The Myth of the Savvy Consumer
If you attend any conference that has any kind of social media component you will no doubt hear reference made to the savvy consumer. You will hear how they are demanding transparency and engagement and want to be included in the conversation. Most importantly you will hear that they don't believe the lies of advertising anymore and that social is the way forward.
The Savvy Consumer – Mythical Being
The Savvy Consumer is not a new being. Contrary to what social media "guru's" might tell you. Consumers have been savvy for decades. They have been discerning, they know a real deal when they see one and they know when they are being ripped off. The rise of social technologies like Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus didn't give rise to the Savvy Consumer. Consumers have been having the conversations over the garden fence, around the water cooler, on the phone and in the stores where they shop for as long as shops have existed.
The demand for transparency pre-dates social technologies by several decades – I don't remember reading about Erin Brockovich using Twitter to demand transparency from Pacific Gas & Electric Company – though I have no doubt she would do so today. Consumers have always wanted to have transparency in their relationship with brands. So where does this idea of the sudden appearance of the Savvy Consumer come from?
The Savvy Consumer & Social Technologies
It is far more likely that social technologies like Facebook, Twitter, Google + and blogs have woken marketers to the depth of understanding that consumers have of their methods rather than those technologies giving rise to the Savvy Consumer. Marketers are being shown that Social Media allows them to follow and even join in conversations, as though these conversations were new. They are being sold on the idea that if they adopt these technologies that they might stand a chance of catching up and perhaps regaining the upper hand with the Savvy Consumer.
The Savvy Consumer has decades on the newly sophisticated marketer. Social technologies will not make up for that gap. Social technologies are revealing the extent of the gap between marketers and the Savvy Consumer. Social technologies are providing the opportunity for the Savvy Consumer to organize around issues that matter to them faster and in a much more cohesive manner than ever before. The biggest revelation that social technologies has brought is not the existence of the Savvy Consumer but the existence of the unsophisticated marketer.
The Savvy Consumer and the Savvy Marketer
The Savvy Marketer is learning from the Savvy Consumers behavior. Learning to use the social technologies in the same way. Social technologies have brought back the need for artistry to marketing. Finesse rather than brute force in messaging has always been the core of great marketing. Perhaps this is the most important lesson marketers can learn from the Savvy Consumer, not that they don't want marketing, not that they don't want to be sold to, but rather that they want it to be done with style and grace.
I tell audiences, clients and anyone else who will listen that there are three main components to any successful marketing campaign that involves social technology. Fun, Repeatable and Shareable. To combine these three in one campaign is a difficult act and one that actually requires a lot more thought than many marketers are willing to give to their campaigns. The Savvy Consumer knows when they are being played, they also know when it serves their purposes to join in.
What are you learning from the Savvy Consumer?
Image used under CC license by Elsie
I'm glad you took the time to read this post.
If you enjoyed it I'm sure you'll enjoy my once a week newsletter - Did You See..? - I'll send you a few stories from around the web that cover Social, Digital and Mobile Marketing that I found useful. It's a quick but informative read
