I thought myself very clever over at Queen D’s blog yesterday where she had crowd sourced whether to buy an iPhone 4 of wait for 5 and all we spoke about was the iPad2. I shared in comments I was going to implement a little C-to-B marketing to crowd source and social media my need for a new vacuum.
You know how I love to coin words; I went to look and saw two previous mentions of C-to-B marketing (yet it’s not a trendy term). And, so, this effort is to replace my 10-year-old Kenmore canister which finally burned its motor (great hardworking machine).
I’m researching as a consumer using other consumers and asking businesses for their recommendations. I’m using social media only as my due diligence channel, and trying to avoid websites in the beginning. So, to recap, the purchase decision includes a consumer-to-business strategy, a consumer-to-consumer strategy, identifying Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for vacuum products, while absorbing word-of-mouth-tips from total strangers. (This is more fun than buying a car last year.)
My Expectation
- Want direct interaction with a vacuum manufacturer to give me its sales spiel.
- Want consumer recommendations for what they’re using today and why they’re happy with product.
- Want to see social media engagement with the products I’m researching.
The Research
Step 1: Crowd Source
Twitter. I posted a question on two Twitter accounts about brand, quality, price, and longevity. The tweeps responded well – six votes for Dyson, two for Kirby and thumbs down for Hoover and Eureka.
I looked for Twitter accounts for Dyson, Hoover, Kirby, and Miele, a German brand. Only @MieleUSA has a Twitter account! I posed a question this evening (“why should I buy”), and may not get a response as it’s after business hours.
** I posted a question to my personal and business pages. On the personal page, I got 7 replies (mostly for Dyson) and one response on the business page. People are loving the Dyson Animal. One peep said she loves her Miele (and I’d never heard of that German brand before!).
** I did a search for company Facebook pages for Kirby, Hoover, Dyson, and Miele USA. I found nothing!!
Google+
** I posted a question to all circles on this channel. I got back a glowing recommendation for Miele with a link to its site and a second comment that this peep has had a Miele for 10 years and loves it for its great quality and high-end manufacturing.
Websites
** I finally succumbed to one website review with all the vacuums in one place. I learned that upright vacuums are perfect for wall-to-wall carpeting while canister vacuums are best for hardwood floors, ceilings, walls, stairs, and furniture. (I didn’t know that.)
Conclusions
** Crowd sourcing in advance of a purchase decision is the way to go for something as expensive as a vacuum. I learned I’m going to spend $300 to $500 to get a high-quality machine that lasts 10 years or I’ll suffer like one peep did with three less-than-quality models (Hoover and Eureka) in five years.
** The vacuum product makers are absolutely nowhere on social media! This is astonishing to me! There is ample opportunity for companies to engage with consumers on Facebook, especially, with something that is a staple for every household in the world. Where are the marketing departments? Where is the PR team to advise these companies they ought to engage with consumers?
** I learned enough from consumer-to-consumer marketing within two hours to direct my buy decision. I also got sound advice about using coupons at Bed, Bath & Beyond and shopping online (after I went to a physical store to touch and feel the product).
I’m disappointed with the businesses; appreciative of those peeps who took their time to provide opinions and point me to the store. (Any last-minute recommendations before I shop?)
Interesting! I did do a Twitter search on Dyson yesterday after my recommendations, and was surprised to not find them there! I wonder why the vaucum industry as a whole is holding out on social media?
As I mentioned we have had an animal for over 5 years. We chose to go with Dyson after buying several 100-200 dollar vacuums of varying manufactures. Years ago we had a Fhantom (they don’t make those anymore) that was outstanding, picked up Akita dog hair like you wouldnt believe! They Dyson is just as good. I have an upright and it works wonderful on my wood floors & area rugs and the removable mega hose makes stair vacuuming a breeze!
I always get recommendations on products, and crowd sourcing is attractive. I dont know though if a lack of social media presence on a vacuum would have deterred my purchase. I look at everything, website, social media, google as well as word of mouth.
Thanks, Jennifer! I wanted to avoid the easy route — websites — and see whether these companies are present and active on social media channels. They also had an opportunity to engage with a consumer who is now without a vacuum; this is an emergency purchase! Sadly, the presence being non-existent, I’ll be gladly using consumer tips to make this happen (while also researching more on price and quality, etc.). So, thanks for sharing your thoughts on Twitter and here, too!
