Shankar and Malthouse (2009) see interactive marketing as understanding customer experiences in terms of communication through media channels. When one defines experiences in the context of social media, communication is actually made up of collaborative experiences by users that accompany responses. One needs to realise that experience is collaborated in that the parties involved affect each other, as do the social media community.
From the business’ perspective the experience is creating the original posting of content to share with customers. This is generally done to inform, offer, share with, initiate or provide some content to customers (Thevenot, 2007). The interested customer would find some affinity with the message, and be tempted to participate in discussions, commonly expecting a response in return, not just from the business, but from other customers (often called peers) as well (Sanaktekin and Aydin, 2010). Interestingly, memetics is a science that studies the ‘infectiousness’ of certain ideas and behaviours, rather than assuming the more traditional customers’ conscious choice theories (Marsden, 1998). It follows a doctrine of human behaviour being affected by a mind ‘virus’, which has content virtues that infect human minds. Still in its infancy, this science certainly is controversial in its approach to marketing and has interesting issues associated with the use of social media.
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Blogging as an example has had interesting effects: the more advanced technology became by naturalising the communication process, the more powerful online communities would grow, and subsequently, the power of the businesses (or providers of content) would decrease (Thevenot, 2007). Power in the hands of customers in the form of peer reviews, opinion sharing, and product feedback, levels much of the consumerism playing field (Stokes, 2008; Chaney, 2009). Customer experiences are additionally much enhanced by peer feedback and the exposure to authority figures and expert advice.
Social media has an array of purposes for online communities, such as the networking sites for friendship purposes [Facebook] or business/professional connections [LinkedIn], blogs or other applications for hobbies, unions, news, sports and special interests (Safko and Brake, 2009). The experience potential for the social media user is unlimited, and that frequently becomes the problem: as humans are subjected to increasing amounts of stimuli and environmental noise, what optimal parameters of experience need to be adhered to for customers? As discerning content is important for capturing attention and warranting reciprocation, there is only so much information that a user can read, hear, view and comprehend (Gaudeul and Peroni, 2010; Meyer, 1998). Demanding the attention of online communications requires effort in understanding the expectations of the audience. Too much information and one would risk a diminishing attention span from the intended audience. This can happen by online customers knowing what experience is to be expected, or simply out of boredom (Wu and Huberman, 2009). Apparently, having fresh and novel content with the right degree of attention creates the best experience.
Creating a ‘culture of listening’ adds a dimension of lasting quality to a business’s products (Gale, 2009). This ensures a ‘guest-centric’ experience that contributes to sustained satisfaction, which should be initiated by the management. This means management should be involved at a basic level of customer interaction, and have regular access to fundamental qualitative feedback from customers. Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants CEO, Mike Depatie, is of the experienced opinion that social media tools are an ideal method of keeping track of basic customer expectations and needs (Gale, 2009). Apparently the guests’ experiences are enhanced by the hotel group’s receptivity to feedback, which in turn increases their receptivity for response and eagerness to share valued information. Additionally management realised how important it was to actively engage the guests to convert them to spending more and becoming loyal, especially when research proved this so. Guest feedback is described as the crucial link for engagement and subsequent commitment. As an example to indicate the value of customer feedback, one
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could look no further than the customer review site TripAdvisor where an estimated 60-70% of aspiring hotel travellers look at peer reviews sharing their experiences (Gale, 2009).
Besides analysing social media experiences as a culmination of situational contexts, content and technical expertise; one tends to overlook the personality disposition involved in the experience paradigm. Sanaktekin and Aydin (2010) quite rightly confirm that this area has been neglected in social media studies. They have studied the effects of extraversion, neuroticism and self- esteem on social media use and preferences. Human emotions are a powerful experience factor in determining our actions and reactions in life, and more specifically in the consumer process. Results of Sanaktekin and Aydin’s (2010) research indicate that:
i. ‘extraversion’ correlates positively with Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter use, probably because introverts would feel inhibited in displayed self-portrayal
ii. ‘neuroticism’ correlates positively with YouTube use, probably because the anxious users are usually able to express their ‘true’ self via the Internet
iii. ‘self-esteem’ correlates negatively with blogging use, probably because lower self- esteem inhibits use of blogging (conversations of views and opinions)
This useful analysis of psychological factors makes one realise that one view of an experience from social media is often insufficient. What Sanaktekin and Aydin (2010) effectively did in their study is demonstrate that personality effects were moderated by different social media tools or applications. The actual experiences were dependant on what the users thought the tools could do for them. The occurrence of multiple profile maintenance is a further manifestation of participating online for different purposes, with different personas and varied expected experiences (Stutzman and Hartzog, 2010).
In conclusion, if it comes to the experiences of customers, businesses in general agree that timely, effective and efficient attention is essential for retention of customers (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003; Doyle, 2008; Kotler and Armstrong, 2008; Gale, 2009). There are various communication tools available on social media to create the necessary experiences for the customer and to consider their needs. It is not just about content or context of the message or site, but also very much dependant on the personality disposition of the customer. Social media is but one of numerous tools, though a powerful one, that could be utilized to increase the intensity and dimension of experiences successfully.