I have been a bit surprised recently when I have mentioned a product or service online and heard no response from the company I am blogging or commenting or tweeting about. I was musing about this the other day, and in particular about the time investment involved for a company to keep track of what is being said about their brands online. I wondered how that cost and ROI would compare to buying broadcast advertising media. This post is my cursory investigation in to that question.
Much has been said about Comcast, Zappos and other companies’ efforts to monitor the conversational web for mentions and proactively reach out to customers. This has largely been viewed as a customer service effort, and therefore a customer service expense. But Comcast and others are not just listening for complaints. People ask questions about products online, they sing praises, and sometimes they just mention businesses and brands in passing. Each mention is an opportunity to gain visibilty and strengthen a relationship with a prospect or customer. For example, below is a tweet in which I mentioned my Garmin Forerunner. I was complaining about my tired, old legs rather than the device, but I opened the door for Garmin to connect with me (they didn’t). Nike and GPS-enabled smartphones are eating in to Garmin’s share of this market niche, so it is very much in Garmin’s interest to keep me loyal. This kind of activity may be viewed as customer service, but it is also marketing.
If Garmin were to be looking out for mentions, I imagine the cost-to-respond would be similar to the cost-per-interaction metric tracked by customer service organizations. I talked to an acquaintance who manages call centers to get an idea of this cost. She said that for her business, the average cost-per-interaction ranges from $1.67 to $3.00, depending mostly on whether the call is handled offshore versus in the US. This cost includes everything: salary, benefits, overhead, etc. Contrast this with typical broadcast media costs (source: gaebler.com):
- $5 – cost per thousand viewers for a 30 second local prime-time TV spot
- $362 – cost for a 30 second ad on WGCI Radio in Chicago
- $613 – cost for a B&W column inch in the San Francisco Chronicle
- $2,000 – typical cost for 30 days of billboard advertising
- $61,000 – full page B&W ad in Runner’s World magazine
- $2.5 million – cost for a 30 second Superbowl spot
So as a business I could buy a column-inch somewhere in the SF Chronicle for $600, or I could connect with > 200 customers and prospects. Maybe a little closer-to-home for Garmin, they could buy a full page in Runner’s World, or connect with 20,000 customers and prospects! Given that word of mouth is the number-one influencer of purchasing decisions, I know which one I’d choose. It’s not an either/or decision, but expect budgets to shift in the direction of reputation management in the years to come.
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There are so many auto tools that companies can use to monitor online WOM regarding their brand. Maybe Garmin *is* looking out for mentions, saw yours, and didn’t follow up b/c it didn’t warrant any further action since it wasn’t a complaint or a compliment.*
But they should at least start to follow you – I’ve noticed that almost anytime I mention a brand name in my Twitter posts, I suddenly have that brand as a follower. I guess that would count as connecting with you, if they became a follower.
*That’s an idea – you could test it by complaining about them, see what happens.
I agree there are a lot of tools, but I mention brands and stores frequently on twitter, and only occasionally get any kind of acknowledgement. And my mentions include praise, questions, and complaints. So either businesses aren’t using the tools, or they are, but they don’t have enough people behind them. And the “didn’t warrant any further action” mentality is exactly what I am pointing out. To me, that is like saying to someone who walks in to my store: “please don’t bother me unless you have a complaint.” By taking part in the conversation, businesses can turn casual consumers into fans, and fans in to raving fans.