Even the least innovative consumer goods companies have by now fallen in love with social media. Most early attempts to use facebook fan pages or twitter sites failed due to a lack of interest or bad understanding of the media. Some campaigns even created serious backlash (like this one which advertises pain-relief to mothers carrying their babies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmykFKjNpdY).
But some consumer goods companies have finally 'gotten it'. Consumers do not want to be bombarded with advertisement that does not relate to their interests. They also do not want to be 'friends' to a brand and recommend it to others if there is nothing in it for them. Kraft has been exceptionally successful by understanding this. Their website among other things provides recipe tips, shopping tips and cooking instruction videos (check it out here: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/cooking-tips/cooking-videos/cooking-videos.aspx). Their iphone app, which even costs 99ct ranked among the top 100 paid-for apps when it was first introduced. Here is an interview with their head of CRM North-America discussing their approach to engaging the consumer: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007405.
Consumers have million other things to do with their time than spend it looking at brand sites. Consumer goods companies need to provide them with some incentive to get their attention.
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