Twittersourcing – a new way of discovering insight
George Hook and I shared a micro blogging conversation on Twitter about three weeks ago.
Last week, Oliver Kay, a football journalist from the Times commented on an opinion I gave him regarding the World Cup.
Last weekend, Shane Hegarthy, Arts Editor for the Irish Times, asked me my advice about a music festival.
The accessibility which Twitter has provided to actors, football players, journalists and TV personalities is one of the many reasons why I have become a huge fan of Twitter. It is not just the micro conversations and accessibility I enjoy though, they have made it really easy for me to like Twitter in general. Being from a generation with a relatively short attention span, 140 character micro blogs is just about the right amount of information especially when you only have the time for a quick browse.
But what really impresses me about Twitter and something which I am very excited about in terms of how we will understand consumers in the future is the ability to crowd source news, views and reactions from people in real time. When I want to find out news instantly, I am increasingly using Twitter over Google to get news in real time. Recently, I crowd sourced England’s World Cup squad (it broke on Twitter before Sky Sports), why the French team went on strike at the World Cup and it is how I discovered why my train was recently delayed on Irish Rail and just how long it was going to be. Mark
Better to highlight a virtue than defend a vice?
I recently read Stuff White People Like by Christian Lander. The name of the book struck me in the shop. “Why?” I thought. “It is not exactly a crazy book title.”
But I soon realised, there was something else about the title, which was unique. When was the last time I sat down and read something, which was about what people enjoyed and liked? I actually couldn’t remember. I read a lot of research reports and newspapers, I hear rants from consumers and TV personalities which usually focuses on problems and negative perceptions, which generally show the unhappiness of consumers with everything such as…
“People are angry with the banks”, “Consumers are cutting back across all categories”, “Value for money bla bla bla Aldi.” (Source: Much of Irish Market research)
There is nothing wrong with this as such, it demonstrates that it must be true. These are truths, they are trends, but what seems to be the biggest stumbling block at the moment, is that consumers, marketers and advertising folk are obsessed with focusing on stuff Irish people don’t like and not enough on what Irish people like. Is this not where real insight lies? This is presenting huge problems for communications campaigns.
For example, very often brands try to tackle issues such as the fact that consumers think they are expensive, with the communication’s objective focusing on changing that perception. The brand then tells customers they are great value for money rather than focusing on what makes them great value.
Would we not be better
Will the recession and Eyjafjallajökull provide us with unexpected opportunities?
In a more opulent era, dinner party conversations rejoiced in savouring the memory of a weekend in New York or bi-annual visit to the “holiday home” in Spain. However with leaner times now upon us all, ‘Staycation” holidays look here to stay. But how will consumption of the Irish holiday experience reframe our relationship with Irish culture. Perhaps we will see a return to traditional values…a reconnection with community, a renewed appreciation of our country’s beauty and reinvented sense of patriotism. Could this be a unique chance for some brands to reconnect with the Irish consumer, to tap into a more relaxed holiday consumer mindset which previously was time starved and averse to the seeming banality of the everyday Irish experience. Marketeers (aside from the obvious hospitability brands) need to rethink this prospect…from the petrol forecourt to the local convenience store, this could pose an opportunity to re-engage their brand relationship.