寻找“超级粉丝”

    索尼公司（Sony）直到去年11月才开设了在线粉丝社区，不过之前好几年，它已经在通过Facebook与粉丝进行沟通。2009年，一群不满的顾客开设了一个Facebook页面，标题是“我的索尼电视有毛病”，索尼高管迅速做出了回应。开设那个页面的人叫比尔•吉耶德雷提斯，今年53岁。当时，他的电视出了点毛病，于是愤而开设了这个页面。他说：“一开始我以为我从索尼那收到的会是一封律师信，结果后来我接到了他们的一通电话。对方说：‘索尼的新任总裁想和您谈谈’。我吓了一跳。”这次与索尼高管的谈话使比尔从一个愤怒的客户变成了索尼的超级粉丝。现在他每天都会登录几次Facebook页面，回答其他消费者的问题，平息他们的怒火，而不是给他们火上浇油。这个网页最火的时候，每天有10,000多个会员上线发泄对索尼的失望，给索尼当“救火员”基本上成了比尔的第二职业。不过唯一的区别是，就像他本人说的那样——“我这样做从来没有拿过索尼的一分钱。”

    索尼客户关系管理副总裁菲尔•彼得西亚表示，随着时间的推移，这个页面的活跃程度日益降低。由于在这种页面上，问题在时间线上消失得很快，而且不适合深度探讨，所以像索尼这样的大品牌纷纷离开Facebook，建立自己的网络社区。许多这种新的网络社区都是旧金山市的Lithium Technologies公司提供的支持。这家公司可以帮助各大品牌直接在网站主页上建立在线社区，使用户可以直接与品牌的死忠用户进行沟通，同时还给了各大品牌一个可以自行运营和拥有的资源和问题库。

    Lithium Technologies公司CEO罗伯•塔克夫指出，像玛蒂和比尔这样的超级粉丝不仅会为他们喜欢的品牌提供忠实的服务，而且他们本身的信誉度也是品牌的员工们无法比拟的。他说：“传统守旧的CEO或经理可能会说：‘我们直接聘请这些人不就行了’。但是一旦你聘请了他们，他们与社区其他人的关系就变了，变成一个营销人员。”2012年福雷斯特公司（Forrester）的一份研究表明，46%和人更相信由消费者撰写的评测文章，只有15%的人相信由各大品牌直接发布的社交媒体文章。虽然在商业世界中，这可能还不能构成一股强大的力量，但是它还是给了超级粉丝们不小的权力。彼得西亚表示，超级粉丝的价值“不可估量”。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    Sony (SNE) began its online fan community in November but spent years prior connecting with fans through Facebook (FB). In 2009, a group of unhappy customers started a Facebook page titled, "I Have a Defective Sony TV," and execs from the company acted quickly. "I thought the first thing I would get from them would be a letter from their attorney," says Bill Giedraitis, 53, who started the page when he had issues with his television. "Instead I got a phone call saying, 'The new president of Sony would like to talk to you.' That was kind of a shock." The conversation with Sony's execs turned Giedraitis from an angry customer into a superfan. He patrolled the Facebook page multiple times per day, answering questions and dousing complaints as opposed to fueling them. In its heyday, more than 10,000 members used the page to express frustration toward Sony, essentially giving Giedraitis a second full-time job. The difference? "I've never taken a dime from Sony for doing this," he says.

    Over time, the page has declined in activity, and brands like Sony are moving away from Facebook for fan engagement, where questions quickly disappear down the timeline and the possibility for deep conversation is stifled, says Phil Petescia, vice president of customer relationship management at Sony. Many of the new forums are powered by Lithium Technologies, a San Francisco-based company that helps brands build online communities directly into their home pages. The process allows users to engage directly with other die-hard fans and gives brands a database of questions and resources that they own and operate.

    Superfans like Majersky and Giedraitis don't just provide a loyal service to their favorite brands, they also bring a level of credibility unmatched by brand employees, says Lithium CEO Rob Tarkoff. "An old-school CEO or manager would say, 'Well why don't we just hire those people,'" he says. "Well once you hire them you change their relationship to everybody else in the community. Now they're just a marketer." A 2012 Forrester study found that 46% of people trust consumer-written reviews, while only 15% trust social media posts directly from brands. And while this may not constitute as a superpower, in the world of business, it provides superfans with a pretty big stick. The value of superfans, says Petescia: "It's incalculable."