One of the most important goals for companies that utilize social media is to present a more personal side of the companies and their brands. In other words, they want to be perceived as more “human.”
How exactly, should they accomplish this? According to Pam Moore, CEO of Marketing Nutz (a social brand digital marketing agency):
“As many brands are challenged to become human, engage with their community of customers, prospects, stakeholders, and competition, a few of the questions we hear most are: What do I talk about? How do I know how much is too much? What do I share? What if my competition is watching me? What if my boss is listening? What if our board of directors is watching us? Do people really want to know what I ate for lunch? No, not all people want to know what you ate for lunch. Some may but most don’t. Depending on how connected you are with your community they may be interested in what you eat, where you go for breakfast.”
“However, fortunately, they aren’t going to determine if they follow you, like you, or buy from you based upon if you ate a croissant or an egg sandwich. If you take a look at the questions above, the root of them is ‘how much do I share and with who?’”
See Moore’s answers by clicking on the Business 2 Community image below.
Posted suggested by KCJ
Social Media is a great resource that needs to be utilized by every company if they want to be relevant in this day and age and connect with the consumers on a more personal level. Consumer loyalty can be achieved through investing the time and resources to learning their personal preferences and showing interest in their mundane activities.
I’m always impressed to see the effort companies pour into social media. Twitter in particular has changed the way consumers interact with companies and their products by allowing them to immerse themselves in a given brand and gather a lot of information about the lifestyle that brand represents. This makes it easier to build a culture around a product and easier for the consumer to partake in that culture.
The use of social media has posed the challenge of relating successfully with consumers. Company’s must now communicate with their consumers from behind a computer screen and this often poses problems for the company. It is challenging to have individual relationships with each consumer and thus the marketing department has their work cut out for them. The article speaks about authenticity and transparency and these are very important aspects to focus on. Most people really don’t care what you ate for breakfast and finding the thin line between too little and too much is difficult.
Using social media is an essential thing for all businesses to now be using. Everyone, and sometimes even their dog, are on some form of social media. But like the article said it’s hard finding that “human” approach. Some companies post all the time, and it’s discouraging so you unfollow them, and they potentially use a customer. While other companies don’t post enough, and therefore aren’t promoting their business, so they are also losing customers. It’s hard to find that middle, and that “human” aspect. But knowing your customer demographic can help in knowing what to post, and also gaining that “human” side.
There are positions in larger corporations dedicated to this, and they still don’t get it right. At the end of the day, a corporation’s social skills should mirror a person’s social skills, just be more objective, unless it mirrors the company’s brand position.
For example, a brand shouldn’t be making political social media statements, unless they wish to make a clear political affiliation. They should not support a sports team unless they are a sponsor or wish to to be associated with said team.
To gain buzz or momentum associated with a topic, without gaining controversy, brands can simply ask questions on social media. The comments may incite controversy, but the brand should be able to protect themselves from shunning a consumer directly.
It is a complicated game, but it must be played – and it is far more beneficial than dangerous.
I love this article. There are many pros and cons to the usage of social media, especially with businesses. Coming from a family that has always had a family owned business, I have seen the emergent necessity for connecting with customers via social media. This was informative as to what information one should provide to its customers.
I run the social media sites for ALPFA and I find it difficult to engage with the people who follow us. With ALPFA being a professional organization it is tough to connect with an audience that is looking for professionalism. I agree that social media is a necessary and useful tool for any company or group to use, but in many cases connecting with your audience is difficult and could be perceived in a negative light.
As almost every company knows, social media such as Facebook and Twitter is spreading like wild fire. Once something is posted online, it goes viral. This can help or even hurt companies using social media. It is also very important that those utilizing social media should be aware on how to use it properly. As previously posted, a company doesn’t want to be perceived as being annoying with the constant posts and updates so companies would need social media etiquette.