I will unashamedly admit that I am a fan of the TV show, Swamp People, and I was one of 2.5 million viewers who tuned in last Thursday to watch the Season 8 premiere. They took first place over all other shows that came on Thursday night. A year ago, when Season 7 premiered on TV, the show was missing a few cast members. Fans later learned that certain stars of the show had been cut for that season. To make matters worse, History announced that Season 7 would be the last. Fans turned to social media to express their disappointment. Twitter and Facebook were flooded with posts directed towards the History Channel to bring the show back for another season.
The History channel responded exceptionally well by listening to the consumer. Last month, I noticed a commercial on TV for Swamp People that said, "The fans spoke, and History Listened." They revealed that they agreed to another season of the show. They posted the announcement to their Twitter and Facebook page, as well. I believe that the main objective for marketers is to listen to the consumer and respond according to their needs and desires to improve customer satisfaction. It was not entirely clear why the History Channel canceled the show in the first place, but it was in their best interest to take fan's tweets and Facebook posts to heart and re-launch the show.
The overwhelming success and viewership of the Swamp People premiere Thursday night is proof that social media outlets are very powerful platforms. In this situation, Twitter and Facebook were the only avenues where the customer's voice could be heard, and broadcasted to the right people. If customers did not express their concerns on social media, History would never know the loss they were truly making by cutting the show when its popularity was still at its peak.
No comments:
Post a Comment