You’re disappointed with the businesses? I’m amazed.
Would have thought you’d be delighted and in with a few PR / Social Media retainer proposals by next Monday!
Roy
OK, did you have to let my secret outta the bag? I’m thinking PR peeps absolutely need to jump on this! I’ll be in that mix…maybe! Heh…Roy…great, great seeing you here! Mr. Klout man.
I love this experiment!
As a former housekeeper to the elderly, I tried quite a few vacuums out, and I was just so impressed with one lady’s Miele. That was before the Dyson though. Never got to work with that one.
So what did you choose??
I’ll never tell! I’m still shopping! Secretly, I love the Miele — website videos, descriptors of product, reccos from you and Peg, German manufacturing — I wonder about the price; haven’t found that yet!
Nice experiment Jayme, I’ll want to see how it goes as from mine.. it leads to unexpected places. Consumer to business can work, if the businesses are listening. My only thing for this product industry, I wonder about the need: everyone pretty much has to have a vacuum or some floor cleaning gear and there aren’t that many consumer brands, right? Just thinking as I also haven’t seen much by way of marketing for this niche except from Hoover, Dyson and Bissell. Anyway… this site seems to aggregate some reviews of all kinds of things, esp. household stuff like vacuums. https://www.consumersearch.com/vacuum-cleaners FWIW.
Do you want to pitch vac companies, Davina?? Seems they need our services! (Thanks for this research, too.)
I have an Oreck and it sucks (literally)! Between my hair, my daughter’s and the dog’s, it’s constantly clogged or wrapped around the beater bar. Hope to hear of the search turns out!
I often wondered about that brand! You see them in the coupon section and even as a free-standing brick and mortar, too! Thanks for letting me know, Autumn!
This kinda reminds me of an interview I saw with Mark Zuckerberg on 60 Minutes, where Leslie Stahl postulated that Facebook had effectively challenged the way people seek out information. Rather than relying on Google or “professional” opinions in the industry, it seems that the trend is shifting toward soliciting the opinions of friends via social sites. What do your friends think as opposed to what experts in the field think, in layman’s terms.
Of course, any potential Twitter accounts for the giants of the vacuum industry would account for a “professional” opinion instead of a “civilian” one (for lack of better, less condescending terminology), but it’s still surprising to me that these companies wouldn’t try to capitalize on what so many are pegging as the new marketing.
Does that make any sense? Probably not, but at least it sounds pretty. 😛
Hi, Emma! Spot on, Girl! It sounds more than pretty; it’s exactly the real deal today. I was seriously disappointed these companies were nowhere on the channels. Even @MieleUSA:disqus never responded to my query last night — not been 24 hours, but that’s a lifetime. I wanted them to give me their spiel; sell to me, I’m listening!
Why not ask our networks; everyone has an experience to share, and when it comes to purchasing a machine that is not going to break down, the lesson I got from all my chatter was not to try to buy low — make the investment and be happy in the long run. Great seeing you here!
Jayme,
I love your new term. Maybe your agency can pioneer the C2B movement!
I missed your initial tweet. It’s tragic–I miss a lot of cool stuff being on the west coast. Just in case you haven’t made a purchase decision, I always go to my standard for choosing appliances, small and large–Consumer Reports. I’ve been a subscriber for more than 10 years, and I’ve NEVER had a problem with a product they recommended. If you want the most recent vacuum results, lmk. 🙂
More and more people are suggesting Miele; I also see the price is tres $$$. Might you please, if you could easily find a reference, that is…check Consumer Reports for Miele? I don’t have a subscription, and I believe you do need one to access, right?
I’m trying to post the tweets to the blog more frequently; I’m terrible at marketing myself. After seeing what I saw with the vacuum situation (and seeing others asking the same question I did), companies are missing the boat huge not engaging in social media.
I hope everyone uses this post to go win new business!
