Social Media – Managing the Customer Life Cycle

July 29th, 2009

Various segments of your customers and prospects have different relationships with your brand depending on where they are in the Customer Life Cycle (CLC). CLC describes the progression of steps a customer goes through when considering, purchasing, using, and maintaining loyalty to a product or service. Some have never heard of you. Others are raving fans, some not so happy with their experience. Which relationship are you trying to reach with social media? You need to be specific, more so than with traditional media, because what your target audience already knows about you dictates what you can credibly have a conversation about.

It is important to note that no single marketing tool should be used to move a customer through the cycle. Social media is a unique medium that can be used as a catalyst to move customers from stage to stage at a micro-targeted level. Below are the generally accepted stages. How is your organizations using social media to target customers in each stage on help move them towards brand advocacy?

Awareness. They’ve maybe heard of you, vaguely or not at all.

Interest. They’ve heard of you and maybe have visited your Web site. No purchases.

Action. They’ve made a single purchase.

Evaluation: They form opinions on whether or not your product met their needs.

Advocacy. They are fans of the brand. Frequent purchases, tell their friends, etc.

Doug Burton
www.kmkmedia.com