Debunking “Thank You Economy” Myths
I just finished reading The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk. Its an awesome book with lots of great insights and ideas for businesses. If you aren’t considering the impact of social media on your business yet, you should be.
The purpose of this blog post is to address a few issues I’ve run into with Gary’s philosophy. His message is important and absolutely worth reading, but I feel there are a few myths that need to be dispelled. I’ll try to address these concerns here.
Myth #1 - Social Media Is About One-To-One Relationships
Many people think social media is all about reaching out to your audience and trying to build one-to-one relationships with customers. They think social media is a complete game changer, but the game hasn’t changed. The efficiency of communication has changed, but the goal is the same. Focus on providing real value to your core audience, and allow them to spread that message.
A classic example of this was Conan O’Brien’s successful “Team Coco” campaign. I discussed this in a YouTube video early last year and still feel strongly about this message. The value of social media is in allowing your passionate customers to spread the message of your product or service within their existing social circles… not to try to build one-to-one relationships with every potential customer.
Not only are these one-to-one relationships un-scalable, but they are also un-natural and often disruptive. The vast majority of B2C businesses simply cannot do this in a genuine and sustaining way. Every example I’ve seen of this being attempted is very clearly disingenuous and, once the illusion wears off, will be widely identified as such (very similar to the “follow me on Twitter and I’ll donate to Haiti” campaigns that Gary himself condemns). Whenever I see examples of this, I can’t help but think of Michael Scott and gift baskets.
I completely agree with Gary’s thoughts on listening to your customers, getting feedback, answering questions, and using that information to improve your products and services. In my opinion, this is not one-to-one relationship building. Instead, these ideas fall under the categories of market research, public relations, and customer service.
Myth #2 - Focus On Improving The Sales Experience
Its great to improve the sales experience for customers. I don’t want to dispel that idea for a second, but I do want to clarify the order of importance here. While reading The Thank You Economy, I couldn’t help but notice the huge focus on creating emotional experiences, not within the product itself, but in the sales process.
Customers want a better product experience - that’s why they came to you in the first place. They didn’t come to have you sell them air in a creative/emotional way. Unfortunately, for those that are selling a commodity or lack innovation within their product or service - improving the sales process is an easy fall-back. So, instead of actually delivering a better product to the customer, businesses try to find new ways to attract and keep customers while their product stagnates. Is this the key to long-term success?
True value is produced when innovation is applied to the actual product or service. Sure, we will almost certainly sell more commodities when we dress them up and improve the sales experience, but this is a short sighted approach that doesn’t actually create lasting value. You’ll get a few more customers in the short term, and you’ll have a few raving fans that forgot why they came to you in the first place, but that won’t last. Their demonstrated ability to be emotionally sold by a sales gimmick shows how easily they will move on to the next business.
Look at how massive brands like Apple, Google, and even Conan O’Brien are using social media. They focus on innovating within their products and services above anything else. They understand that customer experience is built on top of product innovation. That emotional experiences should be built around the use of the products and services. Ask yourself, when is the last time you saw any of these brands trying to create one-to-one relationships as a core part of their social strategy? Does Apple need to ask you to tell your friends about their products? Could Motorola bribe you to go back to using a StarTAC phone? How about Altavista bribing you to leave Google for their search engine? Until and unless they innovate - no relationship building efforts will do them any good.
Gary may simply be assuming this is common knowledge, but I think it should be explained in the context of this book. It is far more important to focus on delivering a better product than to manufacture a better sales experience. Marketing is important, but as social media continues to take off - having the best product will become far more important. Your loyal customers will naturally turn into your best marketers, so you can continue to focus on what you do best - listen, learn, and innovate.
Myth #3 - If You Aren’t Doing It All, You Will Fail
Gary is very passionate about his vision of the future - a vision I largely agree with. However, I think he does his readers a disservice when suggesting they need to be doing it all… not so subtly suggesting anything less is just waiting to fail. This is a dangerous thought process to go down, as trying to do it all is a good way to do nothing well (if you don’t go out of business first).
Its important to keep your ear to the ground and watch for shifting trends. However, when it comes to real world application, it’s far better to focus on a few successful strategies and to do them well. Gary gives examples of this in his book (restaurant owners focusing on foursquare, big brands using TV with Facebook, etc.), so I think he generally agrees with the premise. That said, he seems to really drive home the message that if you aren’t doing it all - you are going to lose. IMO, this is a dangerous message that could easily be misunderstood - even if Gary didn’t intend for that mis-interpretation.
Always Focus On What Your Customers Want
In the end, it’s all about understanding your ideal customers and doing what you can to meet their needs. Don’t try to please everybody. Determine who you plan to serve, and focus on finding efficient ways to listen, learn, and innovate for that audience. If you provide remarkable value - your core audience (read: raving fans) will use social media to promote your products and services based on their innovative merits.
My favorite examples of social media success is when raving fans use these new platforms to spread a message - often with the business being clueless as to what is going on. I agree with Gary that we should be taking a more proactive approach to using social media, but we shouldn’t forget the organic way in which customers want to use these new platforms. Make it easy for them to spread your message, but don’t disrupt the natural process by getting in on every conversation. Listen, learn, and innovate.
