Build deep loyalty in ‘shallow’ media

Much has been made of the way that people interact online. There has been a lot of discussion about how the attention spans of social media users are getting shorter, and possibly more superficial. There is some truth to this. Many interactions in the social web are light and apparently meaningless. Even the names of some of the platforms, such as Twitter, imply frivolity.

But don’t be confused by the apparent meaninglessness of some interactions in the social web. What is happening may seem like a waste of time but the communications can also be profound – and you need to be part of them.

The social web, and more specifically platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, allow brands to develop relationships with their customers in ways that have never existed before. Customer loyalty has always been recognised as incredibly important, but developing metrics that measure things other than swiping a card at the point of purchase has been difficult.

Now it’s not. With a well-designed and executed social media strategy, companies can identify and reward the most loyal and vocal customers – the brand evangelists who actively encourage others to buy from their favourite brand.

The companies that do this best are the ones that understand they need to create a relationship with each customer – they need to recognise that each customer is unique, and reward people for interacting with the brand. Customers now have more power to voice an opinion than ever before, and they will do it whether companies are participating or not. It is no longer good enough simply to treat customers as just something to convert into a sale, then move on. “Speed dating” marketing is out, romancing is in.

The brilliant people who work for Facebook understand this better than most. In fact, they have recently changed the way that advertising works within Facebook to incentivise brands to be more engaging.

As a marketer you have many choices about how you treat your audience. You can develop techniques that let you know who they are and how they wish to be communicated with and you can engage them in creative, interesting ways – creating long-term relationships. Or you can look at the customers as numbers to be churned through quickly. We all know that being treated as an individual is more effective – and now it seems there is an additional financial benefit.

BRW

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