For marketers, the first step in understanding social media/blogs is listening in on the conversations that are taking place with our customers....


Companies from Fortune 100s to small businesses are realizing the virtual buzz that occurs on blogs, in boards and in chats may provide valuable information. Monitoring the blogosphere can offer an early warming sign of product dissatisfaction, provide insights into trends and assist in R&D.
However, where and how does CMG (consumer generated media) "fit" as a marketing research technique?
Bill Neal, often called the "Godfather of Marketing Research" kindly took time from his weekend to answer a few questions and give me his thoughts about CMG as it relates to marketing research.
TB: Bill, you are one of the acknowledged gurus of marketing research. How did you obtain, what Bob Bly calls "Guru Status?"
BN: That's an interesting question. You know one of the meanings of guru is teacher. And I guess that's the one that fits best. Over the last 33 years I spent a good bit of time and energy teaching .... speaking at conferences, conducting workshops and tutorials, and writing articles.
Now I'm engaged in writing a book on brand equity metrics and how to leverage those as a key focus for overall corporate leadership. I simply try to teach what I have learned .... sometimes the hard way.
I think another reason that some people view me as a guru in the marketing research arena is that I have been a very vocal advocate for improving the professionalism of the profession. Education has been a big part of that .... in one way or another I was involved in launching all four of the master's programs in marketing research and along with Mal McNivan we conceptualized and designed the now very popular online certificate program in marketing research. And finally, after 25 years of public debate, we have a credible professional certification program, thanks to the Marketing Research Association.
TB: You've been around the research block a time or two and have seen many changes in the industry in terms of methodology. The latest concept is to use consumer generated media to gain insights into consumer behavior. Do you think that "listening in on the raw voice of the customer" has merit?
BN: It's always a good thing to listen to the voice of the customer, in every form. That's one of the main mandates of marketing research. And it's our job to take those many voices and make some sense out of it all .... call it insights.
But I have some real problems with consumer generated media as a source of credible and reliable information. In many ways it combines the worst elements of non-scientific research .... self selection and advocacy .... both positive and negative. That is, those out there in the Internet world who are generating their own media are self-motivated to do so and are not representative of any defined population of buyers. And, given the fact that they have taken a public position on a particular product or service, it means that they more often than not have exceptional or non-typical attitudes about those products and services.
The information they generate may be true, or not true .... there is now way to discern which. Therefore, the information generated by those folks is neither credible nor reliable. So, as researchers, yes, we should be listening, but we must be very cautious and skeptical about its veracity and its usefulness.
TB: Should marketers be tracking the data that occurs in blogs, boards and other social media formats? If so what should they be concentrating their efforts on?
BN: Oh yes, I think we should be tracking it. The shear volume of product mentions and whether they are positive or negative is useful information and may (and I emphasize "may") provide a signal that something is going wrong, or right, about the product and how it is being marketed. Trending that information would be one of many ways companies should be tracking their marketing performance. I'd consider it one of many, albeit smaller, gages on the marketer's product dashboard.
But marketers must keep in mind that a few influencers can generate a great number of product mentions if they decide to feature a particular product or service in their blogs. And these things can get out of hand very quickly, signaling a problem that's really not a problem to the vast majority of customers.
Let me give you an example. I own two Ford trucks .... a 1997 Expedition with close to 200,000 miles on it and a 2004 F-150 with 25,000 miles. In the blogosphere I've seen a bunch of postings on Ford trucks depreciating their quality and reliability. Yet, both of the vehicles I own have been exceptional in quality and reliability. I don't take the time to post those positive experiences, but some who have had problems are very vocal about their supposedly negative experiences.
So what is the truth of the matter? Did these negative experiences really occur? Was it the fault of the manufacturer? Or the Dealer? Or the buyer? Are these generators of consumer media about Ford trucks really being the dispassionate arbiters of truth, or do they have an agenda? That's the key issue .... that information gleaned from the blogosphere is simply not reliable.
There is also the issue of influencers in the blogosphere. Some of them seem to be very credible and it's important to them that they maintain their honor and integrity .... your Diva blog is a great example. But there are others who have no honor, and it's hard to tell who's who. And there is no way we can weight the product mentions in terms of the credibility of the generator.
TB: How about your thoughts about the companies that are jumping on the research social media band wagon i.e., Nielson BuzzMetrics, Fortune Interactive?
BN: Honestly, I don't know a lot about them and have not used them in my consulting practice, nor do I address them in our forthcoming book. But to the best of my understanding, they are primarily counting product/service mentions and, in some cases identifying the major sources of those mentions.
The basis for their business model is the belief that consumers have a higher trust of consumer generated media then they have for company generated media. I think that might be more of a reflection on the stupidity of much of the advertising and promotion that permeates today's traditional media. I've already talked about the problems with simply counting the number of brand "hits" and how that can be so misleading. And, as consumers mature in their understanding of how consumer generated media can be manipulated by those with less than honorable intentions, I think their trust in those sources of information may wane considerably.
TB: If companies are going to monitor the buzz in the blogosphere, where do you think that should reside? With brand managers or with the research department?
BN: I think if definitely needs to be in the research department. Good marketing researchers are skeptics, and numbers generated from the blogosphere need to be viewed with a high degree of skepticism.
I've seen too many brand managers observe a focus group or two and then make major changes in their marketing programs based on what they heard in the focus group. Many of those changes are utter failures simply because the focus group was not a reflection of the real world.
You have exactly the same problem with monitoring consumer generated media, except that now you have the equivalent of thousands of focus groups. Does that make the information more valid or reliable? Definitely not!
TB: Take a look into your crystal ball, what do think will be the shake-out of using social media as another technique in the marketing researcher's tool box?
BN: My crystal ball is very cloudy on that issue. In the end, scientific principals will continue to be the enduring basis for all good marketing research and I do not yet see much science in measuring consumer generated media.
About Bill Neal:
Bill, he is co-founder and co-owner of SDR Consulting and leads the legal consulting practice at SDR.
He is on the Editorial Review Boards of Marketing Management and Marketing Research magazines and is an ad hoc reviewer for several other marketing management and marketing research publications. Bill has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Marketing Association. He is a 2002 recipient of the Charles Coolidge Parlin Award for distinguished achievement in the marketing research field.