Social media as a tool for product design

Abstract:

Social media enable consumers to interactively design content on the Internet and facilitate a paradigm shift in the consumer-producer relationship. The classic value creation process provides for a clear separation of roles between consumer and producer. Companies take on tasks such as research, development, marketing and sales and only come into contact with the customer when goods are exchanged. Social media allow consumers to be integrated into the value creation process and lead to a softening of the classic division of roles. A large number of consumers can be involved in different phases of the value creation process through online platforms. Classic hierarchical and market-based coordination mechanisms are being replaced by principles of self-motivation and self-organization. The far-reaching interaction and participation not only enables product innovations, but can also increase customer loyalty. Many companies, such as McDonald's, Dell and Nespresso, use social media for interactive product design. However, successfully using social media for product design is a major challenge. Numerous tools such as idea competitions or configuration tools can be used in different phases of value creation under different framework conditions. The outcome of interactive product design is difficult to predict. The interacting mass of consumers can hardly be controlled and may be able to jeopardize image and sales. This article compares the opportunities and risks of using social media for product design and identifies success factors in the design of various instruments. In each case, findings from science and case studies from corporate practice are presented.