Embrace Your Customers in the Groundswell

I watch a lot of TV shows: Friends, CSI, Criminal Minds, Grey's Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, Two Broke Girls, The Big Bang Theory, Scandal, Master Chef, The Voice, American's Next Top Model, you name it. They are my escape once in a while and I've been following some of them since the first season, like American's Next Top Model.

Last year, American's Next Top Model (ANTM) produced its very first College Edition and added a little twist to the panel, which I think is a perfect example of how to energize and embrace your customers, as mentioned in Li and Bernoff's Groundswell, winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Before the College Edition, it was always Tyra Banks, super model and creator of the show, Nigel Barker (Seasons 2-18), professional photographer, or Kelly Cutrone (since Season 18), and a guess judge (mostly the photographer in that episode) judging the models' performances and deciding who goes and who stays. But since Season 19: College Edition, the forth judge was added to the panel: social media, represented by famous fashion blogger - Bryan Boy, who chooses one or two comments from the fans on each photo to be screened at panel.

Before this, ANTM has already participated in the Groundswell since the start. It created its Facebook Page in 2008, only posting photos from the competition back then, but still attracted fair amount of attention from the fans. 

Now by adding fans on social media as the forth judge and allowing their opinion to vary the final result at panel, it's again, ahead of all other reality TV shows, embracing the groundswell.

So here's what happened when fan judge is introduced to the show:

It tapped into the fans' enthusiasm and created an online community. According to Li and Bernoff's Groundswell, "Energizing the groundswell means tapping into the power of word of mouth by connecting with, and turning on, your most committed customers". ANTM, produced by the CW, has created an online voting platform that allows fans to log in with different social media accounts, hit "likes" buttons, and post comments (words, photos, and even videos) under each photo. Fashion fans are mostly critics. And thus this platform most definitely makes them happy and feel important. Also, allowing people to reply/follow others' comments with email notification is genius! It facilitates people's interaction with each other, thus forming an online community.

Additionally, this whole social media score thing, no matter wether it's fair or not (well, we all know how personal opinion could be biased), it makes the fans feel important. You could tell the fans are feeling like a REAL judge at penal when they are filming their comment video. Yeah, it's quite funny sometimes but it also shows how fans feel empowered by the groundswell.  

Well, it's definitely a smart move of Tyra Banks embracing the groundswell and empowering the fans like this. Some might say it would effect the professionalism of the results, but according to Season 18 and Season 19's Twitter analysis results, it seems to be worth it. 

Twitter analysis- Season 19 (31.5 posts/hr)

Twitter analysis- Season 18 (25.2 posts/hr)