Our personal connotations of listening and speaking have changed exponentially in the modern digital age. The way we listen, speak, advertise and market is not the same as it used to be, thanks, in part to the groundswell. The groundswell is defined and examined by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff in their book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies as "a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations" (p. 9). Chapters five and six of this book focused on listening to and speaking to the groundswell constructively.
We are approached in these chapters by the difference between shouting and talking within advertising and marketing. Li and Bernoff explain that the older forms of "shouting" in advertisement are practically useless in today's day and age. Considering most people trust a strangers opinion on a product review or a reddit page more than a direct advertisement, this form of advertising is becoming obsolete.
Billy Mays OxiClean Ad
Take this OxiClean advertisement for example. Billy Mays is literally known as the guy who shouts about this stain fighter and this ad has aired thousands and thousands of times because of it. Does it ever truly let us know how effective it is? Is it worth buying it? Is it worth the money? These are all things that the groundswell would inform us about, just like the uselessness of the ShamWoW. Shouting is clearly not an effective form of advertising, but listening and creating conversations are (Li and Bernoff, p. 133).
Blogs, discussion forums and different social media platforms have given companies an opportunity to listen to the groundswell as well as interact or talk with it, Li and Bernoff explain, "these conversations require work, but they do influence people in the middle of the funnel—and not just those who comment, but those who read those comments, even if those readers never comment themselves" (p. 133). Many businesses and companies neglect their ability to listen to the groundswell and or interact with it, which is a shame. It's like neglecting your own brand, since the people who are your customers shape your brand.
"The brand is an open structure— they don’t know how to manage an open structure" -Ricardo Guimarães
When I personally think about the groundswell, Instagram comes to mind as well as the manner in which certain companies and organizations interact with it. The company and reporting agency Vice not only listens and talks with the groundswell, but utilizes the groundswell as some of its primary sources of their information and coverage. Vice's brand is in and of itself groundswell information that is being circulated on a major multinational platform, which is unbelievable.
Not only does it circulate information from an insider viewpoint, it communicates this information for what it truly is.
Do you know of any brands or companies that communicate and listen to the groundswell efficiently? How does this help their brand and identity?
Hi Daniel, I love how you discuss the groundswell from the perspective that companies need to communicate and listen to it in order to talk with their consumers. I talked about this in my blog but I believe that human interaction and connection is one of the most important things about the groundswell. The way companies are able to connect with their consumers helps build a positive image for their branding. You brought up excellent points of how the groundswell allows for users to leave reviews and share useful information that companies want. I believe that if companies are able to create spaces or find social medias where their consumers are on; this can allow them to tap into the desires of what their consumers want from them. I believe the example I used of Wendy's bringing back their nuggets to their consumers was a way of them listening to the groundswell. They interacted with their consumers and were able to even gain positive media attraction from this on Twitter. I enjoyed reading your blog and the OxiClean commercial brought back memories for me so thanks!
Hi Daniel, I agree with your opinion in this article about how the ads had been changed by the groundswell, people communicate more with each other because of the elimination of the barrier among us. And brands in the groundswell change their way to communicate with the consumers to listen to the customers more, and talking with the consumers in an interactive way we like. That is the reason why brands do not shout about their products, it is useless now because people trust consumers more.
Hi Daniel,
ReplyDeleteI love how you discuss the groundswell from the perspective that companies need to communicate and listen to it in order to talk with their consumers. I talked about this in my blog but I believe that human interaction and connection is one of the most important things about the groundswell. The way companies are able to connect with their consumers helps build a positive image for their branding. You brought up excellent points of how the groundswell allows for users to leave reviews and share useful information that companies want. I believe that if companies are able to create spaces or find social medias where their consumers are on; this can allow them to tap into the desires of what their consumers want from them. I believe the example I used of Wendy's bringing back their nuggets to their consumers was a way of them listening to the groundswell. They interacted with their consumers and were able to even gain positive media attraction from this on Twitter. I enjoyed reading your blog and the OxiClean commercial brought back memories for me so thanks!
Hi Daniel, I agree with your opinion in this article about how the ads had been changed by the groundswell, people communicate more with each other because of the elimination of the barrier among us. And brands in the groundswell change their way to communicate with the consumers to listen to the customers more, and talking with the consumers in an interactive way we like. That is the reason why brands do not shout about their products, it is useless now because people trust consumers more.
ReplyDelete