It was over eighty years ago, back in the 1930’s, that the term “soap opera” was first used by members of the American press to describe some of the early radio shows being produced and sponsored by companies of cleaning products.
Over the years brands have developed the most creative ways to connect to consumers - to push product, drive demand and satisfy an as yet unknown need.
In this same decade The Madison Avenue crowd - known of course as the "Mad Men" conspired to bestow the medicinal benefits of Cigarettes on an unsuspecting consumer - In Latin, ad vertere means 'to turn toward'. It's a sophisticated art with a singular objective - to get you to spend your hard earned money with us.
When large commercial enterprises advertise and promote their products and services they naturally work to portray them in the most flattering light. Pristine representations are supposed to attract new customers. It never rains in a commercial, everyone is beautiful, every burger in a fast food franchise is not so much thrown at you while you stand in line but instead is lovingly prepared and served gracefully table side. In fact I noted, while sitting in the back of a yellow cab with some bewilderment, the new Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky explain on the seat back TV screen how 'NYC taxi drivers were the safest in the world', behind David, a cab driver is portrayed, courteously opening the door for a passenger at JFK, ushering them into a ubiquitous yellow lincoln with great care and attention. It left me wondering - first has this commissioner ever been to New York?, and secondly who is he trying to convince?
So, in a world where we are continually bombarded with commercials, is it any wonder that as consumers, we have stopped listening? For better or for worse, we simply no longer believe what big business tells us. We cannot relate to the actors on the gleaming screens and we certainly don't recognize the experience being played out in those commercials . These carefully architected model families are placed lovingly into a Folgers commercial but that's not what it's like at my house in the morning as we scramble to get the last dregs of coffee before the nanny arrives.
This same question can easily be applied to a major movie release or a restaurant opening. Of course their marketing people do all they can to entice us to come and spend our hard earned money on what it is they are dishing up.
Long gone are the days when we read a restaurant review in the NYT or trusted a movie review (largely sponsored), instead we increasingly turn to social. A crowd-sourced opinion to help us make our own - democratized decision making, at scale through Twitter and Facebook et al.
This concept has quickly spread to a broad range of products and services we consider. We have a plethora of options so whether booking a vacation or buying a car, we are increasingly peering through social channels to gauge a more authentic and collective customer experience, and to test the true quality of a brand's product or service.
We look at the dialogue that is playing out for real between a business and it's customers. What are the issues being raised and how are they being resolved?
According to recent research, 68% of potential customers are more likely to engage with a brand if they 'see' that business engage with customers positively through social. Accenture's global consumer survey equally showed that 56% of respondents consider word-of-mouth the most important factor when deciding whether to do business with a particular provider.
Taking this concept further brands are now working to manage a new, innovative form of connection. Connecting existing customers and advocates to potential customers or customers dealing with product or service issues. It's a natural extension of what social service can do for you. Taking the parent out of the room and enabling a direct discussion where one experienced user and help a newbie. In this way a new type of trust is emerging. A new, more authentic connection - one that begins to engage possible users with peers who have more genuine insight. It is this new trust economy that is maturing rapidly and delivering great potential for companies who wish to build upon this new culture of connection.
So if your company is not fully leveraging the social customer, capturing and engaging with those 'home-grown' advocates, you may be missing a huge opportunity.
