Like a real friendship, brand friendships are developed slowly, through human trust, belonging, identity and other human drivers. Good service, a quality product and the total of your business interactions build this equity over time. These customers are your brand ambassadors - they keep up to date on your company and tell all their friends how great your business is. If your thinking about a social media presence for your company and saying to yourself, "What have we got to lose?" Then take a step back and think a bit harder. Reward never comes without a risk.
Monday, March 26, 2012
'Your name is at stake'
Social Media can provide real ways to connect, build relations and directly touch the lives of your customers on a day to day basis. As a company brand, this mix of marketing interaction and brand equity is called "brand friendship".
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
So as long you continue to nurture relationships with your customers, success will follow, right? Well, sort of.
Unfortunately, it's no longer simply about the way you interact with your customers - it's where. The rise of social media has completely changed the game, putting much of the power into the hands of the consumer, and fundamentally shifting the way we interact. From friends to family to companies, we use our social networks to share our point of view, influence our social circle and build relationships. We're no longer swayed by saavy advertising campaigns - we want peer to peer recommendations and personal connections before we'll reach for our credit card.
So, why should social media matter to business owners? Simple. It's where your customers are.
Globally, one in every nine people is on Facebook. An 'average user' spends 15 and a half hours every single month on the site.
In New Zealand, we're ranked amongst the highest users of social networks in the world, with a massive 50% of our population belonging to Facebook. Even more importantly 64% of social media users surveyed in a study across Australia and New Zealand rated interaction with a company via their networks as an important part of their pre-purchase decision making.
With newspaper and magazine circulation figures on the decline and internet enabled devices on the rise, the way we connect has changed. This means that 'traditional' marketing methods are going to decrease in effectiveness. Think about it from your own perspective - you probably no longer read the newspaper religiously every day, instead going online for the latest updates.
If you don't have a social media presence, then your missing a huge chunk of the market and what the market is saying. Just because your not involved with the conversation, doesn't mean people aren't talking about you. And with major changes to Google's search algorithms on the horizon, it is no longer good enough to just be online, you need to be social.
I doubt any business owner would pass up the opportunity to promote their business to over 2.2 million New Zealand conusmers. But by ignoring social networks, your doing exactly that.
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Article source: Emma Mulquiney - MYOB Members guide March 2012
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