customer acquisition is customer retention. But it’s exponentially more expensive to acquire new customers than it is to retain them. Some businesses embrace this reality and hold it sacred. Others see the allure of saving money at the expense of positive experiences to placate customers rather than continually earn their af?nity and loyalty. The true character of any business is revealed in the collective experiences of its customers. It’s about what people say when you’re
xvi
not around. With the rise of social media, people are connecting with one another to create vast networks rich with interaction. The social graphs that people create as a result are increasingly becoming interconnected, creating an audience that, too, boasts an audience with audiences. And guess who’s in control of the information that circulates within each network? It’s not the brand or its clever messaging, attractive promotions, or creative gimmicks. People are in control. The choices they make and the experiences they share through their words, relationships, and actions, in?uence those around them. This book will introduce you to the connected consumer and how they search for, discover, and share information, and ultimately, make decisions. In many signi?cant ways, they’re not at all the customer you think you know. Some of us are becoming the very consumers we’re trying to reach and as a result, we are changing everything. By placing ourselves in the spotlight, we gain a more personal view of the change unfolding before us, without the obstruction of our business blinders we unknowingly wear in our professional lives. It’s this perspective that’s usually missing from today’s business approach and prevailing philosophy. Understanding this new connected consumer will help us gain two critical business traits long absent from the hallmark of typical business culture, the ability to feel and show empathy and the ability to change. To best earn residence in the minds and hearts of customers, we must invest in shaping exceptional experiences worth sharing. Understanding this new consumer and what moves them will help businesses compete for tomorrow, today. It’s the acceptance of this perspective that will allow us to uncover and affect the decisions that orbit and de?ne the brands we represent. The businesses that aspire to a higher purpose will outperform businesses that focus on the bottom line. People aspire to be part of something bigger than themselves. Give them something to align with to create a sense of belonging. Give them something to talk about. Give them a reason to share experiences. After all, you are part of the new digital culture that is de?ning the future of all of this. Change is upon us. Change is because of us.
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change. —Charles Darwin
?
INTRODUCTION
doc_252942726.pdf