Exploiting social technologies for marketing has now become commonplace with a bevy of businesses piloting through the immensely crowded SM platforms to catch their prospects. Even the most stereotypical and traditional marketers have started acknowledging the power of social media in spreading the word. Recently, business analysts and stalwarts have begun exploring social technologies for a variety of other business processes, such as Customer Intelligence, e Business and Channel Strategy , Customer Experience, and Market Research.

However another field that can be added to the list is Consumer Product Strategy (CPS). Recent surveys have demonstrated the viability of social technologies for CPS professionals, as these help businesses to listen to and bring them into the schema of product development. Not just that, businesses can leverage their fans and followers base to innovate their existing line of products. Such an inclusion of the end-users in developing and innovating products is widely being referred to as “Social Co-Creation”.

Hence social co-creation can be defined as “the act of roping in customers explicitly, or sometimes even repeatedly, in the process of product creation or innovation”. By the time, a question that might have started flashing in your mind: “I’m well versed social media and its use, but what other comes under the phrase social technologies?” Well, perceptibly, each and every technology that helps you to interact with your existing and targeted audience can be grouped under social technologies. Online public and private communities, company blogs, Web 2.0-powered websites, mobile and social applications, and other New Paradigm technologies can come under the aegis of social technologies.

Involving consumers in the CPS through these social technologies can help you figure out the unmet needs that are to be addressed in the first place, what customers exactly want, where your new product is falling short, and above all germinate relationships to usher in more user-friendly products. In fact, social co-creation is all about transforming customer-engagement and modern feedback mechanisms into market-oriented products.

Co-Creation could aid consumer product strategists with a number of things, including idea generation, idea validation, assessing opportunities, and risk handling, to name some of them. In fact, there are some challenges too that have to be tackled well in a bid to make the max out of this burgeoning phenomenon.

However, nothing would work out in the absence of a concretely-planned environment. A solid roadmap forms the primary requisite if you’re planning to dip your toes in social co-creation. It’s utmost important that you devise your own framework on the basis of the market, products/services, business-types, objectives, and other parameters that you deem necessary.