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Akio Morita, co-founder of Sony, once said:

“We don’t ask customers what they want – we tell them what they want.”

I’ll take his word for it, since Mr. Morita actual has developed very successful products.

Much is being written about the impact that new communication technologies and channels – blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube – have on traditional marketing and customer service. The deeper question is: Will these new communication channels actually force material changes not just in the way companies market their products but in the strategies and operations they use to develop and build those products as well?

Companies are under increasing pressure to significantly shorten their product cycles and rely much less on well-choreographed and fully-controlled product releases. In a world of constant information flows and leaks to the outside world, they need to accept that they will have to work with smaller changes at shorter intervals – and that they will be subjected to much more visibility and scrutiny from the outside world.

The good news is that for some companies, this makes it possible to leverage much more useful input from customers.

Dell – a company that has had its fair share of public relations struggles – is a good example of a company using social networks to its advantage. The company have launched the Direct2Dell blog, opening up a direct line of communication between the company and its customers.

Dell have also opened a public forum for customer ideas. Dell’s IdeaStorm is a site for customers and other people interested to submit technology and business ideas to the firm, with readers able to vote for their favourites. The company says that this can reduce costs associated with product development as well as provide a larger focus group to provide feedback on a development.

Starbucks have launched MyStarbucksIdea

And at the same time present on Twitter @MyStarbucksIdea

SalesForce.com has Idea Exchange and uses it to obtain ideas and allow customers to interact with other customers’ ideas:

Domino’s pizza

Another good example of a brand that has the ability to embrace criticism as well as praise is Domino’s pizza. Instead of cowering in shame or responding angrily to negative online reviews and comments about their products, Dominos pizza met the criticism head on – “The Pizza Turnaround“. They made a documentary describing the extent of their problems and the efforts they were making to improve their products and services. Even more intelligent is the fact that Dominos clearly thought about their long-term business strategy rather than the immediate need to quell any negative comments. They openly addressed the issues that their customers were complaining about so that these same people would  spread word of their proactive response via the same fast-spreading medium.

Audi

Audi turned to social media for inspiration during 2009 Los Angeles design challenge. As part of the design process, the Audi design team leveraged social media as an interactive forum through which to solicit consumer insights. Using the Audi Facebook page as a central hub, the team was able to engage Audi fans – and regular Facebook users alike – in a variety of ways, including discussion threads, polls and feedback on photos and videos. This resulted in an active conversation between the Audi designers and the consumers they were targeting.

Fiat

Fiat combined social media and reality in an unprecedented way to launch the first-ever crowdsourced car. In this campaign, Fiat built a forum – its own social network, so to speak – and created a space for dialog between the designers of the car and Fiat drivers. The members of the community were invested in the final results of the campaign – a real live car called the Fiat Mio. Consumers answered questions about gadget integration and what kind of driving the Mio should be planned for, as well as the ultimate crowdsourced car question – should it be connected to the social web?

The car was launched to great fanfare at the 26th Annual Automobile Show in Sao Paulo. By telling Fiat exactly what they wanted in a car and using social media to do it, consumers believed they were helping to shape the future of the industry. A brand message gains effectiveness when customers are engaged – and this is the ultimate engagement, giving the consumer a hand in creating the product.

The project, Fiat said, drew 10,000 suggestions and was a process of “learning again how to make an automobile.” Even though the campaign was designed and implemented in Brazil, it reached at least 17,000 people in 160 countries, with an English-language version as well as one in Brazilian Portuguese. The campaign lived across the web, including YouTube, where a series of videos that documented the project can be viewed.

So what’s the take-away?

Its more than a change in attitude, its derived from a realization that co-creation has many more benefits than better products. It can lead to increased employee morale, advocacy for companies, brands and products, as well as the discovery of new markets.

Short URL & Title:
Is social networks key to improved customer relations and product development — http://www.torbenrick.eu/t/r/hui

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