Community Insights Informing Product Decisions

As a social media manager, you likely have access to great community insights that other members of your organization do not. Reading incoming messages in the form of comments, replies and private messages can help you learn about the positives and negatives of your product or business, and reporting on those insights are a great way to provide value for your company. Once you have tangible insights, it’s important to act on them. There are plenty of examples of companies taking customer feedback seriously, and the results have included changes to product design and even new product lines. Here are a few examples of how community insights have made an impact on famous brands, and how you might be able to replicate their success.

community insights

Product Design Update: Tesla

Not every brand has an active chief executive on social media, but Tesla can thank Elon Musk for fielding a suggestion on Twitter from a customer. The customer tweeted at Musk, asking for a programming update to the car, and Musk responded within the same day that the change would be implemented in “all cars in one of the upcoming software releases.” If a huge company like Tesla can enact change like that from a single customer suggestion, imagine what improvements your brand might make after implementing regular community insight check-ins.

New Product Line: Mayochup

A great feature of social media is the ability to gauge fan interest in new product ideas. Heinz put this to the test with a simple Twitter poll, asking whether people wanted “mayochup” in stores. More than the requested 500,000 “yes” votes rolled in, and Heinz released the product some time later. Even if you might not be able to launch a product based on customer request, if you have a new product and want to build buzz, a tactic like this might work!

Ongoing Customer Feedback: Wendy’s

After years of customers requesting that spicy chicken nuggets be brought back, Wendy’s let customers vote with their Twitter likes – if they liked a certain tweet more than 2 million times, the menu item would return. The tweet easily surpassed its goal, and Wendy’s was able to reward the fans who had waited so long. Using social media to measure customer demand is an excellent way to ensure your business stays as relevant as possible for customers. 

The huge changes these mega-brands made based on community insights demonstrate the value of monitoring your customer feedback. Be sure to report on and utilize community insights on a regular basis to ensure you are taking advantage of their suggestions! Need help? Our services page might have the solution you are looking for.

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