Are companies using the wrong periscope to spy on customers?

October 13, 12:27 PMSF Boomers ExaminerSuzanna Stinnett

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We all know by now that our behavior as consumers creates data. Right? Data which companies need and make use of. For better or worse, our consumption habits have been quantifiable over the past two or three decades. Interestingly, with the advent of social media or new media, the view has changed. While we now provide more targeted information, easily sorted by region and endless other demographic markers, the resulting data is harder to quantify. 

Companies need to make a proactive shift

I think companies could make a shift that can create a whole new level of understanding about their customers. Rather than going out with a giant broom and trying to sweep up all the relevant information from ongoing data provided by new media, why not create a room of one’s own?

New media provides unique opportunities

Blogging and microblogging provide unique opportunities for companies to create a simple presence which their customers can relate to. It’s not about the company, it’s about an extension of the company – a simple educational product offered at absolutely no cost and without threads of sales, for example, which their customers enjoy and want to share. Bring the social media activity directly into the company’s view by providing an appropriate place for customers to visit and interact. This can be done at low cost and low labor.

We are creating whole new brain areas

Maybe what I’m talking about doesn’t make sense to you right now. Give it a while. Where we are going with people-driven information is so different and so new, it’s bound to confound most of us for a while. It sure is creating a lot of conversations.

Ask questions. Right here! 

Suzanna

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