Social Media as a Feedback Tool

THE explosion of social networks across the Internet over the last few years has given a collective voice to the once isolated consumer. If you're not already listening, you certainly should be.

Facebook, Twitter, discussion boards and chat rooms are now the stomping ground of everyone who has ever come into contact with your business or your products. If an individual is disappointed with (or loves) your latest product, press release or communication, he or she can instantly tell the world and gather support from total strangers who can unite in their new-found cause.

This may sound scary but it shouldn't be seen as an obstacle. Instead, it should be embraced as a direct-to-market way of collecting feedback and using that data to grow and improve your business. If you know about a specific issue that your users are having with your product or service, you can use this knowledge to prioritise your time and solve that particular issue first. You can then turn it round by using the same channels of communication to tell people what you've done.

Social networking has made some of the biggest brands sit up and really listen and engage with their consumers. PepsiCo, maker of Tropicana fruit juice, recently changed its packaging design in the United States. Within a month it had reverted back to the original packaging due to pressure from consumers via the Internet.

Neil Campbell, president at Tropicana North America in Chicago, part of PepsiCo Americas Beverages, acknowledged that consumers can communicate with marketers "more readily and more quickly" than ever. "For companies that put consumers at the centre of what they do," he said, "it's a good thing."

Ultimately you can't keep all of the people happy all of the time but by utilising new forms of communication, you can rapidly see where any shortfall is and do something about it, fast.

Interested in more? Check out Ed Gould's review of the London Social Media conference Check out Social Media effectiveness