When
was the last time you saw a billboard, TV or
a print ad and said to yourself, "Wow that brand really cares
about me and I am going to buy that product?" Let me guess: Never. What is
stopping brands from
reaching out to consumers personally and actually helping them out?
Most
big corporations are generally risk-averse and like to play it safe, when it
comes to engaging with customers in public. Giant billboards, TV/radio ads or
print ads on newspapers/magazines are all safe ways to market to people. It
does not involve any direct interaction with customers and hence very little
chance of a negative reaction, but the problem is consumers of 2013 are all
blinded by traditional ads. Revenue from traditional advertisement channels are
at an all time low.
It's
important to not only look at social media as a channel to get your message out
there but also as a way to truly build meaningful relationships with potential
and existing customers. Here are two ways that your company can make the most
of your social media marketing efforts.
Look
beyond direct brand mentions.
Instead of simply monitoring and taking a passive approach to social media,
businesses needs to start being aggressive. Everyday there are thousands of
people inquiring about potential purchases on Twitter but the brands are
overlooking these conversations.
Watching
for brand mentions and measuring sentiment is great but it doesn't always lead
to results. For example, in the U.S. alone there are about 6,500 posts on
Twitter everyday where people are talking about buying a car and asking for
suggestions about car make/model. This statistic shows a significant number of
opportunities for every single major carmaker.
Unfortunately,
most brands are currently happy to only listen to their brand mentions and
respond to customer service issues, which significantly limit the potential of
the brand.
Start
a conversation naturally.
Many brands simply do not know how to start the conversation. They think that because a person did not mention the brand specifically or the company's Twitter handle that it is not proper to start a conversation. An important thing to keep in mind is that sparking up a conversation on Twitter is sort of like dating. The first thing you say to someone you find attractive or somewhat interesting isn't going to be “will you marry me?" Instead, you're going to enter that conversation with a sincere smile and start to nurture the relationship with some meaningful conversation.
Sparking
up conversations as a brand works the exact same way. Brands should avoid
seeming too pushy so the best bet is to engage with people without going for
the immediate sale. In some situations a customer will be further down the
buying process and in those cases; it's perfectly fine to go in for the sell.
But when that's not the case brands need to focus on establishing trust and
validation. If you look at the network structure of Twitter it is indeed ideal
for having a conversation and not just "pushing" one way content to
your followers.
For
example, if a potential customer tweets "Thinking of getting a car this
summer. Any suggestions?" This person is not talking directly to any
specific car company, but if a representative from any major car brand reached
out to him and just offered a suggestion, it might be well received. The best
case is he will engage back and go into a local dealership of the brand that
engaged with him. The worst case is he or she will ignore the Tweet. But even
if it doesn't result in making a sale, that person might broadcast the
conversation to their followers by retweeting or liking it.
This
type of interaction is known as "earned media" and is an extremely
powerful form of "word of mouth" marketing. The power of engaging
with your customers is endless, but the core lies at simply getting closer to
them and genuinely helping them out. Yes, it will take time and effort to
engage with people one-to-one, yes you will not start counting the dollars from
the first engagement, but what you'll do is set an everlasting impression in
the mind of the consumer, in a way no TV/Billboard/Print Ad ever could. What
are you waiting for? It's time to get into the game.
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