Local Search | Jennifer Lind

I have been reading Groundswell by Forrester Research (Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff). In this book, they define 6 levels of online consumer groups according to their activity on the internet:

• Creators – create blog postings, videos, etc
• Critics – comment on the writings/postings of others in the form of writing reviews or editing articles on Wikipedia
• Collectors – utilize RSS feeds, add tags to photos or websites they find
• Joiners - connect with other people via Facebook or other social networks
• Spectators – these people do not contribute, but they read ratings and reviews, listen to podcasts, watch videos, etc.
• Inactives – no participation with social technologies

For example, in the example from Amazon, they have 2 visible types of contributors: creators and critics. Creators are able to write reviews and the critics can rate how useful the review was. Amazon sorts the reviews by the comment that was rated the most helpful.

Consumers can Adapt their Social Technographic Behavior for each Buying Stage and Situation

In Groundswell, they describe how a company should build a social technographic profile of their clients before developing a social marketing strategy.

I think it’s important to do the research specific to your own products and services rather than using a general guide for a specific age group or gender.

Looking at my own behavior online, there are times when I am a creator and times when I am just a spectator. It depends on the subject and the type of people who are already Creating on the site.

If I am researching the best Christmas present for my nephew, for example, I am more likely to be a spectator or a collector. I will read the reviews of certain toys on Target and Toys R Us, save the best products to my favorites, and go back to make the final decision later. You want to know what others are saying, but you don’t have the experience yet to really contribute to the conversation. However, if you are a frequent user of the product, you may be more likely to write reviews or add to another person’s review.

Of course there may be products out there where the average consumer would need to ask a lot of questions, find out who else is buying the product, and why they should buy it. instead of talking to a sales person, they want to hear from others and get specific answers to their questions.

Therefore, in setting up a social marketing tool on your website, I think it’s important to know what activity level your current customers are and what level your potential customers are, and allow them to interact with each other if your goal is to create new business.

Do you know the social profile of your customers? How would you utilize this information to develop a new social marketing strategy?