FeedBack 3.0: Have We Reached Full Transparency? (Think Not.)

In October, I posted an article “Consumer Say-All”, discussing the inherent footprints of Consumerism on Web 2.0, and how WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) is taking actions to classify assorted forms of word-of-mouth and the correlative affect on online companies and businesses. The pressing question for the leading trend research company, TrendWatching.com, in their 2009 Trend Report is which major consumer trend will continue to give, or take? Interestingly, the third trend to be on the lookout for is dubbed “Feedback 3.0” and is apparently starting to make some waves in Web 2.0.

One of the earliest web phenomena was with the emergence of Feedback 1.0, which started with outraged consumers posting contemptuous product reviews, complaints and feedback, which was often to the delight of other ‘netizens’, and much to the dismay of brands. In the first round of the Feedback sphere, brands chose to remain unaware, and snub these ‘outburts’ from the consumer public, often dismissing what they saw as outburst and customer dissatisfaction. The internet has evolved from those early days, and now we find ourselves in the Feedback 2.0 where consumer rants and raves has become a norm, albeit the conversations being conducted are between the customers themselves, and not as yet as intended, among corporations and consumers. Most brands lurk in the murky shadows of consumer word-of-mouth trying to ‘learn’ from the flood of all-to-see review revolution. In 2009, trend experts are predicting Feedback 3.0, which encapsulates companies taking on the smart-business model and joining the conversation with consumers. We can expect companies to post apologies and solutions for discontented customers, and likewise, candid rebuttals for customers who post unfair or inaccurate reviews.

The conversation has started with some well-known brands that have taken the first steps towards the customer. TripAdvisor.com has created a management response feature that allows representatives of hotels, restaurants, and attractions to respond to consumer reviews if directly related to their property. Yelp.com, a local business review site, provides business owners with their own page to manage detailed information on their business, and to respond to reviewers in private. The abovementioned can also been seen at Bazaarvoice.com, where business owners can conduct direct conversations with customers who post negative reviews.

For years, conversation-expert research firms such as Feedback20.com and SalesForece.com have strongly argued in favor of ‘self-organized right of reply’, whereby businesses and brands setup a website for customers to engage in their own conversation, which is the only way to avert damning reviews exploding over the internet. For Dell and Starbucks this conversation has been taking place for quite some time on their sites, DellIdeaStorm.com and MyStarbucksIdea.com respectively – where anyone can post suggestions and feedback, only to receive direct replies from the companies themselves. General Motors has taken another theoretically unusual approach with GMfactsandfiction.com, a site that tackles propagating myths about the company and its current economic plight (Last time I checked, there was no comment feature enabled).

In the upcoming year, we can expect to see many corporations, businesses, and major brands jumping the open-conversations bandwagon. In the ubiquitous financial crisis it is interesting to note that many of these grandiose and omnipresent corporations of mammoth size are facing dismal prospects because the conversation should have started a long time ago, and for some in 2009, it may be too late to start talking.

The Periodic Table of Personality. (Don’t) Give Me Attitude.

No one has just one personality trait. But when it comes to describing the people around us – we usually rely on one predominant trait to sum up that person in just one word. We are all familiar with those solitary words that say it all: egoistic, pugnacious, spontaneous, assertive, narcissistic, amiable, dogmatist etc.

In order to do justice to these complex set of traits that are intertwined to create our personalities – it is first important to understand the fundamental definition of personality:

“…the sum total of the physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics of an individual; organized pattern of behavioral characteristics of the individual.” [Source: Dictionary.com]

When it comes describing our personalities, we habitually presuppose that in order to do justice to our integrity we should depict ourselves as others want to perceive us. Interestingly, we try to lull ourselves into thinking that no number of words can possibly describe us entirely. You’d be remarkably surprised that it only takes 20 personality traits to fully describe every person in the world!

Mass-targeting has been one of the largest and most recognized penchants for marketing on the web. Online ad marketing agencies are exploiting and confounding the Internet today with mass-targeting strategies and appeal. On the other side of the marketing spectrum, there is micro-targeting with more effective strategies and payoffs that are principally overlooked. Which is exactly why brand advertisers have been conducting vast amounts of research to gain insight into their buyers mindset (personality traits), and understand what makes them tick, what speaks to them, and what they are interested in. This type of marketing efforts are translating research results into what is known as psychographic profiling – which have been powerful and proven predictive models for buyer behavior.

Just ask Mindset Media, former brand advertising agency, that has invented a proprietary psychographic planning & buying standard based on 20 most recognized personality traits. Each personality cell is divided into five levels of degrees, and everyone has some degree of all 20 traits, which is equivalent to their mindset. Accordingly, it is estimated that each mindset has approximately 2 million unique users in the U.S. alone. Individual mindset does matter – and plays a critical role in deciding what brands, products, and services we respond to. Based on large representative sampling, Mindset Media has conducted research that demonstrates a strong statistical correlation between personality traits and predicting buyer behaviour.

Here are some interesting facts based on Mindset Media research:

1. People with high self-esteem are 48% more likely to drink premium coffee at Starbucks.
2. Deliberate people pay off their credit cards more regularly.
3. Highly open people buy organic foods at nearly forty three the rate of the general population.
4. Assertive people are 58% more likely to read more than 3 magazines regularly.

This research can provide insight into how your personal brand does matter in your evolving understanding of who you really are. More Starbucks coffee, anyone?

Consumers Say-All: Who Of Us Hasn’t Tried This?

Ah, the bliss of word-of- mouth.   The explosive growth of the Internet and the Web 2.0 revolution have propelled online enterprise and consumerism into an era that is dominated by the masses, consumers, and yes, people like you and me who have a say that really counts.

With all the talking out there, the consumer world has turned into a bustling fête. In actuality, there are only two types of word-of-mouth that occur online – a) natural interactions between consumers that results in a conversation regarding a brand experience, and b) a conversation that ensues from a specific campaign or event that is conducive for consumer interaction. The classification of the abovementioned terms are Organic versus Amplified word-of-mouth, respectively [Source: Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA)].

According to a recent Nielson Online survey, the significant proportion of consumers state that they post information online regarding a specific product, because they either ‘liked it’ or ‘didn’t like it’.  Yes, it’s really that simple.  In order to grow the ‘buzz’ around a product, it is essential to focus entirely on the consumer’s brand experience, which inevitably can be accomplished by enhancing product performance, customer service, and other correlated elements to the specific brand.

Insterestingly, a whopping 78% of consumer messages online are generated by organic word-of-mouth, while the remaining 22% is a result of amplified word-of-mouth, such as targeted marketing activities [Source: Nielson Online].

According to WOMMA, marketers must aggressively pursue and insist on the highest level of ethics, and ensure that online campaigns comply with the WOMMA Code of Conduct and Honesty ROI.  Perhaps what is most potent about word-of-mouth, that even as it can be replicated on certain levels, the difference between organic and manipulated word-of-mouth is the human factor of sincere opinion. 

Who hasn’t read a product review and couldn’t discern between the obviously blatant shilling*, comment spam, and infiltration?  Our awareness to unethical and falsified marketing tactics will keep organic word-of-mouth in the hands of the consumer.

* Shilling:  as it sounds, is paying people to do exactly what we as consumers do naturally, and impersonate our opinions, comments, and promotion of a product et cetera.