New paper: Segmentation practices in the age of the social customer

I am delighted to let you know that the paper ‘Segmentation practices in the age of the social customer’, which I co-authored with Moira Clark and Paul Fennemore, has been published in the Journal of Strategic Marketing. It is available here.

The paper reports on research that we conducted into whether traditional segmentation approaches are still relevant in the current socio-technical environment, where customers are highly connected and express their identity, opinions and preferences through a multitude of online platforms.

We found that traditional segmentation approaches are still valid in the present socio-technical world. However, how the overall framework is operationalized in the current environment is changing, to leverage the real-time and granular level of the media. Social media is particularly promising in terms of targeting influencers, enabling the cost-effective delivery of personalised messages and engaging with numerous customer segments in a differentiated way.

However, we also found that some problems previously identified in the segmentation literature still occur in the social media environment. For instance, the technical challenge of integrating databases, the preference for pragmatic rather than complex solutions, and the lack of relevant analytical skills are all still very much present in current segmentation practice.

About my co-authors

Moira Clark is Professor of Strategic Marketing at Henley Business School, Head of Marketing and Reputation as well as Director of The Henley Centre for Customer Management. Her major area of research and consulting is in Customer Management, Social Networking, Customer Retention and Internal Marketing. Her publications include the Journal of Retailing, the Academy of Marketing Science and the International Journal of Management Reviews. Prior to her academic career, Moira was an international marketing consultant and as a marketing director for a multinational organisation.

Paul Fennemore is a Digital Marketing, Social Media, eBusiness and Web 2.0 specialist. He takes a performance focused approach helping organisations achieve their business and marketing objectives. He combines his practical expertise with incisive creativity thereby getting the best returns from social media and Web 2.0 technologies. Paul delivers social media programs and regularly collaborates with academic institutions on research projects. He holds an MSc with Distinction in Digital Marketing from Oxford Brookes University.

Special Offer

The journal where this paper was published is available through subscription, only. However, I have an offer for you. Up to 50 readers of this blog can access the article for free, following this link.