Brands: Not My Friends But My Enablers!

Note: Image created by James Pedrazzini

Here is my latest post for Experience Matters:

Last year, the ENGAGEMENTdb Report came out proving the more socially engaged a brand is the better it performs in both conversations (building consistent brand perceptions) and financial performance. And last month, eMarketer came out with a report finding that people who follow brands on social platforms have an increased intent to purchase that brand. In addition, 60% of respondents claim their Facebook fandom for brands increases their chance of recommending that brand to a friend – this is almost 80% for people following brands on Twitter.

So, this makes it very clear that online brand engagement leads to positive business results: increased purchase intent, positive word of mouth & brand affinity. However, if not approached from the appropriate angle, things can turn very sour, as bad news travels faster than ever because of social platforms! More importantly, if a brand is not being honest & genuine in its actions, consumers will discover its falsities just as fast!

So, when a brand engages with its customers, it must do so genuinely and with purpose.

The other day, one of my colleagues mentioned that his dentist sent him a Happy Birthday email. He explained how out of place it felt, as it was a generic, insert-name-here kind of email, plus he doesn’t have that kind of relationship with his dentist – a person he sees once, maybe twice, a year. Now, if he sent a Happy Anniversary: Thank you for being a valued patient for ‘X’ number of years, that would have made more sense, because it would have been in context with his brand relationship.

This got me thinking: if engaging with customers can lead to such fantastic results, yet becoming too buddy-buddy can sour that relationship, where is the line for appropriate brand engagement? Because, really, there is a fine line between treating customers like revenue generating units and going to far in trying to “friend” customers.

So, I began looking into how customers want to engage with brands online. What I found was 4 key things customers want from an online brand relationship – they want to:

1. Ask questions / make suggestions and be answered / heard
2. Be “in the know” with exclusive content about new products, features, services, etc.
3. Be rewarded for showing their support with exclusive offers & promotions
4. Be introduced to others who are associated with the brand as well

In essence, customers don’t want to become friends with their favorite brands; rather, they want to form a utilitarian relationship with brands. This helps them get the most out of their brand experience, whether it be insider tips & tricks, deals on the next hot thing, recognition for being a valued customer, etc.

So, in the end, social media should be leveraged to enable brands to reach the middle ground, between treating customers like numbers and close friends, and, instead, treating them like people, who want to get the most out of their brand experience, beyond the product and/or service!