Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Connecting with the Individual American

Are you ready to let go of the "average American" concept? According to an article by Bradley Johnson on AdAge.com, the 2010 Census will reveal a major shift in American consumerism, in which we'll do just that. The article can be found here: http://adage.com/article?article_id=139592

The article talked about the end of "Joe Consumer" aka the average American. What does this mean for PR people? It means that now, more than ever, it's time to really take advantage of your social media and corporate sites. Campaigns to mass audiences will always have their degree of effectiveness, but now, especially with the farewell to Joe Consumer, companies need to be engaged with their target audiences on a more personal level, connecting with the individual.

Companies need to get onto their sites and start interacting with consumers, potential consumers, or critics of the company or product. If consumers have a chance to ask questions, custom make a product on the site, or talk with an employee through blogging or some other medium, they'll probably be more likely to come back to your company again or tell their friends about you.

Additionally, social media sites can act as a way to correct a problem or handle a complaint a company might not have even known existed. For example, it's easy to hate large corporation X if you had a problem with their product. It's harder to hate that employee John Doe from corporation X who responded to your blog post within minutes to offer his apologies, some advice on how to fix your problem, or maybe some sort of compensation for your troubles.

You can't reach everyone; but interacting with consumers on social media and corporate sites gives you a personal advantage. That's my PR thought for the day.

Image is from individual-i.com.

No comments:

Post a Comment