{"id":3348,"date":"2011-08-14T21:12:53","date_gmt":"2011-08-14T21:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=3348"},"modified":"2011-08-14T21:12:53","modified_gmt":"2011-08-14T21:12:53","slug":"a-consumer-based-view-of-data-gathering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/a-consumer-based-view-of-data-gathering\/","title":{"rendered":"A Consumer-based View of Data Gathering"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The more social media use becomes a way of business and a way of life, the more we are seeing \u2013 and will continue to see \u2013 issues around data collection and user privacy.\u00a0 It of course makes sense for marketers to leverage this data, but in my opinion, we\u2019re going about it in the wrong way.<\/p>\n

Brands MUST begin to view data as a relationship-building and consumer-engagement opportunity, rather than simply a targeting tool. \u00a0The targeting mentality is all about \u201ccatching\u201d the customer, zeroing in on the customer like prey — totally counter to the emerging culture of social\/relationship-based marketing!<\/p>\n

Brands that embrace this targeting mentality are missing the boat and letting a huge relationship-building opportunity pass them by. \u00a0Let’s turn the table on the data collection\/privacy issue and instead make it valuable to the consumer <\/em>in the form of getting to know them and serving them better.<\/p>\n

From a consumer standpoint, data collection can easily feel like an invasion of privacy \u2013 unless we build trust with our consumers.\u00a0 We need to SHOW our consumers that we\u2019re not trying to find their purchasing Achilles heel in the data we gather, and that instead we are tailoring our products and services to them, understanding their needs and pain points\u2026 and HEARING them.<\/p>\n

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  1. Ask your consumers questions — don\u2019t just gather information behind the scenes.<\/strong>\u00a0 Be up front with what you want to know, and then follow up with additional questions to engage them as people, not as statistics. \u00a0ASK the questions\u2026 don\u2019t try to TELL them what they need!<\/li>\n
  2. Don\u2019t use the word \u201ctarget\u201d with your consumers<\/strong>.\u00a0 Language matters more than we might think.\u00a0 Consumers are not prey, they are the other half of a valuable relationship.<\/li>\n
  3. Say what you mean, then do what you say<\/strong>.\u00a0 You have heard this concept before, but now it is more important than ever.\u00a0 If you promise your consumers that you are gathering data only to serve them better, you need to prove it by actually serving them better<\/em>!\u00a0\u00a0 Incorporate their feedback into improving your products, providing better customer service, paying more attention to everything they say.<\/li>\n
  4. Include a healthy dose of empathy in your data collection strategies<\/strong>.\u00a0 Take the time to see privacy issues from the consumer\u2019s standpoint so you can address their concerns up front.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Remember, consumers are people, not prey.\u00a0 Use your data collection wisely and it can be a highly effective consumer engagement tool.<\/p>\n

    Relationships ARE the new currency \u2013 honor them, invest in them, & turn your \u201ctargeting\u201d into <\/strong>\u00adReturn on Relationship!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

    Ted Rubin<\/p>\n

    Originally posted at Collective Bias<\/a><\/p>\n

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     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The more social media use becomes a way of business and a way of life, the more we are seeing \u2013 and will continue to see \u2013 issues around data collection and user privacy.\u00a0 It of course makes sense for marketers to leverage this data, but in my opinion, we\u2019re going about it in the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,7],"tags":[1184,1411,32,1410,799,480,30,1029,3],"class_list":["post-3348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-tedrubin","tag-collective-bias","tag-data-gathering-in-social-media","tag-marketing","tag-privacy-issues","tag-relationship","tag-return-on-relationship","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-marketing","tag-ted-rubin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3348"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3351,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3348\/revisions\/3351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}