从Etsy的成功看膜拜自我潮流的商机

    这些例子也展现了我称之为“膜拜自我”的理念。初听上去，这个词或许过于以自我为中心，但事实上这涉及到企业老板需要关注的两大主题：消费者希望进行创作，以及希望成为创作群体或文化的一部分。这些文化的建立通常是基于对非主流工程和设计的强烈（甚至是疯狂）的热爱。这就是为何我认为“膜拜”这个词或许比“文化”更加适合。

    “膜拜自我”思维的核心反映了一个现实，即如今很多消费者不只是希望企业能发明和销售产品和服务；事实上，他们希望作为个人能直接参与到创新过程中来。这不只是通过网络头脑风暴广泛征集人们对改进或创造产品的意见那么简单，就像2005年左右盛行的那样。今天的消费者们希望以非常个人化的方式参与到个人理念的构建和推广中来，将自己置于焦点之下。他们希望孕育和发展个人的创意远见，通过社交媒体在世界舞台上分享。

    不管他们的创意活动是为Facebook个人账户撰文和发照片，是发明自制机器人，还是在业余时间设计装饰枕头在Etsy上出售，消费者们正在变身产品开发者、品牌策略师等等。

    首先，要谈谈背景。跨世纪一代或80后年轻人通过社交媒体和DIY文化（对产品和服务的渴求）定义自我，认为“膜拜自我”指的就是这群人可能失之简单。事实上，很重要的一点是要意识到各个年龄段的人们都比以往更多地使用社交媒体，使用网络工具创建内容，打造个人品牌。麦肯锡（McKinsey）2010年的一项调查发现，35岁以上者正在越来越多地使用社交网站，而且增速快于25-34岁者。25-34岁者使用社交网站的年增幅为7%，35-54岁者的增幅为21%-22%，55-64岁者的增幅更是高达52%。

    但除了理解社交媒体对各个年龄段的“膜拜自我”者有多大影响后，更重要的是要找到有效的方式，如何通过社交媒体利用好“膜拜自我”热潮。这无需投入大量的资金和时间就能做到。下面是几种方式：

    - 利用社交网站进行市场调研。比如，百事公司（PepsiCo）就根据DEWmocracy网上推广活动中收集到的消费者意见创建了新的子品牌Mountain Dew苏打水。苏打水爱好者帮助设计了口味和包装这些品牌延伸，甚至上传了视频，表达他们对最终获选口味的感受。自从2008年这些由消费者设计的口味上市以来，百事公司已经卖出了超过3600万箱新产品。但除了像百事公司的Mountain Dew案例这样专门花心思吸引消费者提供创意点子之外，别忘了消费者也乐于在社交网站上发表个人喜好观点，这些可是免费的资源。聪明的公司会定期关注Facebook、Tumblr、Pinterest等流行网站上的热门话题，即便他们没有百事公司那样的资源能通过社交媒体打造自己的推广活动或网站。

    These examples also illustrate a concept that I call the Cult of Me. While at first glance, this term might sound rather ego-centric, it's really about two key themes that business leaders need to pay attention to: consumers wanting to create, and consumers wanting to be part of communities -- or cultures -- that create. These cultures are often built around strong, even near-fanatical passions for hands-on, far-from-the mainstream approaches to engineering and design, and that's why I think the term "cult" might be more appropriate than "culture."

    At the center of Cult of Me thinking is the reality that many consumers today aren't just hoping that corporations will invent and market products and services to them; instead, they want to participate directly in the innovation process as individuals, too. But it's not just about simple crowd-sourcing for ideas by asking people to suggesting how to improve or create products via online brainstorming sites, as was the rage in the mid-2000s. Today, consumers want to participate in forming and promoting their concepts in a very personal way, with themselves in the spotlight. They want to nurture and develop their own individual creative visions. And share them on a world stage via social media.

    Whether their creative activities are limited to crafting posts and photos for their Facebook profiles to inventing homemade robots or designing decorative pillows to sell on Etsy in their spare time, consumers are becoming product developers and brand strategists themselves.

    First, some context. It is too simplistic to say that understanding the Cult of Me is best applied to keeping tabs on what Millennials, or the youthful generation of people born in the 1980s that defines itself via social media and DIY culture, desire as products and services. Instead, it's important to realize that people of all ages are engaging more with social media than ever before, using online tools to create content and craft their own personal brands. McKinsey, for instance, found in a 2010 survey that adults older than 35 are increasingly using social networks at a rate that's rising higher than that of young people aged 25 to 34. There was a 7% annual increase in the use of social networks among 25 t0 34 year olds compared to 21% to 22% increase among 35 to 54 year olds, and a whopping 52% increase in social networking among 55 to 64 year olds.

    But beyond merely understanding just how influential social media is for Cult of Me participants across generations,it's even more key to recognize effective ways to tap into the Cult of Me using social media as a conduit. And this can be done without allocating large resources of capital and time. Here are a few:

    - Use social networks for market research. PepsiCo (PEP), for instance, created new sub-brands of its Mountain Dew soda based on consumer insights it gathered via its online "DEWmocracy" promotional campaign. Fans of the soda helped design flavors and packaging for these brand extensions, and even uploaded videos of themselves reacting to the winners. Since the consumer-designed flavors were released in 2008, PepsiCo has sold more than 36 million cases of the new products. But in addition to launching focused efforts to prompt consumers to create for your company, as PepsiCo did with Mountain Dew, it's also worth remembering that consumers love to offer up their personal likes and dislikes—for free--on social media sites. Wise companies will constantly pay attention to trending topics on Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, and other popular networks to discover clues on new product ideas, even if they don't have the resources to create their own campaign or Web site using social media, as PepciCo did.