Marketing Lessons from a 14-Year-Old Girl
I admit it, I wasn’t a big fan of social media marketing, that is, until yesterday.
Yesterday is the day I realized how much I can positively influence my 14-year-old, boy-crazy niece who lives 500 miles away from me, and yesterday is when I realized how much my 14-year-old niece is like everybody else us marketers set our sights on when we jumped on the social media bandwagon.
You see, both 14-year-old girls and potential customers want to be in control. My niece doesn’t like being bossed around by big sis or Mom. Likewise, customers don’t like being told what to do. Both want to make up their own minds — on their own time — even when it comes to subjects that are new or unfamiliar to them.
Lectures and any attempts to control will build walls that grow higher with time. Keep nagging, and they’ll eventually push back, ignore you altogether, or start lying just to get you off their back.
So what does all this have to do with social media marketing?
Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites create an opportunity where you can open up honest lines of communication between you and the public.
Sure, teenage girls might yell “I hate you!” when they’re being rebellious, and customers might post negative things about you when they’re frustrated with your company. In the long run, however, none of this matters. What matters is how you respond to their frustrations.
Horizon Group Management’s recent lawsuit response to a negative tweet could end up doing more harm than good. Absolutely I agree Bonnen should have shown some restraint when it came to her twittering about alleged mold in her apartment, but even if Horizon wins their lawsuit, what have they gained?
There’s now more than 9500 references on the Internet for “horizon mold tweet” and Horizon continues to stand behind their decision to sue. My niece, on the other hand, is already responding to my more subtle attempts to influence.
Sometimes we need to put our foot down with teenagers, but we can’t just tell our customers to “go to their room” whenever they have an issue with us. Maybe, just maybe, Horizon could have avoided the whole PR nightmare with a more social-friendly, less parental response.
Sue Anderson
eVoice Marketing & Communications, Inc.
http://www.evoicecommunications.com