Be the Spark, Not the Fire

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Brands are a foreign entity in the social space. They stick out like a sore thumb, consumers often actively avoid them and they just don’t quite fit into the picture. First and foremost, social media channels are where people connect with other people.

People don’t create Facebook profiles so they can receive more targeted advertising. And they don’t check-in on Foursquare to feed a database of location information. Consumers engage in the social space to make connections with other people, express themselves and share what they’re all about. Brands don’t easily fit into that equation.

So What Are We Doing Here Then?

Brands win when others talk.Brands are wasting a lot of time and money if they don’t belong in the social space, but the good news is brands do have a place.

People connect around brands. Some brands offer a sense of self-expression. Others are resources consumers turn to for information. Brands play a role in the lives of their consumers. Sometimes that role is more apparent than the role of other brands, and every brand needs to determine the right story to tell to the right people in the right places.

The end goal isn’t necessarily to engage in a back-and-forth with customers. That’s a means to the ultimate end. The brand’s goal is to spark brand-related conversations between others. Brands should strive to be the inspiration behind brand conversation.

Conversations about brands have been taking place long before social media. Now, brands can play an active role in facilitating the conversation, keeping it going and making it happen more often.

Be the Spark, Not the Fire

Success is often measured by interactions with customers through branded social channels. A deeper level of success is how well the brand sparks conversation among others. A brand’s role is to be the fuel to the fire, not the fire itself.

Focus on driving interactions between consumers, not necessarily interactions between the brand and its customers. Recommendations from social connections carry far more weight than anything a brand can say or do.

A Piece of the Conversation Pie

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Who’s talking about your brand? How often are they talking? What’s the volume of brand-related online mentions? What’s the overall sentiment? People are producing a wealth of content online at every moment. 30 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook every month! That’s a big pie, but now it’s a matter of getting a piece of that pie.

eMarketer released the results of a study from the market research company AYTM. The study found that abot 58% of US Facebook users have not mentioned a brand in a status update, but the good news is that 0.5% of users posted only negative brand-related mentions. Instead, more post about brands in a positive way (25%) or a mix of positive and negative (16%). Twitter followed similar patterns according to the study.

People Will Talk

The opportunity for marketers is encouraging people to talk about their brands and recommend them to others. According to the study, at least some people are hesitant to discuss brands online, but when they do, it’s probably going to be positive.

Once brands identify where they’re biggest advocates are either already discussing brand-related content or are looking for brand-related information, they have the opportunity to get the conversation going:

  • Create a presence on a social platform and start asking questions, addressing inquiries and making the brand narrative an interactive experience online.
  • Share relevant content with consumers by proving to be a resource and expert in an area in which consumers need help.
  • Interact with online influencers and showcase the brands points of difference. Then give those influencers reasons to talk and share with others.
  • Build experiences that encourage brand conversation, such as a contest on Twitter that requires using a hashtag to enter.

Options are endless. The point is consumers are ready to talk, but sometimes they need a nudge. Identify where consumers are currently talking about relevant content and think about how your brand can get the conversation ball rolling. 

Are You Ready for Conversation?

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Why should we use social media? Chances are that’s a question you’ve either asked yourself on behalf of your business or had to answer to guide a client. Usually part of the answer is because consumers are already discussing the brand online, for good or for bad, and a brand that sits on the sidelines can’t take part in the conversation to influence it one way or the other. That’s where things get interesting.

Be a part of the conversation. It’s become a mantra for social media marketing. It’s a great goal to strive for, but how many brands really understand what it means? How many are ready to make the commitment to truly be part of the conversation?

Be Inviting, Not Insulting

Being part of the conversation is a commitment. It’s a commitment to listen, respond, react and build on a dialogue someone else has either started or added to. Brands have gotten comfortable being in the driver’s seat in which they steer the conversation. Social media is on the consumer’s terms and turf. They drive the conversation in one direction or the other. Brands that want to be part of that environment need to be ready to fulfill their end of the conversation.

Imagine a customer walking into a store. He approaches an associate, asks a question and the associate walks away in the opposite direction, or worse, completely ignores the question and talks about some deal the store is currently running. That customer’s going to be ticked. The store has established a place for consumers to come to it and interact with it. To be ignored is insulting.

Social media’s no different. Whether it’s a Facebook Page, branded community or something else, when a brand decides to take part in the conversation, the brand needs to be prepared to respond.

When a brand isn’t ready...

ChapStick found out it wasn’t ready to be part of the conversation (at least for a moment) and instead wanted to push it’s own agenda after it posted an image of a woman looking for her ChapStick behind the couch. People didn’t like the image and started sharing their distaste for it on the Facebook Page. ChapStick’s initial response was to not only ignore the conversation but delete it by removing the comments. This only infuriated consumers more, eventually leading ChapStick to respond after the damage was already done.

Being part of the conversation is tough! You don’t know where it’s going to go, and conversations demand flexibility, speed and transparency. Consumers will see right through anything else.

Getting Ready

Maybe the brand isn’t ready just yet, but every brand can get there. Get buy-in from the top to respond quickly and transparently to consumers. Coordinate a method to manage customer inquiries with customer service to answer questions quickly. Have a decision maker who is able to give the yes/no order at a moment’s notice, and get out of the control mindset. They’re your customers, so you’re off to a good start with them. 

Start a dialogue, respond and react with action based on consumer inquiries. I don’t think a brand will be completely ready until they open the doors. Prepare for success before getting started and learn from mistakes as things move forward. Conversations never play out exactly as planned.