I’m always surprised by which companies respond on Twitter. I randomly mentioned an excellent Stouffers frozen meal, and they tweeted back within minutes. And the cool thing was, they didn’t go all sales-y on me. That’s good marketing. I’ve also tweeted Petco because they sent me my application to take my French Bulldog to the baseball game very late and I couldn’t make the deadline. Guess what, they never responded. I also tweeted randomly about a Sharpie Liquid Pencil I likes, and I guess it qualified me for the Klout Sharpie perk! There is a lot of room for improvement. I could be your west coast office of C2B marketing! 😉
More and more people are suggesting Miele; I also see the price is tres $$$. Might you please, if you could easily find a reference, that is…check Consumer Reports for Miele? I don’t have a subscription, and I believe you do need one to access, right?
I’m trying to post the tweets to the blog more frequently; I’m terrible at marketing myself. After seeing what I saw with the vacuum situation (and seeing others asking the same question I did), companies are missing the boat huge not engaging in social media.
I hope everyone uses this post to go win new business!
More and more people are suggesting Miele; I also see the price is tres $$$. Might you please, if you could easily find a reference, that is…check Consumer Reports for Miele? I don’t have a subscription, and I believe you do need one to access, right?
I’m trying to post the tweets to the blog more frequently; I’m terrible at marketing myself. After seeing what I saw with the vacuum situation (and seeing others asking the same question I did), companies are missing the boat huge not engaging in social media.
I hope everyone uses this post to go win new business!
What’s a vacuum cleaner? True story, when I first started dating my wife our second date was me cooking dinner for her at my apartment I shared with a friend. During the year I had been to the Indy 500 and a road trip out west w/ buds so I had some pics. I pulled the pics out and was going to sit on the carpet in front of the couch. She asked ‘when is the last time this carpet was vacuumed’? Huh, you are supposed to vacuum a carpet? Needless to say, we didn’t have no stinkin’ vacuum cleaner……no she didn’t sit down on the carpet but she did stay for dinner and she eventually married me so at least it wasn’t a deal breaker, huh?
I like the way you searched your sources and the feedback you got. Very interesting and also the fact none had an online presence.
I can’t give you any advice however; I know we do have one, but couldn’t tell you the brand………just sayin’…………
I’m the woman in the picture on this post…I just ride mine.
I’m kind of disappointed you’re still looking for a vacuum and don’t just take my advice.
I am surprised to hear that you could not find a single person/business who tweets about Miele Vacuums. I’ve been tweeting and have presence on twitter as well as Facebook.
Actually, my search on the interwebz was for brand name vac manufacturers. I wanted, as a PR person, to identify primary brands to determine whether they are engaging. I never said I couldn’t find anyone tweeting for Miele; to the contrary. I found @MieleUSA:disqus and actually engaged in Twitter discussion with them. I also found several OEMs and resellers who are on Twitter, but that was not the nature of my search. Thanks for stopping in, though! I do appreciate your time to share your thoughts.
So, should I buy a Miele?
Vacuum cleaners not on social media… maybe someone just sucked the brains out of their heads… and why search for it on social media girl, just go the department, they will give you so, so many reasons to buy there that their absence on social media will be sort of a boon!
Heh, it was a total experiment! Now I have proof to go win a vacuum cleaner account! Great seeing you today!
Typically we would like to qualify a customer before we make a specific recomendation, but in choosing a Miele vacuum it is hard to go wrong. We have been a dealer for Miele Vacuums since 1985 and the product is terrific. We started our Facebook page about month ago and one of our customers sent us this article think we might find it interesting, we do. Social media is changing and expanding the value of word of mouth advertising that so many locally owned retailers have relied on. We do hope that you will support that small local retailer who will guide you to the best product that will meet your budget and needs. Additionally he/she will be available to make sure all your expections are meet for as long as you own your new product.
Thank you The Vac Shack…where are you located? Do you ship to Ohio?? See, you never know when you can make a sale in blog comments — no lie!
We are located in beautiful Lewiston Maine, and as much as we would love to have you as a customer, we strongly suggest that you first seek out an independent vacuum dealer in your area. Dealing with locally owned retailers benifits everyone; the money being spent stays in the community, the retailer can continue to grow his/her business and provide stabillity in the community and its economy, and most of all you,the consumer, will recieve hands on training and specialized support for your product. If you need help finding the right dealer in your area we can do that.