He asked “But How do I make sure they like my Product?”
I really do wish that every time someone asks a question like that, that I could reply with an honest,
“Why dont you make a product that they cant help but like?”
THe sad fact of the matter is that most companies are trying to place the ‘social’ band aid over a traditional business model very much based on a hit-and-miss approach to product development. There was a time many many moons ago when this was acceptable due to the lack of choices.
In this day and age, ‘Made in China’ has a controlling stake in the ‘cheap enough to not worry about quality’ niche. Everyone else has to compete for the rest of the market. There is no room for anything less than best in class. The number of products on the market that succeed then is a result of segmentation where each sub niche has its champions.
It is increasingly unlikely that any vendor who simply builds a product can succeed.
Businesses are discovering that ‘Social’ isnt like ‘Green’ where you can pay lip service to the movement and have a little label one can put in advertising. Social refers to a customer led, engagement focussed, collaborative structure which empowers the tribe to curate features and content, the end goal of which, is to create a product that the tribe can feel a sense of ownership for, and will be perfect for the perceived and real need of the tribe at that point int time.
Businesses are discovering the need to be Social, by Design, in its core values, execution and decision making. .