Groundswell Is Coming for You
Did anyone
out there also get confused with the term “groundswell” and question how it is
related to SMM, when they heard it for the first time? To be honest, for me it
sounded irrelevant and even daunting until I embarked on reading the eponymously-named
book.
Do you want to succead in SMM? This is the bible for you |
Groundswell
is, simply said, a social trend in which people are more willing to turn to
each other rather than corporations when seeking help or support. In other words, groundswell is about online
connections that allow people to draw strength from each other (Li,
Bernoff, p. 10). What
happens is that people start congregating around some web community which draws
the attention of more users and makes their voices heard. This puts them in charge
of deciding how their brand, services or products should be perceived and even
how their website should operate as in the case of Digg.com (Li,
Bernoff, p. 3). The bad
news is that groundswell activity can serve not only as a free word-of-mouth ad
that boosts consumer awareness but also as a destructive PR when people’s
understanding of your business doesn’t
match your vision. Therefore, there is no way for corporations to stay aside
any longer if they want to maintain the viability of their business.
The first
step that should be taken towards successful groundswell thinking is
understanding the very nature of the groundswell - what it is driven by. Ask
yourself a couple of questions: “When people come to the Internet, what goal do
they pursue? Do they want to create content, engage in forum discussions, post
reviews or just silently observe?”. Depending on what groundswell activity
online users participate in, an effective strategy can be built to reach out to
the targeted audience. Social Technographics Profile reflects this
participation, which provides companies with valuable data on variations in the
use of the groundswell technologies (Li, Bernoff, p. 41).
You may not
have noticed, but this is the first time I mentioned “technologies” in this
post and this is a key to effective groundswell thinking. SMM is primarily
about the relationships people build. Consequently, you should follow the
guidelines exactly as they are described in the POST method, i.e. people first,
technologies last with companies’ objectives and strategies in the middle (Li,
Bernoff, p. 67). Once the
extension of people’s engagement in groundswell activities is defined, clear
company goals should be set along with long term strategies to achieve them.
POST is no longer what you think it is |
The order
of POST stems from the fact that user behavior is rather unstable. People can
switch behaviors as soon as they see something better (Li, Bernoff, p.
12). Imagine that you
have learned YouTube inside and out and elaborated a strategy that would fit perfectly
in this social network. So, it can be rather frustrating if another competitive
video platform like IGTV emerges and groundswell just shifts. Why can this
happen? One may propose that it is:
b) more user-friendly as videos
are produced vertically which does not require users to flip their phones
sideways for the best viewing experience as they do with YouTube clips.
However, I
would suggest that unique options and tools are secondary in making IGTV viable.
The app is going to thrive in groundswell because it understands the ways
people are more inclined to connect. By making up a Social Technographics
Profile in the first place, Instagram founders realized that younger
audiences, which mostly consists of spectators, are spending more time with
amateur content creators and less time with professionals. This
revelation prompted them to create IGTV. In other words, it is not the urge for
advanced technologies but people’s engagement that defines groundswell
thinking.
I agree
that these theoretical insights that I shared with you are probably not going
to bring you relief when thinking about tapping into groundswell, but let me
try to reassure you one more time. In any corporate crisis, there is always a
way to turn a disaster into an opportunity for learning and growth, and the
same is true about groundswell. Despite how disastrous it may be, there is
still a chance to thrive in it.
Here is a
follow-up question: in what ways do you participate in groundswell? Are you a
content creator? Joiner? Critics? Let me know in the comments below!
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