The Social Technographics Profile: Applying Social Media Demographics to Your Business Strategy

By: Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li

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Synopsis: The world is not completely flat: people in India don't use the same social networks as people in Germany. And people in Germany don't use the same social networks as people in the United States. But the fundamental emotions that drive people to the groundswell-the desire to connect, to create, to express opinions, and to help each other-are universal. To truly understand how social media users operate-and affect businesses-you need to dissect and quantify the dynamics that separate different participants. Why? Because a strategy that treats everyone alike spells failure-people aren't alike and won't respond in the same ways. In this chapter, social media strategy leaders Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff introduce the Social Technographics Profile, a key data tool that lets you examine any group of people-Australians, first-time mothers, or your customer base-and see in exactly what ways that group is participating in the groundswell. Armed with this knowledge, you can create a clear social media strategy tailor-made for your business, based on the groundswell tendencies of any group of people, anywhere. This chapter was originally published as Chapter 3 of "Groundswell, Expanded and Revised Edition: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies."