Hi! Managers: Embracing change in the world of consumers

From my personal observations during the past few years, consumers are engaging more than ever in the social engagement platform. They are willing to advocate your brand if they are into it. They can create their own video and also self-generated content to promote your product without hesitation and at the same time consumers can also shred your brand to pieces if you do not satisfy their needs. It’s crucial to know consumers well and what they are looking for. In the past, we all were more in the “Push” strategy, which provides more and more information to consumers. Today, we need to play the right balance of both “Push” and “Pull” strategies. “Push” for the right information at the right time and through the right touch points and “Pull” for the right content and also consumers’ engagement.
Trial and purchasing behaviours are two elements that we have been discussing about for many years. Today, the way we do commercials will inevitably change. Informative or regular story-telling commercials might become outdated and less powerful than self-generated content, while consumers will become the real influencers of other consumers. To drive trial and purchasing intent from consumers, more is needed than just celebrities in your commercials. It needs real consumers who want to advocate and share their experience of your brands and products with other consumers through their genuine engagement on social media platforms.
Future consumers and shoppers will have no specific way of gaining or searching for information about your products. They won’t wait till you launch your product or air your commercial. They will search for information on and evaluate your products from other sources around the world prior to the products reaching their markets. The moment you shared information might be the moment consumers would have reviewed your product performance already. The always-on communication with consumers prior to your product launch, during the launch and post-launch will be something that you will need to plan thoroughly. This is the new way of doing the communication plan. Content is the heart of everything. Today consumers are seeking information that they can internalise and digest to be ready-to-use. They are not keen to wait and expect “real-time”, yet accurate, information sharing. Communication objectives and strategy are necessary to determine the right touch points to reach out to consumers and at the same time you need to have the right content in those touch points. Failing to do so will leave consumers ignoring your information and looking for other sources or even other brands or products.
Lastly, the never-ending argument that we still see in social media platforms up till now is still the area of evaluating the effectiveness of social media. There are many consultants running the business of providing the service to track and evaluate the effectiveness of social media. This creates lucrative business opportunities for many people. I have experienced presentations from various service providers claiming that they can help you measure social media's effectiveness.
We are still in the area of trial and learning for a better approach in this area. Some predict that this will last for a short while like a fad. Some predict that this will be huge and can replace traditional broadcasting media like TV and radio. Some predict that we are in an age where consumers will own the media and we will need to influence consumers to advocate our brands.
It’s all still a learning journey which we all need to face together. There is no one-size-fits-all formula and there is no shortcut. But, the only right recipe here is to open your mind and embrace the change of consumers today for a better future. And, I wish we all will be ready by then.

Medhee Jarumaneeroj is influencer marketing & external relations leader – Asia Male Grooming at Procter & Gamble Asia. Follow his articles in this Hi! Managers column every fourth Monday of the month.