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Wanted: Unexpected Acts Of Acknowledgement via Social Media
August 30, 2011
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Key findings from research today, including Jacobs Media’s Techsurvey reports, show that building a more centered alliance with your brand’s audience can assist in opportunities that go well beyond the occasional ratings “pop” that cash contests or even those “county fair tickets coming up” can offer you.
It’s about those unexpected things we can do for our audience that make a deeper impact. More and more brands are recognizing just that. Here are two examples of how national brands have tapped into today’s technology and cultural trends to deepen the connection. (No prizes were harmed nor offered in these activities.)
First there’s Chipotle, who validated one longtime fan’s “voice” forever. The story of the tweets below is about Seth Porges, a non-pork eater and big-time consumer of Chipotle, who tweeted his disappointment over the recent discovery that their pinto beans (which he'd been eating for years) are cooked with bacon. Imagine the validation he felt when the head of the company took the time to acknowledge his tweet and even offered to make a menu change at Chipotle!
When was the last time someone said “Razor quick response from [@radio station]” on one of these social sites?
But it’s not only about avid consumers. Check out how Sunkist converted a customer into a “true fan” by discovering that someone had a “fail” with perhaps their product. This tweeted empathy comes from monitoring keyword conversations about their product:To Sierra’s surprise she received a message from Sunkist:
The intention behind that tweet was not to elicit a response, yet when Sunkist -- which didn’t even know if she was in fact drinking their product -- acknowledged her “fail,” she became an instant Sunkist fan.
Radio should be doing this, too.
Fans who feel more than satisfied but emotionally connected to their stations give you opportunities to develop brand advocacy programs. They are also likelier to use your station beyond music and/or companionship needs. But there are two important factors in play here:- You must be serious about making the audience’s lives simpler by allowing them to consume the information they want to consume, when and where they want to consume it.
- It’s also about validating their voices, not yours.
More and more blog and Facebook comments, as well as Tweets, are going unacknowledged by brands. The result is that this lack of acknowledgment only grows the perception that brands don’t really care:
If you are participating in these social channels, take the time to understand the primary purpose behind why people are using them. Then align that purpose with what you need from these channels in a trackable and adaptable way.
In merging the purposes and committing to the reality that it takes at least two people to have a conversation, you will gradually become woven into the fabric of the audience’s daily lives while earning their permission to do so.
--------------------Thanks to WTMX/101.9 THE MIX Social Media Coordinator Chris Petlak for the heads-up on the Chipotle story. It inspired this week’s Merge.
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