If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! In a nutshell, that's the advice our text book is giving to companies dealing with the groundswell and navigating the changing landscape of marketing and advertising in an era after the explosion of the internet.
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| Source: me.me. |
Groundswell is, at its core, a social trend with roots stemming from the collision of people, technology, and economics. It's rather democratic in this sense. As the textbook outlines, people draw power from other people and people power is multiplied in groups. Nowadays, we can sell and buy things cheaply with ease on Facebook market place. We can calculate which movie to watch based off of the quantifications on Rotten Tomatoes. You can plan your entire trip to another country by watching YouTube videos of other travelers. For the everyday Joe, this is great but for companies accustomed to advertising their goods and services in certain ways, everything is forever changed and everything is forever changing. The internet threatens a companies institutional power if they are not prepared to learn from and grow with the groundswell.
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| Source: Medium.com |
Companies that want to survive this new frontier need to be open to adapting. For this reason, the textbook recommends that companies focus on learning the relationships and connections that take place online rather than only focusing on the technologies themselves. Companies might want to consider why and how people are using the internet to understand how they can fit into a picture that already exists and is constantly changing. For examples of how companies have been adapting look at any fast food restaurant's presence on twitter.
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| Source: Twitter |
But even after companies adapt, groundswell will always give people a voice:
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| Source: me.me |
What are your thoughts on companies interacting with consumers on social media? Can we bring ethics into this and should companies be considering internet ethics as a form of preemptive crisis management? For more thoughts on companies personifying themselves on Twitter, check out the video below!
Interesting look at the use of social media by fast food restaurants. I've followed with interest the unique way Burger King trolls its competitors on Twitter. It's a unique and eye-catching way of talking to their customers (and competitors' customers!) within the groundswell.
ReplyDelete'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!' I agree with this sentence. In history, there are many examples to prove this. For example, IBM did not pay attention to the network in the past, Kodak did not join the wave of digital cameras, Nokia did not pay attention to smart phones, thoes actions have more or less caused them to be hit hard. These examples also prove that not only must we focus on new things, but also try it fast.Ford has been trying to use social media to promote their cars in recent years, and they have been successful. GM has not invested much on social media because financial problems, which is increased their financial problems sometime ago.
ReplyDeleteHi, Lori! I really enjoyed reading your post. I especially appreciated your inclusion of fast food chains like Burger King having a rather silly online presence. I’ve noticed this about other chains, especially with Wendy’s, who often pokes fun at McDonald’s. In an online world, fast food chains have adapted well in terms of reaching their audience through humor and competing with their rivals for both online traffic and getting people to go to their stores. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI love the examples you gave in this post! The Burger King tweets were hilarious and a great way to show how companies are becoming more relatable and interacting with their audience. It's interesting how competitors like Wendy's and McDonald's are also taking a similar approach. Does this take away some of the novelty that got BK noticed when they started doing funny tweets?
ReplyDeleteHi Lori, great article, and I really liked your question about internet ethics and preemptive crisis management in conjunction with fast food companies on Twitter. I think we live in a culture where public figures and companies can get away with a lot if their reputation involves behaving a certain way (Trump being a prime example) and that Wendy's and other similar companies have a lot to gain and very little to lose by roasting people on Twitter. For one thing I would imagine it distracts from actual critiques of the company because the focus is on the jokes.
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