Congratulate and Encourage

We may never know why consumer’s become loyalists and advocates of our brand. We may never know exactly what they want from our company. But we do know how to congratulate and encourage. With social media we have an opportunity to become an integral part of these advocates life. We should congratulate their personal successes and life events. We should encourage them to follow their dreams. With any given company, we are trying to create the best possible life for our customer (otherwise we wouldn’t be in business). So why don’t we congratulate and encourage that life all the time?

Keeping Social Media Going

2010 has really started off in being “The Year of the Social” as I predicted in late 2009. It’s amazing, the interest level about learning what’s possible in this crazy communication environment. Of course there still is push back from some companies and there still is a lot of “what would happen if…” however there are some who are running forward without permission and asking for forgiveness later. But, even these leaders in the space are facing a consistent issue… Now that we have it started, how do we keep it going?

This question will rear its ugly face more than once as we move through our social world. With social media in its infancy, we are still trying to define an answer. The only tips I can give you right now is:

• Keep responding and answering fans, followers, friends
• Continue to share content of affinity organizations and information relevant to your brand message
• Cultivate relationships with your most loyal followers and your loudest influencers
• Build mini conversational campaigns around company milestones or important company dates
• Continue to scan the ecosystem for opportunities, discussion topics, etc.

What are your thoughts? How do you keep your social program going?

The Social Revolution

Are we in a revolution?

Revolution: “a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving”

With the above definition, we most certainly are. Since the beginning of marketing and business communications, we have been lead to believe that we tell people what to do and we tell the market what it needs. Now it’s a complete shift… the consumer has taken the reigns and is focused on finding companies/brands/products that will, not only listen to what they have to say, but also mold offerings to fit into the lifestyles of those consumers.

This way of “thinking and behaving” is definitely a drastic and far-reaching change from what we were doing only 5 years ago.

Now the question becomes… Are you a part of the revolution or the resistance?

Photo courtesy of Flickr - marcel601

Social

Wikipedia discusses the term “social” by saying… “It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.”

No matter what you or your company are doing (not doing) in the social media environment, you are still social. “Whether you are aware of it or not…”

The question becomes, Are you aware of it?

Brand Passion

As continue to talk about social strategies and how to integrate our brands further into the lifestyle of our customers, we talk routinely about improving brand loyalty and advocacy. Why don’t we take it a step further?

With the levels of loyalty and advocacy we can create with these social personal conversations, shouldn’t we be discussing brand passion instead?

After all, a passionate person is a force to be reckoned with. Imagine if we had handfuls of extremely passionate individuals leading our cause and communicating our message through vast social networks.

Just imagine…

Through social media we have an opportunity to have conversations with real people, in real time, on a personal level. These conversations increase trust. This trust builds loyalty. That loyalty turns to advocacy. Finally advocacy turns into passion.