The idea of a "social relationship" with a brand was always pretty silly, I think.
But Twitter is a good tool for PR (because every blogger and reporter uses it), and Facebook can be an efficient content distribution channel.
I think brands have a hard time on social media when they have nothing interesting to say. "Like my page" or "download my app" or "tell us how much you love your toilet paper" are not interesting, and Facebook is doing the right thing to hide that crap from more feeds.
But if you can create good content, you can spend money very efficiently on social media. You just need to boost it a bit over the noise floor, and then folks will share and comment to spread it farther.
You know how people want to interact with products? By using them. Not "engaging" with them as an abstract concept on Twitter.
They don't give a crap about having a conversation with a Mt Dew representative. They do give a crap about a YouTube video of a guy jumping out of a plane with a wing-suit and if it happens to be covered with Mt Dew logos, it might just help move some product.
You know what all this "social relationship" and "engagement" talk reminds me of? Telemarketing. New buzzwords for what seems to be about as effective as calling up someone while they're eating dinner and trying to talk about their favorite brand of dish soap.
I think you're comparing apples and oranges as the 'engagemnet' you're referring to is more 'after sales care/complaints' focused and your Mountain Dew example is more wow-factor/mainstream branding and awareness.
I'd say the consumer would give a crap about a conversation with said representative if they had a product complaint and bad experience with the brand. Furthermore i'm sure they'd prefer to have said conversation on their terms, in real time, and not after waiting on the phone to be connected with them. And that's just pertaining to customer feedback where there is a wrong that needs to be made right.
I also feel like your discounting the power of developing a social relationship (as an awareness tool) by likening it to telemarketing. People opt in (Like/follow) Facebook pages / Twitter pages and if they aren't being provided with value, disconnecting that relationship is as easy as a tap of a finger, on their time, be it while eating dinner or not.
Social should never be underestimated as a powerful passive branding and awareness platform which consumers access on their time, on a medium they are comfortable engaging with.
The difference between get a telemarketing call at dinner time and seeing a promoted post on Facebook is the consumer psychology before the touch point is made, i.e. "fuck off, i'm eating" and "entertain me, i'm bored" respectively.
The idea of a "social relationship" with a brand was always pretty silly, I think.
I think this depends heavily on the size of the brand.
Facebooks recent actions annoy me as a consumer, there are local small companies that I want to keep up with! Yes I do want to know when my local chocolate shop has a sale on, yes I do want to know about my local farmer's market.
Comments
The idea of a "social relationship" with a brand was always pretty silly, I think.
But Twitter is a good tool for PR (because every blogger and reporter uses it), and Facebook can be an efficient content distribution channel.
I think brands have a hard time on social media when they have nothing interesting to say. "Like my page" or "download my app" or "tell us how much you love your toilet paper" are not interesting, and Facebook is doing the right thing to hide that crap from more feeds.
But if you can create good content, you can spend money very efficiently on social media. You just need to boost it a bit over the noise floor, and then folks will share and comment to spread it farther.
You know how people want to interact with products? By using them. Not "engaging" with them as an abstract concept on Twitter.
They don't give a crap about having a conversation with a Mt Dew representative. They do give a crap about a YouTube video of a guy jumping out of a plane with a wing-suit and if it happens to be covered with Mt Dew logos, it might just help move some product.
You know what all this "social relationship" and "engagement" talk reminds me of? Telemarketing. New buzzwords for what seems to be about as effective as calling up someone while they're eating dinner and trying to talk about their favorite brand of dish soap.
I think you're comparing apples and oranges as the 'engagemnet' you're referring to is more 'after sales care/complaints' focused and your Mountain Dew example is more wow-factor/mainstream branding and awareness.
I'd say the consumer would give a crap about a conversation with said representative if they had a product complaint and bad experience with the brand. Furthermore i'm sure they'd prefer to have said conversation on their terms, in real time, and not after waiting on the phone to be connected with them. And that's just pertaining to customer feedback where there is a wrong that needs to be made right.
I also feel like your discounting the power of developing a social relationship (as an awareness tool) by likening it to telemarketing. People opt in (Like/follow) Facebook pages / Twitter pages and if they aren't being provided with value, disconnecting that relationship is as easy as a tap of a finger, on their time, be it while eating dinner or not.
Social should never be underestimated as a powerful passive branding and awareness platform which consumers access on their time, on a medium they are comfortable engaging with.
The difference between get a telemarketing call at dinner time and seeing a promoted post on Facebook is the consumer psychology before the touch point is made, i.e. "fuck off, i'm eating" and "entertain me, i'm bored" respectively.
[grammar edit]
The advantage of the modern approach is that anybody using Twitter or Facebook almost by definition is not in the middle of doing anything useful.
I think this depends heavily on the size of the brand.
Facebooks recent actions annoy me as a consumer, there are local small companies that I want to keep up with! Yes I do want to know when my local chocolate shop has a sale on, yes I do want to know about my local farmer's market.
Isn't there a setting on FB where you can ask to see all the updates from a particular person or page? There used to be.
You are not a marketer, are you?