أنشئ حسابًا أو سجّل الدخول للانضمام إلى مجتمعك المهني.
In our business circles and seminars while addressing the SME participants, I insist upon the participants to compare the Social Media relationship with that of the “just engaged life partners” whom they try to please on every count, have “never say no” attitude, walk the talk cautiously to win the heart by all means; and the most important being true to the relationship. This comparison has amazing effect on the Executives dealing with the social media; they easily understand what and how to post on the social media, not to give wrong information, to engage the customer in true sense.
Coming back to the point of Social Media being compulsion or a complementary service, it’s one of the fastest emerged customer contact points, doesn’t require a two way communication while the customer is still online, the fact that one can reach the media from anywhere any time is the biggest contributor for its success, innovative companies are using this media to even test market the products shows how useful Social Media has become. It helps in every industry and in Retail; it helps in inviting customer to the physical as well as the online store. May be it started as complementary but at the moment it is very much a compulsion. It should be properly planned and executed otherwise it can be equally harmful.
It helps in reaching the potential customers and increases the brand visibility.
It is much cheaper than the traditional advertising and promotional activities.
Being able to address specific customer issue, it increases the customer loyalty and life time customer value.
Being instant media, chances of responding to specific industry issues and needs are great.
The biggest drawback is having static page and not responding to the customer, it drives away customers to the competitive brands. Hence one should not venture out without proper resources in place.
Effective interaction and Communication is more important to build a strong relationship...Otherwise it would be better not to engage the chance of the responses being not a favourable one create more negatives than the real advantages expected and created. The trend of the day is to engage with because it is simple and less expensive.
Social Media Engagement marketing is not merely a simple combination of traditional advertising and public relations, with elements of customer. Engagement, then, must be authentic, looking more like a conversation between friends than a commercial message. Otherwise engagement in social media becomes a “polite way of talking about audience, consumer demographics, and segmentation while seeming sensitive to Internet users, the culture, and their community”.
Engagement in social media is a distinctly different type of communication supporting true relationships and requiring an approach with deep consumer understanding, support, and value extending beyond the exchange of commercial communication. Engagement in social media looks more like a commercial friendships, using authenticity, transparency, empathy, and celebrating the value of the network, not the firm.
Brand Action Required
But, engagement in social media can’t stop at creating a friendship with your network. You must exert subtle effort to get your target market to do what you need them to do — buy your brand.
