For this post, I didn't have to try hard to select my social media success story. Being incredibly susceptible to "cute" things, I immediately selected the "Squishables" from facebook-succsesstories.com, and was impressed by what I saw.
When you first look at a "Squishable", you probably won't see anything terribly unique. Its just another cutesy, stuffed animal. A nice toy, yes, but hardly anything to fuss over. But upon further investigation, you'll find that these little guys have an audience, and its all thanks to this little social media website called Facebook.
The key to "Squishable's" success comes from there Facebook page, where customers vote and pick the next design. Every couple months or so, 5 prototype designs are posted on the Facebook and official website pages, and customers vote and pick which design will be made into the next toy. It's a very reliable, and cost effective method that puts customers at the center of product manufacturing. Once the top design is voted on, its put into the development stage and several test concept sketches are posted onto the facebook for customer input. If the concept sketch has a green color, potential customers can vote to turn it green, and then the concept is re-worked until the customer's are satisfied. The concept is then finalized, and the people bring out there wallets. About 29% of the overall website traffic now comes from Facebook.
It's a genius strategy that many companies are now beginning to use, and "Squishables" seems to have perfected the art, putting the customer at the heart of its innovation and construction.
It also helps that the things are pretty damn cute. Seriously, how can you say no to that thing?
Sources used:
http://www.toysandco.com/media/products/large/SQU746610-L.jpghttp://en.community.dell.com/dell-groups/sbc/b/weblog/archive/2013/02/19/using-social-media-to-drive-product-innovation-squishable-com-s-success-story.aspx
http://www.facebook-successstories.com/squishable-com/
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